Astronomy Olympics, for the first time a Sardinian student wins the competition

Last week, from 18 to 21 April, the Italian Astronomy Championships were held and the Sardinian student Alessandro Loche was the winner of the Master category. Enrolled in the fifth year of the Euclide Scientific High School in Cagliari, the student competed for the coveted recognition after passing a preselection and the interregional selection.

The national final, which involved 90 students from high schools from all over Italy, was held at the “Valboite” State All-Inclusive Institute in Cortina D'Ampezzo . The first Sardinian to win the "Margherita Hack" medal, the name of Alessandro Loche will be entered in the register of Italian excellences of the Ministry of Education and Merit and will participate in the International Astronomy Olympics.

During the event, also the student Giacomo Loi, attending the first class of the Euclide High School , received the prize for the second place of the XIII edition of the national prize "Giovanni Virginio Schiapparelli", achieved thanks to an original research on the theme "Asteroids: a threat to the earth? The DART mission demonstrated a possible defense strategy. Are asteroids really a threat? And why?".

«The well-deserved success of Alessandro and Giacomo is the culmination of a training course undertaken by the Euclide high school of Cagliari - so declared Prof. Antonello Tinti - for two years our school has decided to promote a scientific curricular course to enhance astronomy , which makes use of the collaboration of the National Institute of Astrophysics and the Planetarium of the Sardinian Union».

The Italian Astronomy Championships are held under the aegis of the Coordination Committee of the International Astronomy Olympiad and are promoted by the Ministry of Education and Merit (MIM), and organized by the Italian Astronomical Society (SAIt) and by the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF). This year, 9,323 students aged between 13 and 19 took part in the Olympics, coming from 286 schools distributed throughout the national territory.

The next appointment for the winners will be the International Astronomy Olympiad, which will be held next autumn.