Last Saturday, we welcomed 1,056 students and 79 teams from across British Columbia to the UBC Physics Olympics. Some travelled from nearby Vancouver schools; others came from Invermere, Nelson, Campbell River, and many communities in between. A few teams were stopped by snow on the Coquihalla — a reminder that in Canada, even physics must negotiate with weather.
And yet, what a day it was.
More Than a Competition
The Physics Olympics has never been only about ranking teams. It is about creating a space where young people experience physics as something alive — something they can build, test, debate, estimate, and sometimes completely rethink.
Across six events — including Labs, Pre-build Engineering Challenges, Quizzics, and Fermi Problems — students demonstrated not just knowledge, but intellectual bravery.
In the labs, they worked under time pressure, designing experiments, interpreting messy data, and making sense of uncertainty.
In the pre-builds, we saw astonishingly creative constructions — solutions we did not anticipate, clever design choices, and moments of real engineering insight.
In Quizzics, teams debated conceptual questions with intensity and joy.
In Fermi problems, they embraced approximation — that powerful habit of mind that allows us to reason about the world even when information is incomplete.
Physics, at its heart, is not about memorizing formulas. It is about thinking.
The Scale of the Day
Some numbers from the 48th Olympics:
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1,056 students
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79 teams
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Over 80 volunteers, faculty, graduate and undergraduate students
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6 major competitive events
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So many participants that we could not fit everyone into a single classroom at the end
The energy was electric — not because of spectacle, but because of engagement.
The Teachers: The Quiet Architects
None of this happens without teachers.
Teachers who organize teams.
Teachers who stay after school to supervise pre-builds.
Teachers who encourage hesitant students to try.
Teachers who travel long distances on winter roads because they believe their students deserve this experience.
You are the quiet architects of this community.
Many of the students who once competed now study physics at UBC. Some are becoming teachers themselves. The pipeline is real. The impact is long-term. The Physics Olympics is not just a one-day event — it is part of a generational conversation about what science can be.
Why It Matters
At a time when attention spans are shrinking and answers are one click away, we gathered over a thousand young people to wrestle with uncertainty, argue about assumptions, and refine their models.
They learned that:
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Not knowing is a starting point.
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Approximation is powerful.
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Collaboration sharpens thinking.
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Failure is often productive.
That mindset will serve them far beyond physics.
Looking Forward
The 48th Olympics is now behind us — but its effects are not.
Some students left tired.
Some left inspired.
Some left determined to do better next year.
All of them left having experienced physics as something they could do.
And that is the point.
Thank you to every teacher, volunteer, faculty member, and student who made this day possible. The scale was impressive. The organization was complex. But what matters most is something less measurable:
Curiosity was visible.
Courage was practiced.
Community was strengthened.
We will see you at the 49th.