In order to get ready for two international Olympiads in physics, a group of students comprising Serbia’s team was at the Institute of Physics Belgrade. They took part in intense training for these competitions organised by researchers of the Institute.
Five students who succeeded in securing a place in the national physics Olympiad team are as follows: Andrej Drobnjaković and Janko Popović, who attend the third and fourth years, respectively, at the Mathematical Gymnasium in Belgrade, Dušan Lazić, a third-year student at Kraljevo Gymnasium, Vlajko Adžić, also a third-year student of the Computing Gymnasium in Belgrade and Nikola Nešović, who attends the fourth grade of the First Kragujevac Gymnasium.
Alongside the main team members, two reserve students—Luka Smiljanić, a second-year student, and Jovan Kulezić, a third-year student, both from the Mathematical Gymnasium—also took part in the training.
They will participate in the International Physics Olympiad, which is scheduled to take place in Paris in the period between 17 and 25 July, as well as the European Physics Olympiad, taking place in Sofia, between 13 and 17 June.
The preparations, which took place from 2 to 6 June, were conducted by experienced lecturers and associates of the Institute, including Dr Nenad Vukmirović, Dr Marko Opačić, and Dr Dejan Đokić. They included both the experimental and theoretical parts.
Most experimental setups were developed at the Institute of Physics Belgrade for the purpose of solving experimental tasks in previous Serbian Physics Olympiads, while some are tasks from previous international olympiads.
Throughout the entire day-long, thorough training, young talents had an opportunity to visit several centres and laboratories of the Institute, such as the Centre for the Study of Complex Systems, Centre for the Solid State Physics and New Materials, as well as the newly formed Laboratory for Experimental Astrobiology.
During their stay, the Olympiad contestants were welcomed by the Institute’s Director, Dr Aleksandar Bogojević, while during their tour of laboratories, they got an opportunity to meet researchers, see various experiments, infrastructure and research conducted in the Institute.
The Institute of Physics Belgrade has been developing numerous programmes of work with young people. In addition to working with talents such as this Olympiad team, the Institute hosts dozens of student and pupil internships annually, and researchers actively participate in the development of future generations of physicists by encouraging excellence and early scientific literacy.
Every year, the Institute is visited by a large number of elementary and secondary school students from all over Serbia, as well as numerous preschoolers and senior citizens who are interested in discovering what a research institution in Serbia looks like and does.
Photos by: Bojan Džodan