The First Balkan Physics Olympiad – BPO2019
The idea of a Balkan Physical Olympiad (BPO) emerged at the time of the formation of the Balkan Physics Union (1985-1987). Based on this long-standing idea, after the initiative from the Hellenic Physical Society (HPS) and numerous joint discussions, the Balkan Physics Union (BPU) Council decided to accept the initiative for the organisation of BPO and to coordinate its preparation. The decision was taken in Sofia on 28th August 2018. The basic documents for the First Balkan Physical Olympiad – BPO2019 were adopted in Craiova, at the joint meetings of BPU ExCom, European Physical Society Committee of European Integration and SEENET-MTP on 17-18th May.
The First Balkan Physics Olympiad was held in Thessaloniki, Greece, at the American Farm School from 14th to 18th July. The competition was organised by the HPS under the auspices of the BPU. It was supported by the European Physical Society (EPS) and held under the aegis of the Department of Physics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace and the Regional Government of Central Macedonia. Pupils from eight full BPU member countries participated: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey, together with two guest teams Bosnia & Herzegovina and Slovenia, making a total of ten teams. Each team consisted of two to four pupils, born after 1st January 2002, and their team-leaders.
The competition has gained in popularity since the very beginning, and the number of participating teams confirms that there was a great need for such a competition. As the aim of Olympiads of this character is not only to create a challenging and exciting competition for the secondary school students, but also to further their horizons and introduce them to various fields of the examined science, there were numerous interesting lectures that introduced the participants of the First Balkan Physics Olympiad to different fields of physics such as cosmology, crystallography, quantum physics. The importance of multidisciplinary collaborations between sciences, which is becoming essential these days, was presented through a seminar on earthquakes, as a part of the OSOS project, one of the main sponsors of BPO2019. Another important aspect of competitions like this is meeting peers from other countries, making friendships and sharing experiences. For these purposes various leisure activities were provided – the participants had a city tour, star gazing activity and a dinner at NOESIS (Science Center & Technology Museum). The organisers gave their best to make participants feel comfortable and to further their horizons. All participants expressed their gratitude to the whole local organising team chaired by Dr. Kostas Vourlias.
As for the competition itself, it consisted of four problems – each problem was worth 25 points, making 100 points in total. The tasks were prepared and selected by the Scientific Committee consisting of ten members from all participating countries. The prizes were divided into four categories – gold (best 10% participants), silver (next 15%) and bronze (next 25%) medals for the first three places (shared by certain percentage of participants) and the Honorable Mention for the next 17% of pupils and the pupils who obtained the full marks on at least one problem. There were four gold medals in total, three were won by the three Romanian team members and one by a Serbian team member. Consequently, the Romanian team was the most successful one, winning three gold and one silver medals, then the Serbian team winning one gold, one silver and two bronze medals, followed by the Bulgarian team winning three silver and one bronze medals. The awards ceremony was in the Amphitheatre of the NOESIS on 17th July. The medals and awards were provided from the support given by the EPS, HPS and University of Craiova. The gold medals were presented by the EPS Secretary-General David Lee. The absolute winner – Oros Vlad Stefan (Romania) received a special prize awarded by the SEENET-MTP Centre Niš which was given by the BPU president Goran Djordjević.
The next Balkan Physics Olympiad will be held in Romania in July 2020. The BPO will stay open for high school students from the Balkans, as well as for the students worldwide as guest participants. The success of the First BPO raises hope that even more participants will take part in the years to come.
More information at www.balkanphysicalunion.info
