European Physics Olympiad

The European Physics Olympiad (EuPhO) is a physics competition for schoolchildren that has been held annually since 2017. The competition is about solving theoretical and experimental tasks under exam conditions. The competition lasts five days and includes two five-hour exams, one experimental and one theoretical. Compared to the worldwide International Physics Olympiad , the tasks are shorter and require somewhat more creative solutions.

procedure

The EuPhO lasts five days. The process follows the same pattern: On the first day, arrival of the delegations and the opening ceremony. There is a five-hour experimental exam on the second day and a theoretical exam on the third day. The fourth day is reserved for the discussion of the corrections. In contrast to the IPhO , for example, the students are allowed to discuss their points themselves. On the last day the closing ceremony with award ceremony takes place. The time between the competition elements is filled with a supporting program, excursions and activities.

Attendees

Winner of the first EuPhO

Each participating country sends a team of up to five students into the competition. The pupils must not have studied at a university and be under 20 years old on June 30 of the year of the event. Each student works alone in the competition, teamwork is not intended. The team is accompanied by a head of delegation who primarily takes care of translating the tasks. Additional observers and visitors are also allowed to drive to the competition.

history

The European Physics Olympiad was initiated by Estonia in 2017. The 20 participating countries of the first EuPhO were Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia, Georgia, Croatia, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkey and Hungary. The idea of the competition was to create a European competition similar to other regional physics competitions such as the Asian Physics Olympiad or the Ibero-American Physics Olympiad , with which talented students are promoted. The EuPhO basically follows the example of the International Physics Olympiad, in which around 100 teams are already participating. In contrast to such a large competition, which requires very structured tasks, the EuPhO has explicitly set itself the goal of using short and open tasks that require more creativity and their own solutions from the students. These are more difficult to correct, but on the other hand more exciting for the students and closer to real research situations.

The second EuPhO was held in 2018 at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in Russia and the third in Latvia. The fourth Olympiad was planned for June 2-6, 2020 in Satu Mare , Romania, but was then held as an online competition due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in which each national team received the tasks via the Internet and these from Home country from machined.

Prices

The best participants of the EuPhO receive medals at the closing ceremony. The required point limits are set so that at least 8% of the participants receive a gold medal, at least 25% a silver medal (or better) and at least 50% a bronze medal (or better). Special prizes are awarded for special achievements, such as best participant, best experiment, best female participant, price for honesty or price for the clearest solution. Prize money in the order of 300 euros was also distributed for this.

Venues

The host countries change annually. The host country is responsible for organizing the competition. The physics tasks are created by an international committee.

Previous venues

No.	year	Host country	city	Teams	student	date	Notes, web links
1.	2017	Estonia Estonia	Tartu	20th	91	05/20 - May 24th	http://eupho.ut.ee/
2.	2018	Russia Russia	Dolgoprudny	23	115	05/28 - 1.06.	http://eupho2018.mipt.ru
3.	2019	Latvia Latvia	Riga	35	169	05/31 - 4.06.	https://eupho2019.lv
4th	2020	on-line	-	54	260	07/20 - 26.07.	https://eupho.ee/eupho-2020/