TEHRAN -- Iranian students have won the first place in the 17th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA).
Iran dispatched a five-member team to the event, which was held this year in Vassouras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 17 to 27.
More than 250 students from 57 countries contended in the competition.
The delegation compromised Hannaneh Khorramdashti, Muhammad-Mehdi Keshavarzi, Arya Fateh-Kerdari, and Ali Naderi-Lordjan.
The IOAA is an annual international astronomy competition for high school students and was first held in Thailand in 2007.
Last year, Iranian students won the third place in the competition which was held in Silesia, Poland over a 10-day period starting on August 10.
Amir-Mehdi Esmaeili Taheri, Mehdi Ostad-Muhammadi, and Arvin Rasoulzadeh bagged three gold medals for Iran, while Sarina Farzadnasab and Amir-Hussein Mousavifard won two silver medals.
At the end of the competitions, Britain won the event’s first place with five gold medals and India ended in the second place with four gold and one silver medals.
The United States, Brazil, Bulgaria, Romania, Germany, and Canada followed Iran in the ranking.
Founded by five countries--Thailand, Indonesia, Iran, China, and Poland—IOAA aims to promote interest in astronomy and astrophysics among young people from participating countries, as well as to strengthen ties between different nations and improve the exchange of scientific and cultural knowledge and experiences.
Also in April, Iranian students secured five gold medals at the 9th edition of the 1Idea 1World Invention and Innovation Competition (1i1w) held in Istanbul, Turkey.
Participants from 24 countries, including Iran, Canada, China, Taiwan, the United States, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates, competed in this edition of the event which was held on April 28-29.
The event featured over 273 innovative ideas and plans from various countries. The top five ideas received special awards, with two of the awards going to Iranian participants.