Students who won the first five places at the first Sri Lankan Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad left for Thailand on Thursday to attend the first International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics which began in Chiang Mai, Thailand yesterday. It will be held until December 9.

The first Sri Lankan Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics was organised as a joint effort of the Institute of Physics Sri Lanka and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies.

The first to fifth places of the first Sri Lankan Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics were won by Bungiriye Devinda Shameera Muthusinghe (Nalanda College, Colombo), G. D. Ashan Ariyawansa (Nalanda College, Colombo), Chamitha Mahendra Rathnayake (Dharmaraja College, Kandy), Jayasinghage Rajith Gihan Perera (De Mazenod College, Kandana) and Yasith Mathangasinghe (Dharmaraja College, Kandy).

They received two Gold and three Silver medals at an awards ceremony organised by the Science and Technology Ministry and National Science Foundation at the BMICH.

The Sri Lankan team headed by the Dr. Chandana Jayaratne, national coordinator received training at the Arthur C. Clarke Institute’s Astronomical Observatory.

Link: http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/12/01/news37.asp

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