Carlos Calderón, a first year of baccalaureate student at CE Mas Camarena in Paterna, is the first student from Valencia to win the Spanish Physics Olympiad in its state phase. In fact, Carlos will be part of the national group of 5 students who will participate in the European Olympics held in Georgia at the end of the year. The list of winners is completed with awards to Olaf Imiolek (student at El Plantío International School in Paterna), Alberto Carpano (IES Joan Fuster ine Sueca) and Luis David Minuesa (IES Dr. Faustí Barberá in Alaquàs).

The Physics Olympiad is an international competition in which students from many countries participate and which is organised by the Spanish Royal Society of Physics (RSEF) in its national phase. This took place this year in Granada to coincide with the 50^th anniversary of Physics studies at this university. The University of Valencia – 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, which was held at the end of February and which consists of a written test of Physics problems and exercises. The four students had already qualified in the local phase of the Olympiad and then participated in the national phase where a total of 96 students qualified in the different parts of the territory participated.

Last Friday, April 5, in the national phase in Granada, the four took part in an experimental test lasting 3 hours and another theoretical test, lasting 4 hours, with 3 problems. In addition, on Saturday morning, they visited the Science Park of Granada where, among other activities, they saw the launch of a meteorological probe balloon and learned about the new IFMIF-DONES project that will be installed in Granada, an accelerator of neutrons to study materials suitable for nuclear fusion facilities. On Sunday, the awards ceremony and the closing ceremony were held in the hall of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Granada.

In addition to the four students mentioned who attended the national test, there were two additional qualifiers from the local phase (substitutes for the national), Ángel García Andreu (IES Vicent Andrés Estellés de Burjassot) and Ana Maset Sola (CE Gençana). The six awardees receive an additional 12-hour experimental course in the faculty’s laboratories, in addition to the 74-hour course students receive before the local test.

Results published on the RSEF website: https://rsef.es/resultados

More information (Delegation for University Integration)