Silver and bronze medals from the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics

Lithuanian pupils won silver and bronze medals at the 18th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA), held in Mumbai, India, on 12-21 August. The silver medal went to Emilijus Latakas, Klaipėda Lyceum (teacher Marius Žadvydas). The bronze medals went to Saulė Vaidelytė, Gymnasium of Kaunas University of Technology (teacher Tomas Kivaras), Pijus Tydmanas (Šiauliai Julius Janonis Gymnasium and the Astrophysics Club at Šiauliai Technical Creativity Centre, teacher Vacys Jankus), Rapolas Žygus (Klaipėda Lyceum, teacher Marius Žadvydas). Lithuania was also represented by Matas Liaudaitis, a student of the Gymnasium of Kaunas University of Technology (teacher Tomas Kivaras).

The team was led by Dr. Vidas Dobrovolskas, Senior Research Fellow at the Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, and Dr. Audrius Bridžius, Educator at the Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology.

This year, 300 students from 63 countries took part in the Olympiad. There were several rounds of the Olympiad over several days. For example, the observation round was split into three smaller ones: the telescope round, using of star maps and the planetarium round. In the theoretical round, which lasted 5 hours, the participants had to solve 12 problems in astrophysics and astronomy. The round of observation of the sky was intended for testing the skills of telescope handling, star map reading and determining the coordinates of a given object, etc.

In this Olympiad, both leaders and students were surprised by a special team round. Mixed teams of six were set up so that no two representatives of the same country were in one team. Each team was given a desk-fit radio telescope and had to record the 1.4 GHz waves emitted by interstellar hydrogen clouds. Using this data, the students estimated the mass of the Milky Way galaxy. This was the first time in the history of the Astronomy Olympiads that such a task was put in place.

More information on IOAA-2025 is available here.

Based on a report by the Lithuanian Agency for Non-Formal Education of Children, photos by Audrius Bridžius and Vidas Dobrovolskas

Last updated: 26-09-2025

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