India is guaranteeing that expertise is the precedence for Viksit Bharat, Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, mentioned on the opening ceremony of the 18th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) held on Tuesday (August 12, 2025) in Mumbai.
“The participants should return to their country with new ideas, inspiration, and enriched thought processes,” Prof.. Sood mentioned, referring to the Olympiad as a “science sport”.
Over 300 highschool college students from 64 nations have participated within the 10-day Olympiad hosted by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education on the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
Astronomy isn’t solely a research of the cosmos, Prof. Sood mentioned in his inaugural speech, it’s an ecosystem the place extraordinarily delicate devices involving computation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine studying, and extra are used, providing many avenues to pursue in future.
This is the second time that India is internet hosting the IOAA, after the 2016 version in Bhubaneswar. This yr’s theme is ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’, the “ancient Indian idea of world is family under the one sky”.
The future lies within the palms of younger minds, fixing actual time issues, and India believes in worldwide collaboration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned in a video message to the members. “The next scientific breakthrough could be at the hands of these young minds, who knows?” Mr. Modi mentioned, highlighting India’s achievements within the subject of science.
Participants from Classes 10 to 12 are chosen after a rigorous course of to compete on the worldwide stage of the Olympiad. During the 10-day occasion, college students have to seem in a number of difficult exams.
The dignitaries current on the opening ceremony included Ajit Kembhavi, former vice chairman of the International Astronomical Union. “There is a possibility that your entire professional journey could be shaped here as you will get inspired to do great things in life,” Mr. Kembhavi mentioned, stressing on inspiration.
The IOAA was conceived in 2006 to fulfill the rising international curiosity in astronomy amongst highschool college students, with the primary version held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2007.
According to the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, the IOAA’s curriculum is designed to problem college students in theoretical, observational, and information analyses.
“The questions needs to be enjoyable and difficult. In a manner, a finest scholar ought to have one thing to suppose in each query. Secondly, college students who’re much less ready ought to get impressed to review higher, and thirdly, the questions ought to make college students return and examine why they couldn’t reply,“ Jayram Chengalur, Director, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research mentioned.
