The International Physics Olympiad

(IPhO)

What happens at an IPhO?

The International Physics Olympiad is an international physics competition for secondary school students from participating countries. The first IPhO took place in Warsaw ( Poland) in 1967 and subsequent IPhOs have occurred, with a few exceptions, in a different country each year. The UK has hosted an IPhO in 1986 and again in 2000.

Typically, the team from each country consists of five students and two supervisors. All the supervisors form the International Board. One day of an IPhO is devoted to a theoretical paper (three problems involving at least four areas of physics) and another to an experimental paper (one or two problems). Students receive the examination papers in their national languages and the time allowed for each examination is five hours.

The IPhO is intended as a competition between individuals only. There is no team result. To classify the contestants the mean points obtained by the three best is normalised to 100%. Contestants with more than 90% receive gold medals. Those between 90% and 78% receive silver medals. Those between 78% and 65% receive bronze medals. Honourable Mentions are awarded to those between 65% and 50%. All other contestants receive certificates of participation. The absolute winner of the IPhO receives an additional prize and some special prizes can also be awarded.

More information about the IPhO includes a history and the IPhO syllabus (see IPhO website). There is a website dedicated to the 2007 IPhO. which will hosted by Iran.

The most recent IPhOs:

This table shows the year and venue of the last nine IPhO's and the venue of the next IPhO. Also shown are the numbers of Gold, Silver and Bronze medals and Honourable Mentions awarded to the UK team at each IPhO, followed by the total number which were awarded that year.