The NZIP logo was designed to represent different aspects of physics, combined into one image. The origin of the logo was described by Professor Jeff Tallon, the 2011 recipient of the Dan Walls Medal, at the NZIP & Physikos 2021 Conference held in Wellington, 12-14 July, 2021.
The logo was composed sometime in the early to mid ‘80s, by Professor Tallon CNZM:
It is of course a stylised NZIP, comprising a damped sine wave which to the eye accentuates the letter psi, being the general symbol for a wave function. It was an attempt to combine classical and quantum physics. The vertical lines are to represent the Balmer (or the Lyman) spectroscopic lines. The original was black & white with shading. Long-time NZIP and NZIP Education Section Council Member David Housden added the colours some years later.
NZIP:
Damped sine wave:
Letter Psi:
Balmer/Lyman hydrogen emission spectroscopic lines:
(Images produced by Dr Annette Koo, Measurement Standards Laboratory.)