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Swiss students win gold in ‘physics World Cup’

The winning Swiss team
The winning Swiss team Simeon Voelkel

Five Swiss high school students have come first in the International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT) in Timisoara, Romania, beating rivals from Poland and Singapore in the final.

The five pupils presented their solution to the “Droplet Explosion” problem, which involved describing how a drop of a water mixture on the surface of an oily liquid can disintegrate into smaller dropletsExternal link.

The solution by Jan Kamm, Anja Christina Duevel, David Fankhauser, Chengjie Hu and Joel Tan convinced the jury the most, securing victory for SwitzerlandExternal link ahead of Poland and Singapore.

The team had previously spent over a year working out solutions to 17 physics problems. At the international tournament their results and conclusions were scrutinised by opposing teams in a discussion. The performances were also graded by an expert jury. This qualified them for the final against Poland and Singapore.

At the tournament, teams from almost 30 countries competed against each other. Each country was represented by five students.

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Competing at the brain Olympics

This content was published on Open to students aged14 to 19, the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) takes place once a year in a different country, with Switzerland and Liechtenstein hosting the 2016 edition. This international competition is aimed at secondary school students who are particularly talented in physics. Each country holds national elimination rounds that culminate in the selection of…

Read more: Competing at the brain Olympics

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