News Archive
August 2023
The UK team returned from the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics in Poland with a stunning and unprecedented five gold medals, placing the UK team top of the list of over fifty participating countries. Only twenty-seven gold medals were awarded. The Olympiad consisted of a five-hour theory exam, a three-hour data analysis exam, and two thirty-minute observation tests.
Pictured above are the team of Ryan, Charlotte, Freddie, Ben and James, together with their trainers. Dr Alex Calverley, chairman of the British Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad and far right above, expressed his congratulations to this "golden generation," and also his gratitude to G-Research for sponsoring the the training camps and the travel costs to the competition.
July 2023
The 2023 UK IPhO team has returned home from Tokyo with all of them receiving medals. We congratulate silver medalists Alex, Coy, and Ojas; and bronze medalists Aditya and Mali. Almost seventy countries participated, and the UK team was placed in the top twenty.
Coy writes as follows
In 2023, a team of five students had the fantastic opportunity to travel to Japan to partake in the 53rd International Physics Olympiad. Over the course of several gruelling and not-so-gruelling days, we completed two 5-hour papers and several excursions around the Kanto region, including Yokohama and Kamakura.
We spent the majority of our time in the National Youth Olympics Centre, a colossal complex with accommodation, restaurants, lecture halls and gymnasiums. Here we tried various cultural experience events such as tea-drinking (sado) and aikido. I had the misfortune of discovering my fellow teammates' ridiculous strength and technique the hard way. Another excellent event was the Ennichi festival, involving several game stalls and food stalls. Doing a traditional festival dance to YMCA was not expected but definitely something I am glad to have done.
On the academic side, there were two five-hour papers, one Experimental and one Theoretical. I have never felt five hours pass so fast. I was far too engaged in the experimental equipment, which was terrifically designed and genuinely amazing to use.Finally, in the closing ceremony the UK walked out with a full batch of five medals, as testimony to the hard work that each person put in.