The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) 2024 has kicked off in Iran’s historical city of Isfahan, bringing nearly 200 high school students from across the globe to compete in one of the world's science competitions.

According to The Iran Project, the nine-day event, which is the 54th edition of the IPhO, began on Monday at Isfahan University of Technology.

Some 198 students are participating in the scientific competition. The participants along with their companions numbering 150 began arriving in the city a day earlier.

The participating teams are from Iran, Russia, China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Romania, Turkiye, Mexico, Georgia, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Croatia, Colombia, Belarus, Kuwait and Vietnam.

Oman and Morocco are taking part as observers in order to get familiar with the international competition.

The first IPhO was held in Poland in 1967. With the number of countries, which joined the competition, increasing each year, the event encountered some problems during the 15 years afterwards. However, since 1982, it has been held regularly every year, expect in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.