India creates history, wins gold at the International Physics Olympiad

Five Indian students made history by winning gold in the recently-held 49th International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) in Lisbon, Portugal. This is the first time since 1998 that India has won the title.

The winners, all aged 18 and below, are - Lay Jain and Pawan Goyal from Kota, Rajasthan, Bhaskar Gupta from Mumbai, Siddharth Tiwary from Kolkata and 17-year-old Nishant Abhango from Rajkot, Gujarat, who is the youngest in the team. The winners are looking to pursue their studies at some of the prestigious institutions across the globe, says a post by The Logical Indian.

The Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, which selects and trains students for International Olympiads, shortlisted the team after a rigourous screening process. The center is the core of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, TIFR, Mumbai.

The event was held this year from July 21 and 28. About 396 students from 86 countries participated in the event. While India and China were competing for the top spot, it was the former who walked away with the trophy.

The contest included theoretical and experimental examinations. However, this year’s questions were on LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory) detection of gravitational waves, and ATLAS instrument at the Large Hadron Collider.

Also read: Meet the students who have developed an economical self-driving wheelchair

Addressing the media after the announcement, Praveen Pathak, Scientific Officer at HBCSE, congratulated the winners and said that the Indian team performed very well this year.

In the past, India has managed to win four golds and one silver at the International Olympiad.

Do you have an interesting story to share? Please write to us at [email protected]. To stay updated with more positive news, please connect with us on Facebook and Twitter