Daniel Gulotta
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy,
Flossmore, Ill.
Chintan Hossain
Charter School of Wilmington,
Wilmington, Del.
Daniel Gulotta of Aurora, Illinois, and Chintan Hossain of Wilmington, Delaware, members of the five-person United States team, received gold medals at the International Physics Olympiad Aug. 2-11 in Taiwan, competing against students from 60 countries.
Gulotta's mother, Pat, said she was following the competition closely via the Internet. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment," she told the Daily Herald.* "These people he meets may be his colleagues some day."
One of his teachers, Laura Nickerson, told the Chicago Tribune,** "He really is a self-starter. He just knew a lot about quantum mechanics--he read a lot of it on his own. We pretty much taught him all the quantum mechanics we knew."
Hossain of the Charter School of Wilmington also brought home a gold medal. "I was really excited," Hossain told the Wilmington News Journal. "I knew I did quite well, and I knew I'd win some medal, either bronze, silver or gold, but I didn't know which one."
Hossain plans to study physics and neuroscience at MIT.
*"Physics takes Naperville teen to Taiwan" - Daily Herald, Aug. 1, 2003
**"Naperville teenager has touch of gold at Physics Olympiad" - Chicago Tribune, Aug. 12, 2003 (Tribune registration required)
