Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday called on young scientists to make the world a better place at the opening ceremony of the Fourth International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) in Taipei.
In an age of globalization, scientists should "break through the walls" of their labs and "join the international team across oceans and continents to better the lives of humankind," she said.
Lu said that scientific discoveries should aim to tackle challenges such as global warming, disease and poverty.
The IJSO, which tests students' knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and earth sciences, is the only international science competition targeted at teenagers under 16 years old.
The competition was initiated in 2004 to instill students with a lifelong passion for science, to inspire them to choose scientific careers and to form a global network for young scientists early in their careers so they could collaborate with one another in the future, Masno Ginting, IJSO's Indonesian founder and first president, said.
This year's event is being cohosted by the Ministry of Education and National Science Council and has 204 participants from 39 countries including Taiwan, the UK, Germany, Russia and Indonesia.
Each team will take a three hour theoretical test and a multiple choice test, and undertake a four hour experimental examination, IJSO president and National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) professor Yeh Ming-Chang (葉名倉) said.
The tests were written by professors from National Taiwan University, National Tsing-hua University and NTNU, and will be given to participants in their native languages, Yeh said, adding that evaluations will be done by an international panel of judges.
The youngest participant this year is 13-year-old Joris Dolderer from Germany, who qualified for last year's competition but was turned down because he was too young, Dolderer's teacher told the media.
Taiwan's representatives include Taipei's Jianguo High School sophomore Yang Chen (楊震), Taipei's Chin-hwa Junior High School 9th-grader Ku Po-yun (辜柏耘), Taipei County's Yong-ho Junior High School ninth-grader Chen Yu-an (陳昱安), Taichung Municipal Chu-jen Junior High School ninth-grader Huang Chao-wei (黃朝煒) and Tainan Jian-sing Junior High School ninth-grader Yang Hung-yu (楊泓翊).
The team began preparations for the competition in June.
"What we feel most pressured about isn't the competition, but how we can establish good relationships with representatives from other countries," Ku said.
Lu encouraged Ku's team to bring Taiwan's impressive record since 2004 -- five golds and one silver each year -- to a new level.
She said that though there were only a limited number of medals, the experience would be a big step for all participants in their scientific lives.
"Some of you may go on and invent `the next big thing,' others will make the discovery of the century," Lu said, adding, "No matter what the future brings you, I urge you all to retain a sense of discovery, love for humankind and the drive to better the world with scientific breakthroughs and progress."
The Olympiad ends on Monday.
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