Selection contest for the International Physics Olympiad

What are the objectives of the competition?

The International Physics Olympiad and the selection process in Germany promote the abilities of secondary school students with a particular talent for physics and support early contacts with the field of national and international science. The participants are encouraged to independently work on physics issues. Furthermore, international contacts at school and didactic level are established and maintained within the framework of the competition.

Who can participate?

The German team at the IPhO consists of the five best candidates from the selection contest, which is organized by the Leibniz Institute for Science Education in Kiel. Secondary school students at general and vocational schools who have not turned 20 on 30 June of the year of the IPhO are eligible to take part.
The selection contest consists of four rounds. The problems in the first and second rounds are distributed via the schools and solved independently at home. Specialist literature may be used for this purpose. The 50 best candidates nation-wide in the second round are invited to take part in the third round. This involves a one-week seminar with examinations in theory and practice, courses to intensify the students' knowledge in the field of physics as well as interesting excursions. The final step is the fourth round which is held in the spring of the IPhO when 15 young people once again face each other in examinations to determine the best five to represent Germany in the international competition.
During the rounds, they will have to solve theoretical and experimental assignments from all fields of school physics. In type and scope, they often go far beyond requirements at school.

What prizes and awards do participants receive?

Prizes include certificates, books and money, visits to companies and the opportunity to conduct research practicals in Germany and abroad. Anyone who manages to reach the third round as a particularly young candidate also has an opportunity to qualify for the European Science Olympiad (EUSO) and to thus get a first taste of an international competition.
The five best candidates in the fourth round are also eligible to funding from the German National Academic Foundation.  They have the opportunity to gain a study scholarship. In recent years, the German Physical Society has also awarded its prize for secondary school students to members of the national team.

Too young for the IPhO?

There is no lower age limit for the selection contests for the IPhO. But since all the participants have to solve the same problems, some younger school students consider the contest too difficult.
In this case, possible alternatives are the Land Olympiads for Physics held by Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia and the national Lower Secondary Level Physics Competition as these are aimed specifically at younger candidates and the problems are set according to the candidate's age.

Links:

Internationale Physik Olympiade
Bundesweiter Wettbewerb Physik Sekundarstufe I
Ehemaligenverein Orpheus e.V.
Naturwissenschaftliche Wettbewerbe am IPN

Contact:

Internationale PhysikOlympiade
Leibniz-Institut für die Pädagogik der Naturwissenschaften an der Universität Kiel
Olshausenstraße 62
24098 Kiel

 

Organization:

Dr. Stefan Petersen
Phone:  +49 (0) 431/880-5120
E-Mail