Who's Agastya Goel, the Indian-origin physics prodigy honored by Trump
What's the story
Agastya Goel, a 17-year-old Indian-origin student, is part of the United States Physics Team that won all five gold medals at the 2025 International Physics Olympiad in Paris. The team made history by achieving this milestone for the first time ever. Along with Goel, it included members Allen Li, Joshua Wang, Feodor Yevtushenko, and Brian Zhang. After their victory at IPhO, they were honored by US President Donald Trump at the White House.
Academic prodigy
Goel is a junior at Gunn High School
Goel is a junior at Henry M Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California. He is already a two-time gold medalist at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) and was ranked fourth globally in 2024, with a score of 438.97 out of 600. His father, Ashish Goel, was one of India's top scorers in the IIT-JEE exam of 1990 and now works as a professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University.
Multi-talented
Other interests and accomplishments of Goel
Apart from his academic pursuits, Goel is also interested in tennis, hiking, music, and stargazing. He plays guitar and piano, sings, and is part of his school's choir. He has been a finalist in the USA Computing Olympiad (USACO) for three years in a row from 2022 to 2024. Between 2021 and 2024, he worked as a part-time researcher at Euler Circle in Palo Alto. He has co-authored a mathematics paper that was published in The Australasian Journal of Combinatorics.
Information
His journey in physics
Goel's achievements have not only brought him recognition but also contributed to the US Physics Team's record-breaking performance at IPhO this year. With his diverse interests and impressive accomplishments, Goel is poised for a bright future in science and beyond.
Twitter Post
The International Physics Olympiad was held in July
Today @POTUS & @WHOSTP47 were proud to welcome the 2025 World Champion USA Physics Team to the @WhiteHouse!
— Director Michael Kratsios (@mkratsios47) September 22, 2025
These incredible geniuses DOMINATED at the International Physics Olympiad in July, bringing home a record FIVE gold medals — the greatest performance in team history. 🇺🇸💪 pic.twitter.com/ZmsNRHcz95