Eight teams, six months of preparation, three days of physics competitions. The winners of this year’s 39th Young Physicists’ Tournament have been announced. The title went to Kryštof Basista (J. Kainar High School in Hlučín) and Michal Fišer and Daniel Jedlička from the Higher Vocational School and Secondary Technical School of Electrical Engineering in Plzeň. Second place went to a team composed of students from the Ch. Doppler High School in Prague and the Týn nad Vltavou High School, while the bronze medal goes to Mendel High School in Opava.
The three-day national competition was the culmination of six months of effort by talented students who, starting with the initial training camp, had advanced through the district and regional rounds all the way to the national finals. Behind this success lie hundreds of hours of work, during which they developed their own measuring equipment, conducted experiments, explained their observations, and simultaneously honed their skills in scientific argumentation, critical thinking, and teamwork.
For some, however, winning the finals is just the beginning. The top competitors will participate in an intensive selection camp. During this camp, a team will be formed to represent the Czech Republic at the international round in Zurich, which will take place this summer.
“This year’s competition was of an exceptionally high standard. The students surprised us not only with the depth of their knowledge, but also with their ability to argue persuasively and defend their solutions,” says competition organizer Hynek Němec of the Institute of Physics at the Czech Academy of Sciences.
One of the members of the winning team is the talented physicist Kryštof Basista from Bohumín, who participated in the tournament for the second time and, after graduating from high school this year, will go on to study theoretical physics at the prestigious Imperial College London. “Thanks to my participation in the Young Physicists’ Tournament, I’ve gained not only specialized knowledge but also a deep physical intuition. You encounter phenomena that take you out of the comfort zone of high school physics and force you to grapple with truly complex problems,” Basista explains. “At last year’s international finals, I also significantly improved my soft skills: I learned to clearly articulate my thoughts, present effectively, and speak to the point. These skills are indispensable for studying any science—whether when defending theses and dissertations or, later on, grant proposals,” concludes one of the tournament’s winners.
The Young Physicists’ Tournament is a prestigious competition for high school students interested in physics. Participants showcase not only their knowledge but also their creativity and enthusiasm for science. In doing so, they learn to solve complex problems as if they were part of real scientific research.
photo: Tomáš Belloň
