The five-member high school teams from China, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan each took home all gold medals from this year’s International Physics Olympiad, which was held 10–18 July in Bangkok, Thailand.
Taiwan’s Tzu-Ming Hsu was recognized for the best overall score, and competitors from China and Kazakhstan tied for best theoretical score. The Thai home team garnered three golds. A record 393 students from 84 countries participated this year.
The US team earned the fifth-best aggregate score. Brian Zhang of Palo Alto, California, and Ante Qu of Princeton Junction, New Jersey, each won golds. Lucy Chen of Ames, Iowa, Andrew Das Sarma of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Eric Spieglan of Naperville, Illinois, garnered silvers. US team expenses not paid by Thailand were covered by the American Institute of Physics, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Physical Society.
The theoretical questions this year involved gravitational perturbations in...
