The Greek government may be having trouble dealing with the staggering numbers of a crushing economic crisis, but Greek students are showing they are among the tops in the world solving theoretical, analytical and observational problems in astronomy and astrophysics.
Greek students won a silver and two bronze medals at The 6th Annual International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, home of the 2016 Olympics. The students outshone Greek athletes, who won only two bronze medals at the 2012 London Olympics that just concluded. The young, budding astrophysicists and astronomers received their awards in a ceremony on Aug. 13, prizes that came after Greek students won a gold, a silver and three bronze medals at the 53rd International Mathematical Olympiad on July 16.
The Greek team at theIOAA consisted of Krinio Marouda (Lechena, Ilia); Manos Vourliotis, of Athens, who also won a bronze medal during the recent Physics Olympiad in Estonia); Paris Tzitzimpasis (Drama); Themis Prapas (Larissa); and Ioanna Kourkoulou (Glyka Nera, Attika)
Professors Giannis Siradakis and Konstantinos Melidis of the Physics Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Professor L. Zachilas of the University of Thessaly, Physicist Christos Ksenakis from Volos and several students and amateurs worked together to prepare the Greek pupils for the Olympiad. The transportation costs were covered by the Greek Ministry of Education under the auspices of the University of Thessaly and Latsis Foundation.
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