An award ceremony was held today at the RAS Presidium for the winners of the All-Russian Quiz of Young Physicists, an initiative of the Department of Physical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The event was organized by the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Department of Physical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, RAS professoriate, the Russian Physical Society, the Moscow Pedagogical State University (MPSU), the “Nauka 0+” science festival as well as the Prosveshcheniye publishing house. In total, more than 1000 students from 104 schools (grades 5 to 11) took part in the competition, representing 56 regions of Russia. The quiz was presented as part of the festivities commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The quiz saw active participation by students from 67 schools collaborating on the RAS Basic Schools project launched by the Russian Academy of Sciences together with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
Problems for the competition were submitted by 27 scientists. All problems required non-standard approaches for solving them. Thus, students had to apply their ingenuity and reasoning and to expand their horizons.
Top contenders and prize-winners of the All-Russian Quiz in Physics were congratulated by the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Mikhailovich Sergeev, Deputy Secretary Academician of the RAS Department of Physical Sciences, Research Director of the RAS Institute of Solid State Physics, RAS Academician Vitaly Vladimirovich Kveder, Director of P. N. Lebedev Physics Institute and Corresponding Member of RAS Nikolay Nikolayevich Kolachevsky, Deputy Director of the RAS Institute for Space Research, Chairman of the Professoriate Coordinating Council of RAS, RAS Professor Alexander Anatolyevich Lutovinov, as well as the editor-in-chief of the Prosveshcheniye publishing house Nadezhda Borisovna Kolesnikova.
The head of the Russian Academy of Sciences noted the high intelligence and skill of all the participants in the quiz who showed brilliant results at the competition. “Our scientific trajectory is what is really important to us now. One has to study long and assiduously to achieve success in science. It is not easy to become a scientist, it requires perseverance, but it is that fascinating! It happens through interest, through contact with scientists who display their interest in you. We, the Academy of Sciences and our scientists, want to illustrate further opportunities for cooperation to you, to show you what prospects are possible,” said Alexander Sergeev.
“Science is terribly engaging. The scientific trajectory is a matter of extreme importance for the nation. Scientific research is facing increasing demand today. We believe it is really great that you have participated in the quiz. Special thanks go to the Department of Physical Sciences for organizing the competition with such wonderful results. We have new tools, new opportunities to develop science here in Russia,” said Alexander Lutovinov, professor of RAS.
According to the organizer of the All-Russian Quiz of Young Physicists, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Andrey Vitalyevich Naumov, the competition is planned to be held as a traditional spring event enabling school students to communicate directly with representatives of the Russian Academy of Sciences and leading scientists in Russia.
“The Russian Academy of Sciences has begun to actively pursue various formats of interaction between scientists and students, between university and school students, and between school students and the Academy. At the request of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Department of Physical Sciences decided to hold a three-week long quiz for the first time ever in a rather unusual format: every day students were asked three questions from academicians and professors of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Challenging questions and problems were sent to all cities of the country. The response from school students was encouraging. Basic schools of the Russian Academy of Sciences took the lead, to be joined by other schools from Russia’s regions. More than 1000 people responded questions, held experiments and came forward with inventive solutions,” Andrey Naumov commented.
In the senior tier (10th and 11th graders), Anatoly Aleksandrov, an 11th grader from the 45th secondary school of Novosibirsk won. Among 8th and 9th graders, the prize came to Denis Babushkin, a 9th grader at Gornostay Educational Center in Novosibirsk. In the junior tier (5th to 7th graders), the winner was Mikhail Ptitsyn, a 5th grader from the Physics and Engineering Lyceum No.1 in Saratov. In the mixed tier (encompassing grades from 5th to 11th), two winners were nominated: Mikhail Urakov with 32 points (a 7th grader from the Lyceum of Economics and Mathematics No.29 in Izhevsk) and Polina Sizova with 31 points (a 7th grader from the Secondary School No.11 of Samara).
The experience with the competition was rewarding to all participants in the All-Russian Quiz of Young Physicists. Thanks to the quiz, students learned to put forward their own hypotheses and ways of solving problems, also obtaining experience in the study of specific matters.
The award ceremony for winners of the All-Russian Quiz of Young Physicists held by the Department of Physical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences
