Physics undergraduate · University of Oxford

Hi, I'm Christian Gyondrov.
I explore physics.

A Physics undergraduate at the University of Oxford (Keble College), drawn to the hardest questions — from quantum gravity to dark matter. Ranked #1 in the world on the Senior Physics Challenge and 5th globally on the Oxford PAT, and never short of a new problem to solve.

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Problems solved
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Gold awards
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Competitions & olympiads
01 — About

A bit about me

I've just finished my first year reading Physics at the University of Oxford, where I'm a student at Keble College. At heart I'm a problem-solver: physics is where I spend most of my energy, but I follow the maths and chemistry wherever the interesting questions lead, and I'm drawn to the deepest problems in the field.

That curiosity has taken a lot of forms: completing every challenge question on Isaac Physics (over 15,000 problems) to rank #1 in the world on the Senior Physics Challenge, placing 5th globally on the Oxford Physics Aptitude Test, earning gold in the Physics, Chemistry and Astronomy Olympiads, writing research papers on quantum gravity and dark matter, and building a radio telescope from scratch to map the Milky Way.

Beyond the books, I attended an international conference on ultra-low temperature physics in 2025 and completed my Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award. I read widely too — from Griffiths' Quantum Mechanics and Electrodynamics to Feynman's Lectures — because the more I learn, the more there is to be curious about. I'm always looking for the next challenge, collaboration, or research opportunity.

Profile// stats
Location
London, UK
Field
Physics
University
Oxford · Keble College
Stage
Undergraduate · 1st year
Focus
Theoretical, quantum & condensed matter physics
02 — Track record

Competitions & Olympiads

A selection of the competitions and olympiads I've taken part in across physics, maths and chemistry — with placements and a line on each.

2024International

Physics Aptitude Test (PAT)

University of Oxford

Scored 94% on Oxford's admissions test for physics, placing 5th in the world — the result that secured my offer to read Physics at Keble College.

★ 5th globally · 94%
2025International

Senior Physics Challenge (Isaac Physics)

Isaac Physics · University of Cambridge

Completed every challenge question on the platform — 15,000+ problems solved — ranking #1 in the world out of 50,000+ students and earning a place at the SPC Summer School in Cambridge (top 50 nationally).

★ #1 in the world
2026National

British Physics Olympiad (BPhO)

British Physics Olympiad · University of Oxford

Gold certificates across multiple rounds and years, tackling challenging problems on orbital mechanics, RC/RLC circuits, specific heat and symmetry in circuits.

Gold
2026National

British Astronomy & Astrophysics Olympiad (BAAO)

BAAO · University of Oxford

Gold certificate in Round 1, answering questions on elliptical orbits, the Hawking–Bekenstein black-hole entropy formula, black dwarfs and orbital mechanics.

Gold
2025National

RSC Chemistry Olympiad

Royal Society of Chemistry

Gold certificate and second-highest score in my year on the Year 13 olympiad — taken a year early — applying physical chemistry and maths to problems well beyond A-Level.

Gold
2025National

Senior Maths Challenge & Kangaroo

UK Mathematics Trust

Gold in the SMC and progression to the follow-on rounds, including a qualification for the British Mathematical Olympiad.

Gold
2025National

SPC Physics Olympiad

Senior Physics Challenge

Scored 85% — third-highest in my year and one of the highest in the country — earning a gold certificate on unusual, applied physics problems.

Gold · 85%
2024Regional

CanSat

ESA / UK Space Agency

Built a soft-drink-can-sized satellite as a team: led landing calculations (solving differential equations for the parachute), ran chemical habitability tests, and wrote the PDR/CDR. Regional finalists, second in school.

Regional finalist
2024National

National Cipher Challenge

University of Southampton

Part of a 12-person team; solved both Part A and Part B of the final round single-handedly, including a Four-Square cipher, learning XOR, Bifid, Hill and Two-Square ciphers along the way.

Final round solo
2025National

ChemRace

Oxford & Cambridge

Represented my school in a national chemistry competition, researching topics beyond A-Level — electronic spectroscopy, equilibria, kinetics and the Michaelis–Menten equation.

National
2024National

Caius Explore Competition

Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge

Co-wrote a 45-page paper on dark matter — candidates (axions, WIMPs, Kaluza–Klein particles, microscopic black holes), detection methods such as LUX-ZEPLIN, and the evidence for its existence.

Research paper
03 — Beyond the classroom

Research & Projects

Independent work where I've gone deepest — research papers, builds, and programmes that took me well past the syllabus.

TSP: Quantum Gravity

22-page research paper

"Will the CMS and ATLAS detectors at CERN be sufficient for finding a Quantum Unified Theory of Everything?" — exploring the non-renormalisable graviton, Loop Quantum Gravity, String Theory, and detector physics.

View resources

Dark Matter Paper

Caius Explore · 45 pages

Co-authored study of dark-matter candidates (axions, WIMPs, Kaluza–Klein particles, microscopic black holes), detection via LUX-ZEPLIN, and the astrophysical evidence for its existence.

View resources

Radio Telescope

Built from scratch

Designed and built a working radio telescope — parabolic dish, feedhorn, waveguide, SDR receiver, LNA, bandpass filter and motor drive — to map the Milky Way via 1420 MHz hydrogen-line radiation.

View resources

Isaac Physics Question

Published on the platform

Created "RLC Cube" — given special permission to publish — combining complex impedance, second-order differential equations and symmetry arguments into one circuit problem.

View resources

Astronomy Club Lead

School society

Took over and run the school's Astronomy Club, preparing and delivering talks on topics such as Lagrangian points and Penrose diagrams to younger year groups.

View resources

Window to the Stars

Stellar-evolution programme

Modelling the evolution of stars — using software, Python and a Raspberry Pi to study how a star's composition and structure change, with a team project on a binary neutron-star system.

View resources

Ultra-Low Temperature Physics

International conference · 2025

Attended an international conference on ultra-low temperature physics, following research at the frontier of cryogenics, superconductivity and quantum matter near absolute zero.

View resources

Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award

DofE

Completed the Gold DofE — tutoring a GCSE student for volunteering, physical training, learning Python for skills, plus the expedition and residential components.

View resources
04 — Links

Contact

The best ways to reach me or read more of my work. (Swap the placeholder links once you have them.)