The Serbian Physics Olympiad was held at the NIS Business Centre in Novi Sad last weekend. It was organized by the Society of Physicists of Serbia and supported by NIS. For the second year running, the company has supported organizing the Serbian Physics Olympiad. The young physicists of Serbia, 21 of them, took part in a two-day competition as the best-ranked secondary school students in the State Physics Competition. The contestants and winners were handed the awards and certificates in the closing ceremony of the Olympiad by the President of the Society of Physicists of Serbia, Dr Ivan Dojčinović, and the Chairman of the Secondary School Student Competition Committee, Professor Mićo Mitrović. The best were bestowed with the “Energy of Knowledge” statuettes by Dr Snežana Lakićević, Manager for Collaboration with Universities. Ivan Tanasijević, a fourth-grade student of the Secondary School of Mathematics in Belgrade, proudly raised the big golden “Energy of Knowledge” statuette in the air as the first place winner. The winner of the big silver statuette was Uroš Ristivojević, and the winner of the big bronze statuette was Mihailo Đorđević, both from the Secondary School of Mathematics. The small “Energy of Knowledge” statuettes were handed to Jovan Jovanović from the 13th Belgrade Grammar School, Janko Šušteršič from the First Grammar School in Kragujevac, and Luka Bojović from the Belgrade Secondary School of Mathematics. With the support of NIS, the students who proudly raised their “Energy of Knowledge” statuettes in the air based on their ranking in the Olympiad will also make up the Serbian national team at the International Physics Olympiad, to be held in July this year in Kazakhstan. As a partner of NIS, the Novi Sad Academy of Arts supported the organization of the Olympiad by an art performance at the closing ceremony and the announcement of the winners. The contestants, university lecturers and teachers, and all the guests had the opportunity to hear the intonation of the Serbian and Russian national anthems, as well as to see the dance performances entitled “The Road” and “Magic” by students of acting. On the occasion, a film was also shown on how the “Energy of Knowledge” statuette had come to be, as well as a short film on the competition. Knowledge Olympiads, state competitions in natural sciences (mathematics, physics, and chemistry) and the Russian language in Serbia and the countries of the region, are held under the auspices of the NIS “Energy of Knowledge” programme. Through this programme, the company invests in the educational development of the secondary school and university students, primarily in the natural and technical sciences. The promotion of true values, first and foremost of science, is one of the most important directions in the socially responsibly business activities of NIS.
