The 1999 US Physics Team--represented by 5 high school students--is bringing home 3 gold medals and 2 silver medals--ranking the US 3rd out of the 66 countries that participated. They finished in front of China and every European nation in the competition, which took place in Italy.
The students are now returning from the 30th International Physics Olympiad at the University of Padua in Italy, where Galileo Galilei once taught.
These modern-day Galileos faced a grueling two-day series of experimental and theoretical problems. For example, they had to compute the precise trajectory of a space probe that uses the Jupiter's gravity as a slingshot--a technique used in real-life spacecraft.
Gold medalists:
Peter Onyisi (Arlington, VA) is the son of a Nigerian college professor and an
American foreign service employee. A graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy in New
Hampshire, where he was also a member of the track team.
Benjamin Mathews (Dallas, TX), is a graduate of St. Mark's School, and will be heading to Caltech.
Andrew Lin (Wallingford, CT), a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall School.
Silver medalists:
Natalia Toro (Boulder, CO), at fourteen years of age, graduated from Fairview
High School this year and is heading to MIT this fall. Natalia is also the
youngest person to win the top prize of the Intel (formerly Westinghouse)
Science Talent Search. Before graduating she started a tutoring program for
middle-school kids in her hometown and is fluent in multiple languages.
Jason Oh (Baltimore, MD), graduated from Gilman High School this year. He was the arts editor of the school newspaper. Upon returning from the Olympiad, Jason plans to tutor inner-city high school students in the Upward Bound Program.
The 1999 US Physics Team is sponsored in part by the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics.
Information and Pictures of US Physics Team members: www.aapt.org/programs/physteam/team99/team99.html
Exam Questions for 30th International Physics Olympiad (Official site) mac88d.ts.infn.it/Olifis/welcome.htm