MINSK, 23 April (BelTA) – The 55th International Mendeleev Chemistry Olympiad for school students is running online, BelTA learned from the press service of Belarusian State University (BSU).
Taking part in the olympiad are more than 140 school students from 28 countries, including Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey, China, Israel, Austria, Serbia, and Georgia. The competition consists from two tours. Young chemists have to solve eight problems in five hours in the first tour. The second tour is not obligatory and requires participants to solve 15 more difficult problems in five hours.
Belarus is represented by seven 11-grade students of gymnasiums and lyceums of Grodno, Minsk, and Minsk Oblast – winners of the final stage of the national olympiad in chemistry.
The web-based awards ceremony will take place on 26 April. Winners will receive their diplomas by mail.
The official languages of the olympiad are Russian and English. The event is organized by the Belarusian Education Ministry, the BSU, and Lomonosov Moscow State University.
The International Mendeleev Chemistry Olympiad is an annual event and is the successor of the All-Union Chemistry Olympiad that was first held in 1967. The olympiad is named after great Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev.
The first editions of the International Mendeleev Chemistry Olympiad featured school students from the CIS countries and the Baltic states. Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Romania joined in 2004, Hungary, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia – in 2012. Israel, Mongolia, and Nigeria debuted at the competition in 2016. In 1997-2020, the organizing committee of the olympiad was led by Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry of Lomonosov Moscow State University Valery Lunin. Since 2021, this post has been held by associate member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Stepan Kalmykov. The organizing committee includes professors and teachers of leading universities as well as chemistry teachers of secondary schools of the participating countries.
