New Delhi: Three young Indian students have brought glory to the country by winning medals at the 2nd International Olympiad on Astronomy & Astrophysics for Juniors (IOAA-Jr) held in Volos, Greece.
The Indian team consisted of Aarush Mishra of Karnataka, who bagged the gold medal, Siddharth Kumar Gopal of Kerala, who secured the silver medal, and Satwik Patnaik of Odisha, who clinched the bronze medal at the event which took place between 24 and 30 September.
All three carried the Indian flag and wore traditional Indian attire as they received their medals Saturday. They were also accompanied by their team leaders, who guided them throughout the competition.
Siddharth Gopal is also a recipient of Bal Shakti Puraskar 2020 for his “excellence in the field of Scholastic”. His achievements in the English Olympiad, Geogenius Olympiad and Science Olympiad, drew him appreciation from the Prime Minister that year.
The International Olympiad on Astronomy & Astrophysics for Juniors (IOAA-Jr) is an annual competition of astronomy and astrophysics for students up to Class 10.
The three students were selected by a four-stage process conducted across the country through the Indian National Astronomy (Junior) Olympiad (INAO-Jr) programme conducted by the Ministry of Culture’s National Council of Science Museums (NCSM).
“The National Science Olympiad starts with an examination held at schools across the country and culminates with the International Astronomy Olympiad at different corners of the world,” according to the NCSM website.
The national-level examination is designed to assess conceptual understanding, logical reasoning, and the ability to apply problem-solving skills to novel situations, both theoretical and observational, the website said.
According to the website, those who clear the National Standard Examination across schools, head to the next stage, which is the Indian National Olympiad-Junior Science.
In May, 20 students who qualified for the third stage were called for “orientation-cum-selection camp” at the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai. There, the students were given orientation for “Olympiad-level theoretical, problem-solving, data analysis, and observational tasks”, which was followed by tests.
Based on these tests, the three students were selected, said the NCSM website.
After these three stages came the pre-departure camp, where the students underwent an intensive training programme. According to the NCSM, the programme focused on theoretical and observational astronomy.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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