The 20th Anniversary Ukrainian Physicists' Tournament for University Students was held at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute on February 3-7. This is a team tournament based on the model of a scholarly discussion involving teams of a speaker, an opponent, and a reviewer: they alternately present and discuss solutions to problems related to physical phenomena around us. The problem situations are known in advance. This year the tournament was held online as well as the last year. But even the battles in the online format had to be stopped several times due to alarms that were repeatedly announced throughout Ukraine.
Unfortunately, many of those teams that regularly participated in the tournament could not join it: in some, as a result of enemy attacks, the university was destroyed and the team members were scattered in different countries; frequent power outages in Ukraine became an obstacle for many. However, the organizing committee decided to hold this tournament in order to hold up tradition, and show that we hold on and every time overcome the problems and difficulties created by the enemy even on the educational front.
Therefore, only four teams were able to get ready for the tournament: team of the Department of Applied Physics of the Educational and Research Institute of Physics and Technology of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute; team of the Faculty of Radiophysics, Electronics and Computer Systems of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv; as well as two teams of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (of the Education and Research Institute “School of Physics and Technology”, and the combined team of the School of Physics and School of Physics and Technology). This imposed restrictions on the usual format of the tournament, and temporary changes were made to the rules: all four teams participated in all four battles, the scores of the final battle were multiplied by 3, and the number of eternal rejections was increased to four. But despite the intimacy of the tournament, everyone noted the high quality of scientific reports and discussions, and experienced jury members noted that they had not seen such a level of play by all teams for many years. Therefore, the decision made at the final meeting of the managers and the organizing committee seemed natural - to award all four teams that participated in the tournament with diplomas.
The First Degree diploma was awarded to the Synthesis by the Candlelight Team of the Faculty of Radiophysics, Electronics and Computer Systems of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv under the leadership of associate professor Mykhailo Vysotskyi. It was they who won the mandate to represent Ukraine at the international tournament, which will be held in Paris at the end of April. We thank the team members, who, despite the terrible consequences of the New Year's destruction of university buildings, were able to perform so brightly.
We also thank the teams of the School of Physics and Technology and “Devilkins” (Ukr. - "Biseniata") of the Karazin Kharkiv National University, who, despite the actual destruction of the educational buildings by the enemy, managed to prepare for the tournament at a high level. Special thanks should be given to Zakhar Maizelis, the long-time leader of the winning teams of the Ukrainian Physicists' Tournament for University Students and Tournaments for Young Physicists, who, while in Kharkiv under constant fire, managed the team of the School of Physics and Technology that won the Second Degree diploma. We are also grateful to Oleksii Holubov, head of the Devilkins Team, and Serhii Ponomarenko, who managed the team of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, that obtained the Third Degree Diploma together with the Devilkins Team.
The jury of this year's tournament needs special mention. It consisted of lecturers representing 8 Ukrainian universities from Lviv to Sumy, and teachers from two well-known schools in Kyiv and Kharkiv. The participants were lucky enough to receive comments, useful advice and remarks about their solutions from Ihor Anisimov, the head of the Ukrainian Physical Society; Anatolii Kordiuk, the rector of the Kyiv Academic University of the National Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine; Illia Helfhat, the academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Honored Teacher of Ukraine, the Hero of Ukraine; and other famous physical scientist, university lecturers, and teachers. Thanks to the efforts of Oleksii Novikov, the director of the Educational and Research Institute of Physics and Technology, the corresponding member of the NAS of Ukraine and a Chairman of the jury, and Gennady Monastyrsky, the head of the Department of Applied Physics, deputy chairman of the jury and a head of the organizing committee, the participants of the tournament received lovely keepsakes. Hospitality for the team of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute "Morally Loose Levitation", as well as members of the jury, was provided by the University Students Trade Union Committee. Its head, Ihor Stepaniuk, personally monitored that the guests had uninterrupted power supply, reliable Internet, hot tea and cookies. We are very grateful to him for this!
Observing this wartime tournament from the inside, it is safe to say that participation in it was an achievement for everyone. It was really for everyone: participants, jury members and Ukrainian education in general. Holding such events preserves traditions, proves that even in times of war, we provide our youth with opportunities to enrich their scientific abilities, and develop their scientific potential. This supports the belief that after the Victory, our educational industry will continue to develop, and will also earn its victories!