The International Physicists’ Tournament was born in Ukraine in 2009 as a continuation of a long tradition of physics competitions in the USSR. It brought together 16 teams from the leading universities of Ukraine and neighboring countries. The two first editions of the tournament took place at Kiev University, and the third and fourth editions occurred at the Moscow Institute of Technology in Russia. In 2013, the tournament moved west, to Switzerland where the fifth and sixth editions took place at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. The tournament stayed in Europe for the subsequent years, until in 2022 the IPT got to South America, and was hosted in Bucaramanga, Colombia.
Over the years, more and more countries took part in this event. In 2022, the tournament brought together fifteen countries (despite the pandemic-related drop): Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Romania, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the UK.
| Year | Host | # of registered teams | # of participating teams | Gold winner | Silver winner | Bronze winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Kyiv - Ukraine | 4 | 4 | Ukraine | Russia | N/A |
| 2010 | Kyiv - Ukraine | 4 | 4 | Russia | Ukraine | N/A |
| 2011 | Moscow - Russia | 8 | 8 | Ukraine | Russia | Slovakia |
| 2012 | Moscow - Russia | 6 | 6 | Russia | Ukraine | Switzerland |
| 2013 | Lausanne - Switzerland | 10 | 10 | Switzerland | Poland | France |
| 2014 | Lausanne - Switzerland | 9 | 9 | France | Ukraine | Denmark |
| 2015 | Warsaw - Poland | 11 | 11 | Ukraine | Denmark | France |
| 2016 | Paris - France | 16 | 15 | France | Poland | Russia |
| 2017 | Gothenburg - Sweden | 20 | 18 | Ukraine | Sweden | France |
| 2018 | Moscow - Russia | 21 | 16 | Switzerland | France | Brazil |
| 2019 | Lausanne - Switzerland | 21 | 19 | France - X | France - Lyon | Ukraine |
| 2020 | online | 21 | 10 | Russian | Ukraine | USA |
| 2021 | online and Warsaw - Poland | 15 | 13 | Russia | Brazil | Ukraine |
| 2022 | Bucaramanga - Colombia | 19 | 15 | France | Brazil | Switzerland |
| 2023 | Paris - France | 22 | 18 | France and Poland | N/A | Team IPT |
| 2024 | Zurich - Switzerland | 22 | 21 | Germany | France | Italy |
| 2025 | Checiny - Poland | 26 | 18 | Germany and Switzerland | N/A | France |
