Indian Students Brought Medals At International Olympaid On Astronomy And Astrophysics

The Indian team won three gold and two silver medals at the 15th International and astrophysics(IOAA Olympiad on Astronomy) 2022, held in Kutaisi, Georgia from 14 to 21 August 2022.

This year’s IOAA saw 209 students from 37 main and 6 guest teams competing. In addition, 24 students from 6 countries participated in the online mode. India ended up in third place along with Singapore, behind Iran’s official team which won five gold medals, and the guest team with 4 Gold and 1 Silver medal.

A total of 28 Gold, 38 Silver and 55 Bronze medals were awarded at the IOAA this year. Raghav Goyal, from Chandigarh, India, won a special prize for the best solution to the most challenging theoretical question.

The team was educated by the Astronomy Olympiad Cell at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) along with instructors and mentors from across the nation. Prof. Aniket Sule, faculty at the HBCSE, was elected president of the international body of IOAA for a five-year term in this year’s event. For the last five years, Prof Sule has served as the Generally Secretary of the IOAA.

The team was accompanied by two leaders, Prof. Sarita Vig from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram, and Prof. Ajit Mohan Srivastava from the Institute of Physics in Bhubaneshwar. They also had two scientific observers with them, Dr. Shriharsh Tendulkar from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, and Tejas Shah from Father Agnel Multipurpose School and Junior College in Navi Mumbai. Dr. Tendulkar is a two-time Gold Medalist from the International Astronomy Olympiad and was the overall topper in 2003.