Yale Physics Olympics
NOTE: Registration is open. The Competition will take place on April 5th, 2025.
- The Yale Physics Olympics (YPO) is an annual physics competition hosted by Yale University for high school students. The event takes place on Yale’s campus in New Haven, Connecticut, typically in October. The competition is designed to challenge students with a series of experimental and theoretical physics tasks that require creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork.
Format
- Teams of five students compete in five different physics challenges, which change every year.
- The problems are experimental in nature, requiring students to use hands-on skills, critical thinking, and physics principles to devise solutions.
- The tasks often incorporate classical mechanics, electromagnetism, optics, thermodynamics, and modern physics concepts.
- No prior preparation is required, as all materials and instructions are provided on the competition day.
- Each challenge is graded independently, and a team’s total score is the sum of their individual event scores.
- Awards are given to the top-performing teams, including overall winners and category-specific winners.
Eligibility and Registration
- Open to high school students (grades 9–12).
- Teams must register in advance on the official YPO website.
- Participation is free, but space is limited, so early registration is recommended.
