Mathematics and Physics
The country also has a strong tradition in mathematics. At the Tokyo International Mathematics Olympiad in 2003 Bulgaria finished in first place from a total of 82 participating countries. Bulgaria beat China (2nd place finish), the USA (3rd place finish) and Russia (4th place finish), countries that have respectively 184, 39 and 18 times its population. Bulgaria also became one of only four countries in the history of the International Mathematics Olympiad to win that competition by having all six of its team members finish with gold medals. It also set a new record by becoming by far the smallest country in the world to have accomplished this. (The other countries that have done this have populations significantly over 100 million, as opposed to Bulgaria's mere 7.6 million.)
Ivan Stranski (1897–1979) developed the molecular-kinetic theory of crystal formation and crystal growth. The results of his work on crystal structure and behaviour have had wide application in the areas of physical chemistry, metallurgy and mining. Georgi Nadjakov was among Bulgaria's top physicists, and became known for his experiments on the photoelectric effect and most notably, the discovery of photoelectrets. Nadjakov's discoveries are now widely employed in photocopier machines.
As of 2007 CERN employed more than 90 Bulgarian scientists, and about 30 of them will actively participate in the Large Hadron Collider experiments.
Read more about this topic: Science And Technology In Bulgaria
Famous quotes containing the words mathematics and/or physics:
“Why does man freeze to death trying to reach the North Pole? Why does man drive himself to suffer the steam and heat of the Amazon? Why does he stagger his mind with the mathematics of the sky? Once the question mark has arisen in the human brain the answer must be found, if it takes a hundred years. A thousand years.”
—Walter Reisch (1903–1963)
“He who is conversant with the supernal powers will not worship these inferior deities of the wind, waves, tide, and sunshine. But we would not disparage the importance of such calculations as we have described. They are truths in physics because they are true in ethics.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)