Minutes of the Meetings of the International Board during the 43rd International Physics
Olympiad in Tallinn, Estonia
July 15 – 24, 2012

1. A total number of 378 contestants from the following 80 countries were present atthe 43rd International Physics Olympiad:
Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia,Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece,
Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan,Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macau, Macedonia,Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway,Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia,Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa*, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden,
Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, UnitedKingdom, USA, Vietnam.* : new country invited by the Organizing Committee to IPhO thisyear.
2. Results of marking the papers by the organizers were presented.
The best score (45.8 points) was achieved by Mr. Attila Szabó from Hungary (the overall winnerof the 43rd IPhO). The following limits for awarding the medals and the honorable mention were
established according to the Statutes:
Gold Medal
Silver Medal
Bronze Medal
Honorable Mention

31.0 points
23.9 points
17.2 points
12.4 points

According to the above limits, 45 Gold Medals, 71 Silver Medals, 92 Bronze Medals, and 63
Honorable Mentions were awarded. The grade lists of the awardees were distributed to all thedelegation leaders in print.

3. In addition to the regular prizes, the following special prizes were awarded:
The Overall Winner
Mr. Attila Szabó, HungaryBest in Theory
Mr. Attila Szabó, HungaryBest in Experiment
Mr. Kai-Chi Huang, Taiwan

Special Prize for the Best Solution of the Theoretical
Mr. Eric Schneider, United States of AmericaSpecial Prizes for the Best Solution of the Experimental
Mr. Christoph Schildknecht, Switzerland
Mr. Ivan Ivashkovskiy, Russia
Mr. Chi Shu, People`s Republic of China

Special Prize for the best innovative solution
Mr. Lev Ginzburg, Russia

Special Prize for the best Estonian student
Mr. Jaan Toots, Estonia

Special Prize for the Best Girl IPhO 2012
Ms. Alexandra Vassiljeva, Russia

Prize of European Physical Society
Mr. Attila Szabó, HungaryPrizes of Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies
Ms. Jeevana Priya Inala, India
Mr. Hengyun Zhou, People`s Republic of China

4. The following three leaders were designated by the International Board to serve as consultants
to the local academic committee for grading the examination papers :Prof. Niels Hartling (Denmark), Prof. Suwan Kusamran (Thailand), and Prof. Helmuth Mayr(Austria).
5. The International Board discussed a proposal, presented by the President of IPhO, Dr. Hans
Jordens, of establishing a legal body of fund-raising bank account, named by “ the Foundation ofInternational Physics Olympiad ”, which would be affiliated to the IPhO. The object of the nonprofit Foundation is to raise funds for helping economy-weak countries to send students toparticipate in IPhO and for providing financial support to future hosting countries in case ofneed. The Statutes of the Foundation which was examined and revised by the Advisory
Committee had been disseminated to all leaders three months prior to the IB meeting. The
proposal was accepted by the International Board with an overwhelming majority in theaffirmative. The Board of the Foundation comprises at least 3 members. In addition to IPhO
President and Secretary, a Treasurer will be nominated and elected in the next IPhO.
6. The current President of IPhO will have his term expired in 2013. Since no specific regulationon the election of presidency is stated in the IPhO Statutes, the International Board unanimouslyagreed to adopt the same procedures of electing IPhO Secretary, as specified in the Regulations
to the Article #8, for the election of new president of the term 2013-2018.
7. The International Board discussed a proposal submitted by Icelandic leader, Dr. Martin Swift,
which asked to modify the regulations on using “non-programmable” pocket calculator as statedin the Article #5 of the IPhO Statutes. The International Board approved to form a specificcommittee to deliberate on revising the concerned regulations. The IPhO Secretariat has invitedthe following three leaders to form the calculator-committee : Dr. Martin Swift (Iceland), Dr. EliRaz (Israel), and Dr. Matthew Verdon (Australia).
8. The IPhO Secretariat received an official letter from the Korean Physical Society which statedthat Republic of Korea would prefer to host the 58th IPhO in 2027 instead of the 63th IPhO in
2032 as previously proposed. The request was accepted by the International Board.
9. The President of the IPhOs, Prof. Hans Jordens, acting on behalf of all the participants,
expressed his gratitude to the Minister of Education and Research, Prof. Dr. Jaak Aaviksoo anddeep thanks to Mrs Ene Koitla (Head of the Organizing Committee), Prof. Jaak Kikas (Head ofthe Academic Committee), Dr. Jaan Kalda (Co-head of the Academic Committee), Dr. Viire
Sepp (Academic Secretary of the Steering Committee) and all other members involved inorganizing the IPhO2012 for excellent preparation and conduction of the 43rd International
Physics Olympiad. Deep thanks were also conveyed to Tallinn University of Technology,
University of Tartu, Estonian Physical Society, and the Ministry of Education and Research ofEstonia, all the sponsors, graders, guides and other people who contributed to the success of theOlympiad.
10. The Danish delegates disseminated printed materials about the 44th IPhO in 2013 to all thedelegations and described present state of the preparatory works to ensure smooth organizationof the next Olympiad.
11. At the Closing Ceremony of the Olympiad, on behalf of the organizers of the next
International Physics Olympiad, Prof. Niels Hartling announced that the 44th International
Physics Olympiad would be organized in Copenhagen, Denmark from July 7 to 15, 2013 andcordially invited all the participating countries to attend the competition.

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Prof.
Jaak
Kikas
Prof.
Hans
Jordens Prof. Ming-Juey Lin
Head of the Academic Committee
President of the IPhO
Secretary of the IPhO
of IPhO 2012
Tallinn,
July 22, 2012

Estonia