Javier López Fernández (San José de Calasanz School in Valencia), Leonardo Costa Lesage (Pere Boïl High School in Manises), Adrián Lambies Asensio (Sacred Heart HH Maristas School in Valencia) and Darian Leucian Pele (Levante International School of Chiva), high school students trained by the University of Valencia (UV), have been winners of one gold, one silver and two bronzes, respectively, in the national phase of the Physics Olympiad, held this year electronically.
The Physics Olympiad is an international competition in which students from many countries take part and which is organised by the Royal Spanish Society of Physics (RSEF) in its national phase. The UV – through the Faculty of Physics and the Delegation for Incorporation into the University – as well as the Polytechnic University are in charge of the local phase of the competition in Valencia. The high school students who participate in this phase opt, among other things, for a study grant worth € 1,000 to enroll in the first year of a degree at a centre of the University of Valencia and qualify for the national test.
This year, the national event, scheduled for Murcia in April, was suspended and finally postponed until July 17, when it will be held electronically with a system of control of participants via webcam. A few days later the results were announced, and the four representatives of the university district of Valencia won medals. The international and Ibero-American phases that the first national qualifiers should have gone to have been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first (local) phase of the competition began with a preliminary test held last October, in which the first participants were selected, who received a physics course of about 70 hours taught by teachers from both universities and additionally 12 hours of laboratory for classified students, taught at the UV.
The selection and classification tests for the national phase took place in February, in which six students were classified, two of them as substitutes. The teaching staff that forms the local organising committee of the Physics Olympiad is made up of teachers Chantal Ferrer (UV), Fernando Tena (UV) and Juan Carlos Carrión (UPV), and a representation of the teachers of the course.
More information: www.uv.es/fisica and www.uv.es/incorporaciouv
