International Physics Olympiad

The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) is a physics competition for secondary school students and is one of the International Olympiads. The main aim of IPhO is to test the highest level of knowledge, critical thinking, problem solving, right practices of presentation and analysis, and hands-on skills in theoretical and experimental physics.

The first IPhO was organized by Prof. Czesław Ścisłowski in Warsaw (Poland) in 1967. Since then, the Olympiad has been organized annually in different countries as a 9-10-days competition wherein national teams comprising a maximum of five of their best physics students and two team leaders participate.

Logo of the 50th International Physics Olympiad 2019 in Israel.

Overview

Number	Year	Host Country	Host City
1	1967	Poland	Warsaw
2	1968	Hungary	Budapest
3	1969	Czechoslovakia	Brno
4	1970	Soviet Union	Moscow
5	1971	Bulgaria	Sofia
6	1972	Romania	Bucharest
	1973	Not held as no country was willing to organise it.
7	1974	Poland	Warsaw
8	1975	East Germany	Güstrow
9	1976	Hungary	Budapest
10	1977	Czechoslovakia	Hradec Králové
	1978	Not held as no non-socialist country was ready to organise the competition without a prior, necessary long-time preparation effort.
11	1979	Soviet Union	Moscow
	1980	Not held as no non-socialist country was ready to organise the competition without a prior, necessary long-time preparation effort.
12	1981	Bulgaria	Varna
13	1982	West Germany	Malente
14	1983	Romania	Bucharest
15	1984	Sweden	Sigtuna
16	1985	Yugoslavia	Portorož
17	1986	United Kingdom	London-Harrow
18	1987	East Germany	Jena
19	1988	Austria	Bad Ischl
20	1989	Poland	Warsaw
21	1990	Netherlands	Groningen
22	1991	Cuba	Havana
23	1992	Finland	Helsinki
24	1993	United States	Williamsburg
25	1994	China	Beijing
26	1995	Australia	Canberra
27	1996	Norway	Oslo
28	1997	Canada	Sudbury
29	1998	Iceland	Reykjavík
30	1999	Italy	Padova
31	2000	United Kingdom	Leicester
32	2001	Turkey	Antalya
33	2002	Indonesia	Bali
34	2003	Taiwan	Taipei
35	2004	South Korea	Pohang
36	2005	Spain	Salamanca
37	2006	Singapore	Singapore
38	2007	Iran	Isfahan
39	2008	Vietnam	Hanoi
40	2009	Mexico	Mérida
41	2010	Croatia	Zagreb
42	2011	Thailand	Bangkok
43	2012	Estonia	Tartu and Tallinn
44	2013	Denmark	Copenhagen
45	2014	Kazakhstan	Astana
46	2015	India	Mumbai
47	2016	Switzerland and Liechtenstein	Zurich
48	2017	Indonesia	Yogyakarta
49	2018	Portugal	Lisbon
50	2019	Israel	Tel Aviv
	2020	Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A Russia-organized IdPhO 2020 was held instead as an IPhO endorsed event.
51	2021	Lithuania	Vilnius (online)
52	2022	Switzerland	Held online; Belarus was supposed to be host but cancelled due to involvement in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
53	2023	Japan	Tokyo
54	2024	Iran	Isfahan
55	2025	France	TBD
56	2026	Colombia	TBD
57	2027	Hungary	TBD
58	2028	South Korea	TBD
59	2029	Ecuador	TBD