Education Today Education Today Magazine
A Sixth Form pupil from St Albans School has won a silver medal at the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA), an international science competition held this year in Beijing.
Thomas Hillman was selected to represent the UK team at the IOAA following an astrophysics competition held in Oxford and won an individual silver medal.
2018 has been a year filled with personal academic success for Thomas. In June, he was selected as one of the six mathematicians to represent the UK at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).
IMO is a prestigious world competition for pre-university mathematics students. This year’s event took place in Cluj, Romania in July. Thomas helped the UK team to a 12th place finish overall, out of 107 competing countries. He was also awarded a silver medal for his individual performance, which placed him comfortably within the top 25 percent of the field of all competitors.
Thomas commented: “It was an honour to be part of such an amazing team and to have the opportunity to represent the UK at the IOAA. I loved meeting and making good friends with like-minded people from all over the world.”
Jonathan Gillespie, Headmaster at St Albans School commented: “Thomas should be hugely proud of his achievements. Being selected to represent the UK at international academic competitions against so many other nations is itself very impressive; to win two silver medals is simply outstanding.”