Aakanksha Sarda - Wins gold at International Physics Olympiad

[M V]

First Indian girl to win a gold at a Physics Olympiad

[QUOTE]Aakanksha Sarda was recently in the news for standing 18th in the country at the IIT JEE examinations.

The Mumbai student is back in the spotlight again, this time for winning a gold at the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO, which was held in Croatia.

Sarda is the first Indian girl to achieve this feat -- she stood 12th among the 376 students from 82 countries and first among the girls.

In 2006, Neha Rambia was the first girl to participate in the Olympiad and had won a bronze medal.

The 18-year-old wiz beat over 40,000 students across the country to make it to Indian contingent. When she qualified, she also became only the second girl to represent the country.

The article has an interview with her, and this part from the interview was heartening to read, amid all the discussion we have about Indian education:

[QUOTE]How did you prepare for the International Physics Olympiad?
... Besides attending the JEE coaching classes, I conducted extra experiments in my college (Sathaye College, Mumbai). The college had opened up its labs for me and since it is affiliated to the degree college too, I was able to conduct experiments that were meant for final year BSc students as well.

Then there was also a one-month special training programme at the Homi Bhabha Centre at TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) in south Mumbai.

Maybe the resources are all there, but the population is just too much... Whatever, felt very nice to read the article and her success story.

Congratulations to Aakanksha!

[willynilly]

Thanks for sharing, felt good to read it .

[MumbaiCP]

Well, She was also the Girl topper in IIT entrance this year. She also sort of set the record by not going for any of the IITs but instead going for MIT !!!