Love At The Chemistry Olympiad, Chemistry In The Kitchen

Abstract

As this year’s International Chemistry Olympiad concludes (see page 11) and students from around the world bring home their medals, there may be even more chemistry taking place at the competition than it appears. Jasper Landman and Marte Van der Linden met as competitors at the 2008 International Chemistry Olympiad in Budapest; Landman was on the Dutch team and Van der Linden on the Norwegian team. Seven years later, they’re newlyweds. During the competition, Van der Linden and her teammates thought it would be funny to play a practical joke on the Dutch team, sending them anonymous letters filled with riddles. “I grew up in the Netherlands, and I can speak Dutch, so I thought it would be fun to give them a little bit of a puzzle,” Van der Linden tells Newscripts. When Landman and his teammates figured out the culprits, well, you could say sparks flew. Landman found ...