5 Vietnamese students win medals at International Astrophysics Olympiad

On the morning of August 27, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training announced that the two students who won silver medals were Nguyen Ba Linh and Nguyen Xuan Hoang. The three bronze medals went to Nguyen Thi Thu Minh, Luu Quang Minh, and Dam Ngoc Bao Lam.

All 5 students are students in the physics class at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted. Lam is in grade 11 and the rest are in grade 12.

This is the first time all members of the Vietnamese team participating in IOAA have won awards.

IOAA is an annual competition for high school students interested in astronomy and physics. The competition committee consists of scientists from many countries.

The Ministry of Education and Training assigned Hanoi to select students to compete since 2016. Each year, the Vietnamese delegation has 5 students.

This year, the IOAA was held in Brazil from August 17 to 27, attracting nearly 300 contestants from more than 50 countries and territories. They went through three parts, including theory (5 hours), data processing (3 hours), and day and night observation (2 hours and 15 minutes).

Mr. Le Manh Cuong, the team’s instructor, said that the students had been practicing intensively for nearly two months before the exam. They studied all week, about 9 hours a day, morning, afternoon and evening.

"Both teachers and students are determined to focus on the exam," said Mr. Cuong.

In the previous 8 IOAA appearances, the best achievement of the Vietnamese team was one gold medal and three silver medals in 2019. That year, Nguyen Manh Quan also achieved the highest score in the exam. Quan is currently a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.