Declaring that the middle of May is “an impossible time for US high schools to participate,” US organizers declined to send a team to Croatia to compete at the International Young Physicists’ Tournament earlier this year. Instead, the US Association for Young Physicists Tournaments Inc, formed in 2003 in part to compete in the IYPT, hosted its own international competition over a weekend last February. The USAYPT will begin fundraising “in earnest” this fall to expand on its tournament and its efforts to promote research in high schools, says USAYPT secretary and treasurer Bruce Oldaker.
Even though IYPT statutes allow the host country to choose dates between May and July, the decision to hold the 21st IYPT—billed “The Physics World Cup” by its organizers—so early is a rare one, says IYPT president Gunnar Tibell. “All dates are awkward for some countries,” adds Tibell. “Of course, we are concerned that the...
