Minutes of the Meetings of the International Board during
the 39th International Physics Olympiad in Hanoi (Vietnam)
July 20-29, 2008

1. The following 82 countries were present at the 39th International Olympiad:
Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia &Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile (*), China, Colombia, Croatia,Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, GreatBritain, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy,Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macau, Macedonia,Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, ThePhilippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico (**), Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia,Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland,
Syria (*),Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, USA,Vietnam.
(*) - new countries invited by the Organizing Committee to the Olympiad this year,(**) - invited by the Organizing Committee as a guest team.

2. The results of marking the papers marked by the organisers were presented.
The best score (44.6 points) was achieved by Longzhi Tan from China (Absolute winner of the39th IPhO). The following limits for awarding the medals and the honourable mentions wereestablished according to the Statutes:
Gold Medal
Silver Medal
Bronze Medal
Honourable Mention

33 points
26 points
21 points
14 points

According to the limits 46 Gold Medals, 47 Silver Medals, 78 Bronze Medals and 87Honourable Mentions were awarded. The list of the scores of the winners and the students
awarded with honourable mentions were distributed among all the delegations.

3. In addition to the regular prizes the following special prizes were awarded:
for

the
best
Longzhi Tan (China)

forthe best score
Longzhi Tan (China)

in

score

thetheoretical(Absolutepartofthewinner)competition:?forthe best score in
Yi-Shu Wei (Taiwan)

theexperimental

forthebestscore
Andrada Ianus (Romania)

among



Gorzkowski?
Prize(for the best participant among the countries that joined first in the IPhO in 2008):
Efrain Alfonso Perez Argandona (Chile)fortheHuynh Minh Toan

bestpartoffemale

Vietnamese

thecompetition:

participants:

competitor:

4. At the beginning of the first meeting of the International Board the President of the IPhOs
informed the audience that the Indonesian leader Dr. Rachmat Widodo Adi had passed away on
13th April 2008. She read the words of memory written by Professor Yohanes Surya. After thisthe International Board commemorated Dr. Rachmat Widodo Adi with a Minute of Silence.

5. During the discussion of the third theoretical problem a subcommittee consisting of Dr. Jaan
Kalda (Estonia), Dr. Florence Robine (France), and Dr. Matthew Verdon (Australia), wasformed. Together with the members of the Academic Committee they prepared an improved
version of the text by taking into account the remarks expressed during the preliminary
discussion.

6. At the beginning of the second meeting of the International Board Dr. Jose Luis Moran
Lopez, President of the Organizing Committee IPhO-40, Mexico, told the audience about thestate of preparations of the next Olympiad. After this the three presidential candidates Prof.
Helmuth Mayr (Austria), Dr. Hans Jordens (The Netherlands), and Prof. Jan Mostowski(Poland), presented themselves and their ideas about the future of the IPhOs followed by a shortdiscussion.
7. At the third meeting of the International Board the presidential election was carried out
according to a secret ballot. Dr. Hans Jordens (The Netherlands) was elected new president.
8. During the grading of the students’ solutions the local graders consulted the following four
leaders designated to this work by the International Board: Dr. Andrzej Kotlicki (Canada), Dr.
Juan Leon (Spain), Dr. Leong Chuan Kwek (Singapore), and Dr. Mohammad Sepehry Rad(Iran), about some problems concerning the interpretation of the criteria etc.

9. The International Board had been presented three proposals to change the Statutes orRegulations. (The texts of the proposals had been disseminated to all leaders more than threemonths in advance). The first proposal to change § 10 of the Statutes presented by Prof.
Helmuth Mayr (Secretary) concerned the determination of the number of members voting. The
second proposal formulated by Dr. Jaan Kalda (Estonia), Prof. Helmuth Mayr (Secretary), andDr. Gunnar Friege (Germany) referred to the awarding system used at the Olympiads. The third
proposal presented by Prof. Maija Ahtee (President) and Prof. Helmuth Mayr (Secretary)concerned the rules for the election of the secretary. All these proposals were accepted withsmall corrections.
10. The Vietnamese delegates handed out printed materials about the IPhO-2008 to alldelegations.

11. At the end of the Olympiad, acting on behalf of the organizers of the next International
Physics Olympiad, Dr. Jose Luis Moran Lopez, announced that the 40th International PhysicsOlympiad will be organized in Merida, Mexico on July 11th – 19th 2009 and cordially invited all
theparticipatingcountries
toattend
thecompetition.

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Prof. Phan Hong Khoi Prof. Nguyen The Prof. Maija Ahtee Prof. Helmuth Mayr
Acting president of Acting secretary of
Deputy Chairman of the Khoi
Organizing Committee
the IPhOs
Deputy Chairman of the IPhOs
theAcademicCommittee
Hanoi, August 2008