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Estonia has the honour of being the host of the 43rd International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), which will be held from July 15th to 24th, 2012. The Olympiad will be held in two locations, the capital Tallinn (team leaders), and the oldest university town in Estonia, Tartu (students). Estonian people and the organizers of the Olympiad are looking forward to meeting young physicists and their supervisors from all over the world, and to introducing them to the innovative country, which values education, has rich cultural heritage and beautiful land.

International Physics Olympiads are aiming at propagating natural and exact sciences amongst school students, stimulating young people's interest in physics, and promoting science education throughout the world by means of international contacts. IPhO is one of the oldest and largest International Science Olympiads: the first Olympiad took place in 1967 (cf. Section "HISTORY"), and the teams of 88 countries have already registered for IPhO2012 in Estonia. Estonian National Olympiads also have a long and honourable history – today, Olympiads are organised in about 20 subjects, and National Physics Olympiads have been held since 1953.

According to the IPhO statute, each national team will comprise of up to five students and two leaders. The contestants shall be students of general or technical secondary schools; students who have graduated from their school in the year of the competition can be members of the team as long as they have not commenced their university studies. The governing body of the IPhO is the International Board that consists of the delegation leaders of each country attending the IPhO.

Welcome to IPhO2012 in Estonia!