Young gifted Romanians

Romanians have proved to be a constant appearance on the winners' days at most international contests for gifted youth, in many fields including mathematics, informatics, biology, chemistry and even astronomy.

With so many reforms demanded by the transition from the previous centralized market to the current free market system, the educational Romanian system has gone through some harsh periods, when most rural areas lacked educational material and pupils had to walk to school even 10 kilometers every day. In current days, education in Romania has reached a certain level of de-centralization, with several private universities and high schools which provide paid education. One of the high schools with most success at international Olympiads would be The International High school of Informatics with headquarters in Constanta, near the Black Sea, and the capital of Bucharest. However, most teenagers who perform so well at international competitions come from the state-funded schools, where they rely heavily on their teachers' passion and interest in the field of study, as well as their inner resources and ambition.

One example of sheer ambition and intelligence would be Mihai Patrascu who won the gold medal three times in a row, in 1999, 2000 and 2001, at the International Olympiad in Informatics. 

Ciprian Manolescu is among the persons that have a series of notable achievements at the International Mathematical Olympiad. He managed to write a perfect paper of 42 points for gold medal more times than anybody else in the history of the competition. He did it all three times he participated in the competition, in 1995, 1996 and 1997. Ciprian Manolescu is also a three times Putnam Fellow, in 1997, 1998 and 2000 and currently is among the handful of persons who receive a Clay Research Fellowship, being an Assistant Professor at the mathematics department at Columbia University.  

In 2007, the Romanian informatics team won four silver medals at the 19th edition of the International Olympiad in Informatics, held in Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia, between 17 and 22 of August. The medals were won by Andrei Grigorean (12th grade), Cosmin Gheorghe (10th grade), Bogdan Cristian Tataroiu (9th grade), all from the International High school of Informatics from Bucharest, and respectively Adrian Airinei, pupil in the 12th grade at the National College “Gheorghe Asachi” from the city of Iasi. At this competition more than 300 contestants from over 80 countries have participated. The latter two boys, Adrian Airinei and Bogdan Cristian Tataroiu, have also won a gold, respectively silver medal, at the 2007 edition of the Balcan Olympiad in Informatics. At this competition, a gold medal was also won by Ionescu Bogdan Gabriel, a twelfth grader from Dolj.

Also in 2007 at the International Olympiad in Biology, the Romanian team brought home two silver medals and two bronze medals. As for chemistry, at the “C.D. Mendeleev” International Olympiad Romanian students Vreja Ingrid Cristina won a gold medal, Caiali Edvin won a silver medal and Dumitru Ionut Gabriel a bronze medal. Also, these three students participated in the International Chemistry Olympiad where they have won one silver medal and two bronze medals. Romanians brought other two silver medals at this competition, from Trotus Ioan Teodor and Puscasu Vlad Alexandru.

As for mathematics, at the 2007 edition of the International Mathematics Olympiad, Romanians received one gold medal and four silver medals. Same students who participated in this competition, also participated in the Math Balcaniade where they managed to won two gold medals and three silver medals. In the same year at the International Physics Olympiad, Romanian youngsters won two silver medals and two bronze medals. Outstandingly enough, in 2006 at the International Olympiad in Astronomy, Romania was also represented by Vilmes Silveszter who brought home a bronze medal and Oprescu Antonia Miruna who won the silver medal, the children competing against pupils from higher technologically developed countries such as United States, Great Britain, France, Germany and others.