Mexican high school students
have obtained four bronze medals and an honorable mention at the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) , which took place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 21 to 29 July 2018 .
The delegation included Oliver Vicente García Esparza, Oscar Guardado Chacón, Daniel Martín Marín Quiroz, Rubén Ulises Rodríguez González, and Valeria García Hernández . The first four earned a score that made them eligible for the bronze medal, while Valeria García received an honorable mention.
The academics that supported the high school youth were Eleazar Neri and Rodrigo Pelayo Ramos , who are part of the Olympic Physics Coordination of the Mexican Society of Physics , under the responsibility of the researcher from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) , Víctor Romero Rochín.
The Institute of Physics of the Mexican university reported that the forty-ninth edition of the IPhO , organized by the Portuguese Society of Physics , was one of the most attended so far, with a participation of 412 competitors from 90 countries , out of which 42 obtained gold, 69 silver, and 99 bronze medals .
Mexico has participated in the IPhO since 1993 and, since then, 23 bronze medals and 13 honorable mentions have been obtained; 2017 has been the best year yet, with a total of five bronze medals.
Out of the total number of Latin American countries that participated in the contest, Mexico was the second best after Brazil , which won one silver medal and four bronze medals, followed by Argentina (3 bronze), Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Colombia , who each won a single bronze medal.
The International Physics Olympiad is an annual competition for high school students aimed at promoting physics and the development of international contacts. The competition includes theoretical and experimental tests.
Víctor Romero highlighted the results of the scientific fair, stating that “it is the result of the training program that began eight years ago, called ‘ The medals are won in Mexico ,’ supported by the Mexican Physical Society.”
Oliver Vicente García Esparza and Oscar Guardado Chacón, from Nuevo León ; Daniel Martín Marín Quiroz, from the State of Mexico ; Rubén Ulises Rodríguez, from Baja California ; and Valeria García Hernández, from Sinaloa , have been preparing since the beginning of the year with weekly assignments and experimental training at UNAM’s Faculty of Sciences .
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