Tuymaada International Olympiad Insights
TUYMAADA INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIAD IN PHYSICS
Dr. Yury Grigoriev, Dr.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics, member of the Academy of Sciences
of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Physics Methodological Commission Chair
Olympiad problems are officially on par with advanced
secondary school curricula. However, in order to successfully
complete them, in addition to factual knowledge, it is necessary
to have a clear understanding of the purpose of analytical
procedures, a feel for physics, ingenuity, persistency and a
solid grasp of mathematical transformation techniques. All this
is what makes a problem an olympiad problem, and what is
always present in creative and scientific work. It is these things
that make participation in olympiads a first step on the road
to success in modern science. Identifying young talents and
developing their creative abilities and interest in physics are
closely related to researcher training and are considered to
be one of the most important national priorities. The history
of subject olympiads dates back to the late 1960s and is
connected with famous Russian scientists Pyotr Kapitsa, Isaak
Kikoin, Andrey Kolmogorov, and losif Slobodetsky.
Yakutia was one of the first regions to join the Olympiad
Movement. The Movement formed an intellectual basis for
the opening of Tuymaada International Olympiad in 1994 and
became a logical extension of the existing physics-mathematics
movement in the Republic. The Government of the Republic of
Sakha (Yakutia) and the Ministry of Education of the Republic
of Sakha (Yakutia), which was the original force behind the
idea of Tuymaada, promptly gave their support. The young
specialists of the Ministry of Education were excited to carry
out an experiment that had no analogues in Russia. It's safe
to say now that the experiment was successful. Everything
was new back then and carried a certain level of risk. Belief in
the success of the Olympiad rested on the competence and
experience of the academic staff of
Yakutsk State University (currently
North-Eastern Federal University), a
quarter-century long experience of
physics and mathematics schools,
as well as the understanding and
support of the Republic's people.
The keys to the success of the first
Tuymaada included proper organization of the event, call for
assistance from the most famous Russian schools, and their
generous response.
As far as Tuymaada Olympiad in physics is concerned, the
organizing committee contacted the researchers and teachers
of Novosibirsk Akademgorodok and Chelyabinsk Physics
and Mathematics Lyceum No. 31. Invaluable assistance was
rendered by research fellows Anatoly Trubachev and Vladimir
Shelest (Novosibirsk), Ivan logolevich (Chelyabinsk), and
Professor Stanislav Kozel, Doctor of Science in Physics and
Mathematics, the patriarch of the physics olympiad movement
from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Thanks to
their work Tuymaada received the experience of the best Russian
olympiads and former international olympiad competitors
and members of the Russian Team Vitaly Vavilov and Roman
Alferov became members of its methodological commission.
Then they passed the torch to Dr. Vyacheslav Muraviev and, in
recent years, Aleksandr Chudnovsky, who is still the most active
member of the Physics Methodological Commission.
The members of the Physics Jury of different years include
assistant professors of Moscow Institute of Physics and
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