The Philippines won two awards at the 52nd International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) held from July 10 to 17.
Based on official results, the Philippines’ Franco Mari Cabral of the Philippine Science High School-Main bagged a bronze medal while Harold Scott Chua of the Philippine Science High School-Main was awarded honorable mention.
The IPhO closing ceremony was held online on July 17.
The 2022 IPhO was supposed to be held in-person in Belarus but the organizing committee decided to hold it online after more than 65 percent of the participating countries voted that they wanted for the contest to be held virtually this year. Switzerland was designated as the host for this year’s online contest.
This was the first time since 2019 that the Philippines participated in the IPhO, according to an online post by team leader Jose Perico Esguerra. In 2019, the Philippines won one silver and three bronze medals.
The Philippines had three contestants to the IPhO this year: Cabral, Chua, and Gabriel Angelo Vila of the Philippine Science High School-Calabarzon.
Team leaders were Esguerra and Alexander delos Reyes while the invigilators, or proctors, were Nina Angelica Zambale and Rhenish Simon.
According to the IPhO website, the competition had two parts: theoretical and practical exams, each about five hours long.
“Theoretical exam consists of three problems while experimental exam can consist of one or two problems from various fields of physics,” it added.
Recently, the Philippines won two bronze medals and four honorable mentions at the 63rd International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).