The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) is an annual astronomy and astrophysics competition for high school students, aimed to promote the growing interest in astronomy and related STEM subjects. It is one of the international science olympiads, and was founded from a dissidence inside the International Astronomy Olympiad, in order to increase the scope of the organization.
The IOAA consists of a theoretical exam, a data analysis exam, and an observational exam. A separate team competition is also included, where international teams are formed by randomly selecting members from different countries. The results of the team competition do not affect the individual results.
History The first IOAA was held in the city of Chiang Mai (Thailand) from November 30 to December 9, 2007. The International Council, consisting of team leaders, elected a president (Dr. Boonrucksar Soonthornthum, Thailand) and a secretary general (Dr. Chatief Kunjaya, Indonesia) for a five-year term.
The second Olympiad was held in 2008, from August 19 to 28, in the city of Bandung (Indonesia). It was attended by representatives of 22 countries.
The third Olympiad was held in 2009, from October 17 to 27, in Tehran. An observation tour was conducted in the desert. Representatives of 20 countries took part in the Olympiad.
The fourth Olympiad was held in 2010, from September 12 to September 21, in Beijing. 114 participants of the Olympiad came from 23 countries.
The fifth Olympiad was held in 2011, from August 25 to September 4, in the Polish cities of Katowice, Chorzów and Kraków. For the first time the Olympiad was held in Europe. Representatives of 26 countries took part in the Olympiad. In Poland, the International Council elected a new president (Dr. Chatief Kunjaya, Indonesia) and a secretary general (Dr. Greg Stachowski, Poland). Regional coordinators were also elected (Dr. Thaís Mothé Diniz, Brazil, for America and Dr. Aniket Sule, India, for Asia).
The sixth Olympiad was held in 2012, from August 4 to 13. For the first time the Olympiad was held in America in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Vassouras. Representatives of 28 countries took part in the Olympiad.
The seventh Olympiad was held in 2013, from July 27 to August 4 in the Greek city of Volos. The competition was attended by 39 teams from 35 countries, including for the first time teams from the USA, New Zealand, Canada, Malaysia, Armenia, the Republic of Macedonia and Cyprus.
The fourteenth Olympiad was supposed to be held in Bogotá, Colombia. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition was moved to an online format and Colombia was moved to 2021. This competition was not named IOAA, but GeCAA (meaning Global e-Competition on Astronomy and Astrophysics) and did not count as the 14th IOAA. It was held 23 September 2020 to 23 October 2020. Estonia was the host country.
Summary
NumberYearHost countryHost cityAbsolute winnerCountries RepresentedWinner TeamWebsite12007Chiang Mai Suwun Suwunnarat21* 1st IOAA, 200722008Bandung Nitin Jain22* 2nd IOAA, 200832009Tehran Nitin Jain20* 3rd IOAA, 200942010Beijing Przemysław Mróz23* 4th IOAA, 2010 5 2011 Chorzów / Katowice / Kraków Stanislav Fořt 26 IOAA 2011 6 2012 Rio de Janeiro / Vassouras Motiejus Valiūnas 28 IOAA 2012 7 2013 Volos Denis Turcu 35 * 7th IOAA , 2013 8 2014 Suceava / Gura Humorului Denis Turcu 42 9 2015 Magelang / Semarang Joandy Leonata Pratama 41 10 2016 Bhubaneswar Ameya Patwardhan 42 IOAA 2016 11 2017 Phuket Aleksej Jurca 44 IOAA 2017 12 2018 Beijing Stanislav Tsapaev 39 IOAA 2018 13 2019 Keszthely & Hévíz Quan Manh Nguyen46 IOAA 2019N/A2020N/A Zhening Li40GeCAA 14 2021 Bogotá (online) Maksim Permiakov 48 IOAA 2021 15 2022 Kutaisi Vlad Ștefan Oros 45 IOAA 2022 16 2023 Chorzów / Katowice Peter Andolšek 52 IOAA 2023 17 2024 Vassouras Peter Andolšek 54 IOAA 202418 2025 Mumbai Feodor Yevtushenko 64IOAA 202519 2026 Hanoi Hirbod Foudazi 64IOAA 2025
The 1st IOAA-Jr, for the students under 16 years of age was held in Romania from 30 October to 7 November 2022(Absolute Winner: Vlad Ștefan Oros). The 2nd IOAA-Jr was held in Volos, Greece from 24 to 30 September 2023, and its age restriction was lowered to students under 15(Absolute Winner: Chayapol Nontasut). The 3rd IOAA-Jr was hosted by Kathmandu, Nepal from 3 to 10 October 2024(Absolute Winner: Alex Faivre). The 4th IOAA-Jr was held in Piatra Neamț, Romania from 18 to 25 October 2025. The 5th IOAA-Jr will be held in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand.
Results Source: https://www.ioaastrophysics.org/results/
High-scoring participants The following table lists multiple (triple and more) gold medal winners of IOAA with their ranks and corresponding years.
Name Team(s) Years Peter Andolšek Slovenia2021 (29th)2022 (10th)2023 (1st)2024 (1st) Stanislav Fořt Czech Republic2010 (8th)2011 (1st)2012 (2nd) Peter Kosec Slovakia2010 (5th)2011 (4th)2012 (5th) Daniil Dolgov Russia2016 (8th)2017 (3rd)2018 (11th) Jindřich Jelínek Czech Republic2016 (9th)2018 (5th)2019 (7th)Teo Kai WenSingapore2023 (17th)2024 (7th)2025 (5th)
Note: Several countries (e.g. India, Indonesia, Iran, Thailand) do not allow their students to contest in IOAA more than two times, even if they are eligible. Thus, statistics from those countries is not included in the table above.
Bans In 2022, the International Board of the IOAA decided to ban Russia and Belarus from future competitions due to their role in the conflict in Ukraine. Students from these countries can still join as "Individual Olympiad Participants".
In the 18th IOAA in 2025, the International Board voted by an overwhelming majority to similarly ban Israel due to its actions in Gaza. Israel has never participated in the IOAA, but it had expressed interest in the 18th IOAA, for which it did not complete registration.
References
External links