International Physics Olympiad to be held in Iran from July

Mumbai, May 21 (UNI) The International Physics Olympiad (IPO), a unique event designed to discover, encourage and challenge exceptionally gifted young students from all over the world will be held in Iran from July 13 to July 22.

Addressing reporters today, National Coordinator, Science Olympiads, Professor Vijay Singh said, ''The event represents a celebration of the best in higher secondary school in physics and over 80 countries are expected to participate this year. The Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBSCE) has been a nodal centre for training and selecting students for the Physics Olympiad since 1998''.

''HBSCE collaborates with the Indian Association of Physics Teacher (IAPT) for implementing the programme. The Science Olympiad Programmes are funded by the Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Science and Technology and Ministry of Human Resource and Development,'' he added.

The preparations for selecting the team began in November 2006.

About 42,000 students from across the nation participated in the first level examination conducted by IAPT. After several levels of examination, 35 students were selected to participate in an intensive training camp namely the orientation cum selection camp for Physics Olympiad at (HBCSE) from May 10 to May 21.

On the concluding day of the training camp a team of five students, who will represent India at the 38th International olympiad at Iran, were announced at the Valedictory function held at HBSCE today with Professor Mustansir Barma of TIFR was the Chief Guest at the valedictory function.

The selected five students are Harsh Harivansh Pareek from Mumbai, Pratyush Pandey from Jaipur, Raman Sharma from Jaipur, Rohit Singh from Dehradun and Vivek Lohani from Almora. The team will be accompanied by two leaders Prof Charudatt Kadolkar of IIT, Guwahati, Dr Vishwjeet Kulkarni of Smt Parvatibai Chowgule College, Goa and one scientific observer and Prof Vijay Singh National Coordinator Science Olympiads of HBSCE Mumbai.

The students who have been selected for Special Prizes of the Indian Physics Association (IPA) are: The IPA Prize for ''Best Solution to a Challenging Problem''(Rs 3000 in the form of Books and cash) to Pranay Chandru Bhatia from Mumbai and IPA Prize for ''Best Performance in Experimental Programme'' (Rs 3000 in the form of Books and cash) to Soham U Mehta from Nagpur.

UNI