The 22nd International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT), known as the Physics World Cup, wrapped up at Nankai University yesterday afternoon. The South Korean student team grabbed gold and the silver medals went to teams from New Zealand and Austria. 13 other national teams, including that from China,, shared the bronze.

Five members from the Chinese team were selected from Nankai Secondary School, Yaohua Secondary School and other prestigious secondary schools across the country. The team was founded by Nankai University and Physical Society of Tianjin (PST) in 2008. They won a bronze when they took part in the 21st IYPT held in Croatia last year, the first time they had entered the event.

IYPT is a competition among teams of secondary school students that tests their ability to solve complicated scientific problems. It asks students to present solutions to these problems in a convincing form and to defend them in scientific discussions, called Physics Fights (PF).

The competition, comprised of 5 Selective Fights and one Final, lasted for 6 days. Every participating team, composed of five secondary school students, has to work out 17 problems and debate in English during the contest.

The problems, formulated in an open way, can be viewed from different angles and are not tasks which can be solved within a short time with known methods, like in an exam. The problems are aimed at putting the students in the same situation as a regular researcher is in.

This is IYPT’s first time in China. The event was initiated by the former Soviet Union in 1988 and alongside the International Physics Olympiad and the International Conference of Young Scientists ranks as the top three international physics contests for secondary school students.

Next year’s 23 rd IYPT is expected to be held in Vienna University of Technology, Austria.

By Guo Changdong