Astronomy and astrophysics Olympiads

Applications are called from schoolchildren wishing to participate in the National Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad competition-2009 and for the Sri Lankan Physics Olympiad competition-2009 both due on July 18, 2009.

The Astronomy Olympiad competition will be held just after the Physics Olympiad competition facilitating the students to face both the Olympiads on the same day. These two Olympiad competitions will be held in all three languages (Sinhala/Tamil/English) at the examination centres at Departments of Physics in the universities of Colombo, Peradeniya, Kelaniya, Ruhuna, Batticaloa and Jaffna.

Those who do well in the national competition will be given medals and certificates at national level. A maximum of five selected students who excelled at the National Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad will be sent to Iran in October, 2009 to participate in the third International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA).

Meanwhile, the best eight and five students selected from the Physics Olympiad competition will be sent to 41st International Physics Olympiad in Croatia in July, 2010 and Asian Physics Olympiad in April, 2010. These Olympiads are organized by the Institute of Physics - Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Education Ministry and the Department of Physics, University of Colombo.

Application forms for the Olympiad competitions can be obtained from the IPSL website www.ip-sl.org.

The deadline for receiving applications for both the Olympiads is June 30, 2009.