Israel hosts 50th International Physics Olympiad

When they weren’t tackling physics problems, participants at this year’s International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) rode camels, floated in the Dead Sea, toured Jerusalem, and visited a kibbutz, among other activities. The 50th annual competition for high school students was held 7–15 July in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Xiangkai Sun of China earned the best theory score and the top overall score. His teammate Yifan Sun achieved the highest score in the experimental part of the exam and came in second overall. Khanh Linh Nguyen of Vietnam was the only girl among the 34 gold medal winners, who hailed from 16 countries. Aleksi Kononen was the first person from Finland to earn gold since 1982.

This year, 360 high school students from 78 countries participated in the event. For political and religious reasons, the teams from Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria did not attend.

On the US traveling team were Vincent Bian from Poolesville, Maryland, who took home gold and ranked sixth overall in the competition; Sean Chen of San Diego, California (gold); and silver medalists Edward Lu of Katy, Texas; Albert Qin of Sacramento, California; and Sanjay Raman of Seattle, Washington.

For the three theory problems, competitors were challenged to calculate static and dynamic properties of springs and Slinkys, describe how the radiation of microwave ovens interacts with water molecules, and consider thermoacoustic engines. The two experimental questions involved optics—measuring refractive indices and parameters of diffraction gratings—and finding the thermal and electrical properties of aluminum, brass, and copper.

The Physics Olympiad is an individual competition. But tallied by team, the US ranked fifth overall, behind China (five golds), Russia (four golds, one silver), South Korea (five golds), and India (two golds, three silvers). The host country came in eighth. The top-performing European countries were Estonia (18th), Germany (19th), and the UK (20th).

The US team is sponsored jointly by the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics, with additional support by AIP’s other member societies. (Physics Today is published by AIP.) Paul Stanley of Beloit College, the former academic director of the US team, was elected IPhO secretary; taking his place as academic director is JiaJia Dong, a professor at Bucknell University. Dong says she aims to raise awareness about the IPhO in order to increase the number and diversity of participants.

The 51st International Physics Olympiad will be held next summer in Vilnius, Lithuania.