Chorzo. Poles are among the laureates of the XIV International Olympiad in astronomy and astrophysics

• The Silesian Planetarium is the organizer of the National Olympiad of Astronomy – one of the oldest Olympiads in science in Poland
• The winners are part of the Polish team for the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA)
• This year, 175 students from all over Poland applied to the first stage of the 64th National Olympiad, which took place by mail.
• More such stories can be found on the homepage of Onet.pl

20 people qualified for the finals. The five winners formed the Polish representation of the International Olympic Games organized by Colombia – IOAA.

250 students from 50 countries participated in this competition. Because of the epidemic, players participated in it via the Internet – the Poles were physically staying in a hotel in Wisła. The entire struggle was monitored by cameras, and the participants were supervised by designated caregivers.

As Jaroslaw Joszkiewicz, spokesman for the Silesian Planetarium, announced on Sunday afternoon, the Poles won three silver and one bronze. The silver medals were won by Anthony Skocic, Alexander Wazinski and Jakob Vrubel, and the bronze by Milan Wura. The winner was Russian Maxim Permyakov.

Poland is one of the five countries that established the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics. In 2011, the competition was held in Chorzów, and the organizer was the Silesian Planetarium.

The 14th edition of the international event was supposed to take place in Colombia last year, but due to the epidemic, it was canceled, and instead an international electronic competition (Global Electronic Competition in Astronomy and Astrophysics) was held.

Teams from 40 countries participated. All members of the Polish team were among the winners. Due to the coronavirus pandemic last year, there was no central spring competition in Chorzów, with the Polish national team selected on the basis of the best results obtained in the regional competition.

The Silesian Planetarium was created in 1955. Then it was equipped, among other things, in projection equipment, open until mid-2018, although it was modernized several times, located under a 23-meter-high dome, which is a screen of artificial sky . The hall accommodated approximately 400 people. The facility was visited by about 160 thousand. people a year.

The planetarium has been expanded and modernized since mid-2018. Since the distinctive headquarters of the Foundation is included in the list of monuments, its shape cannot be disturbed, so the expansion was directed underground. The new buildings were erected on a hill, which is the base for the existing buildings.

Construction work under the contract, originally amounting to 66 million PLN, was carried out by Budimex. According to the latest information from the Marshal’s office, the cost of the entire project is 154.3 million PLN. It is planned that PLN 93.2 million will come from external funds from the Slaskie Regional Operational Program for the years 2014-2020, and PLN 14.2 million from state budget support.

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