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Olympic Gold

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Published/Copyright: January 7, 2019
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Chemistry International
From the journal Chemistry International Volume 41 Issue 1

Abstract

The International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) is an annual worldwide competition for high school students in which their chemical knowledge and skills are tested through a series of theoretical and practical problems. The first IChO was held in Prague in 1968 with three teams of six students representing Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland. Humble beginnings perhaps, but interest in the IChO rose quickly and, by 1980, a total of 52 competitors from 13 countries attended the 12th IChO, held for the first time outside Eastern Europe, in Linz, Austria. Participation expanded steadily in the ensuing years and 186 students from 47 countries were present at the 30th IChO in Melbourne, Australia, in 1998.

The postage stamp illustrated in this note, the first ever issued to honor a Chemistry Olympiad, was released on 15 June 2018 to commemorate the 50th IChO, which was jointly hosted for the first time by two countries, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It took place on 19-29 July 2018, organized by Comenius University in Bratislava and the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, institutions that shared the management of both technical sessions and social events. Significantly, the 50th IChO had a record attendance of 300 students from 76 countries, a fitting milestone for the golden anniversary of the International Chemistry Olympiads.

The 51st IChO will take place in Paris on 21-30 July 2019, just a few days after the IUPAC World Congress and General Assembly, yet another reason to celebrate chemistry during the International Year of the Periodic Table. Dmitri Mendeleev, 150 years after introducing the first version of the modern periodic table, would be so proud of the students competing at the IChO!

Written by Daniel Rabinovich <>.

Published Online: 2019-01-07
Published in Print: 2019-01-01

©2019 IUPAC & De Gruyter. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For more information, please visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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  1. Masthead - Full issue pdf
  2. Introduction
  3. The International Year of the Periodic Table 2019
  4. Features
  5. IUPAC and the Periodic Table
  6. Criteria for New Element Discovery: Providing Assurance in a Field of Allure and Romance
  7. Looking Backwards and Forwards at the Development of the Periodic Table
  8. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: History of IUPAC Commission II.1 in the ­Service of Chemistry
  9. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: IUPAC Commission II.1 Today
  10. Isotopes Matter
  11. The New SI: The International System of Units is getting a Makeover
  12. IUPAC Wire
  13. Election of IUPAC Officers and Bureau Members—Call for Nominations
  14. Juris Meija Made the Top 40 Under 40
  15. C. Oliver Kappe is Awarded the 2018 IUPAC-ThalesNano Prize for Flow Chemistry
  16. OPCW to Further Enhance Contributions to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
  17. 1001 Inventions: Journeys from Alchemy to Chemistry
  18. Stamps International
  19. Olympic Gold
  20. Project Place
  21. Critical Evaluation of Homogeneous Equilibrium and Solubility Constants of Gadolinium in Environmental and Biological-Relevant Conditions
  22. 23rd UNESCO/IUPAC Postgraduate Course in Polymer Science
  23. Guidance for the Compilation, Critical Evaluation and Dissemination of Chemical Data
  24. Making an imPACt
  25. IUPAC Periodic Table of the Elements and Isotopes (IPTEI) for the Education Community (IUPAC Technical Report)
  26. On the Discovery of New Elements (IUPAC/IUPAP Provisional Report)
  27. Bookworm
  28. Chemistry: Our Past, Present, and Future
  29. Conference Call
  30. Solution Chemistry
  31. Organometallic Chemistry and Challenges in CO2 Activation and Utilization
  32. Congreso Latino Americano de Química
  33. Energetic Materials
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  35. Setting their Table: Women and the Periodic Table of Elements
  36. FAIR Publishing Guidelines for Spectral Data and Chemical Structures
  37. Croatian Meeting of Chemists and Chemical Engineers and 4th Vladimir Prelog Symposium
  38. IUPAC For Africa—Postgraduate Summer School on Green Chemistry
  39. In Honor of IUPAC’s 100th Anniversary
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https://doi.org/10.1515/ci-2019-0114

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead - Full issue pdf
  2. Introduction
  3. The International Year of the Periodic Table 2019
  4. Features
  5. IUPAC and the Periodic Table
  6. Criteria for New Element Discovery: Providing Assurance in a Field of Allure and Romance
  7. Looking Backwards and Forwards at the Development of the Periodic Table
  8. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: History of IUPAC Commission II.1 in the ­Service of Chemistry
  9. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: IUPAC Commission II.1 Today
  10. Isotopes Matter
  11. The New SI: The International System of Units is getting a Makeover
  12. IUPAC Wire
  13. Election of IUPAC Officers and Bureau Members—Call for Nominations
  14. Juris Meija Made the Top 40 Under 40
  15. C. Oliver Kappe is Awarded the 2018 IUPAC-ThalesNano Prize for Flow Chemistry
  16. OPCW to Further Enhance Contributions to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
  17. 1001 Inventions: Journeys from Alchemy to Chemistry
  18. Stamps International
  19. Olympic Gold
  20. Project Place
  21. Critical Evaluation of Homogeneous Equilibrium and Solubility Constants of Gadolinium in Environmental and Biological-Relevant Conditions
  22. 23rd UNESCO/IUPAC Postgraduate Course in Polymer Science
  23. Guidance for the Compilation, Critical Evaluation and Dissemination of Chemical Data
  24. Making an imPACt
  25. IUPAC Periodic Table of the Elements and Isotopes (IPTEI) for the Education Community (IUPAC Technical Report)
  26. On the Discovery of New Elements (IUPAC/IUPAP Provisional Report)
  27. Bookworm
  28. Chemistry: Our Past, Present, and Future
  29. Conference Call
  30. Solution Chemistry
  31. Organometallic Chemistry and Challenges in CO2 Activation and Utilization
  32. Congreso Latino Americano de Química
  33. Energetic Materials
  34. Where 2B & Y
  35. Setting their Table: Women and the Periodic Table of Elements
  36. FAIR Publishing Guidelines for Spectral Data and Chemical Structures
  37. Croatian Meeting of Chemists and Chemical Engineers and 4th Vladimir Prelog Symposium
  38. IUPAC For Africa—Postgraduate Summer School on Green Chemistry
  39. In Honor of IUPAC’s 100th Anniversary
  40. Mark Your Calendar
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