Many past winners of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition have gone on to study and work in science, from exploring volcanoes to creating software that has made them teenage millionaires.
We catch up with the winners from the past 10 years, and find out what they did next…
2009 winners: John D. O’Callaghan and Liam McCarthy
School: Kinsale Community School, Co Cork
Project: “The Development of a Convenient Test Method for Somatic Cell Count and its Importance in Milk Production”
2009 winners John D. O'Callaghan and Liam McCarthy
John and Liam are both from farming backgrounds, and their project involved developing a cheap and efficient way for farmers to detect infection in milk cows.
Their invention was widely featured in the media, and the next step is to commercialise their test.
The pair also went on to win first prize at the EU Young Scientist contest in Paris.
“For work experience in Transition Year, I’d like to go to a science laboratory, perhaps at UCC or maybe the Dairygold laboratory in Mallow,” says John D.
“I think I’d like a career in science or agricultural science. It’s what I’ve grown up with, it’s a part of my life.”
Liam is also considering a career in agricultural science.
2008 winner: Emer Jones
School: Presentation School, Tralee, Co Kerry
Project: “Research and Development of Emergency Sandbag Shelters”
Emer’s project examined the use of native materials to enhance the stability of emergency sandbag shelters used in disaster relief. She went on to win second place in the engineering category at the EU Young Scientist contest later that year.
Her home town acknowledged her achievements by making her the grand marshal at the 2008 St Patrick’s Day Parade in Tralee.
2007 winner: Abdusalam Abubakar
School: CBS Synge Street, Dublin 8
Project: “An Extension of Wiener’s Attack on RSA”
Abdusalam mastered enormously complex mathematics which limit the security of encrypted digital and internet messages.
“Our team invented two new algebras that extended the work of the greatest of all Irish mathematicians, William Rowan Hamilton,” he says.
Abdusalam was invited to speak at mathematics conferences, and went on to represent Ireland and win first place in the EU Young Scientist contest.
2006 winner: Aisling Judge
School: Kinsale Community School, Co. Cork
Project: “The development and evaluation of a biological food spoilage indicator”
We all know that food spoils easily if it is stored at the wrong temperature. Aisling was the youngest ever winner in the exhibition’s history, with her food spoilage indicator kit for consumers.
“Winning the competition has opened so many doors for me,” Aisling says. “I have met so many people and have gotten the opportunity to do so many great things like launching Science Week and talking to primary school students about the importance of science.
“At the moment I am concentrating on getting through my Leaving Cert and choosing the course I want to study next year.”
2005 winner: Patrick Collison
School: Castletroy College, Limerick
Project: “Croma: a new dialect of Lisp”
Patrick Collison’s project involved creating a new programming language for making web pages.
Patrick went on to take second place at the EU Young Scientist contest in Moscow. Then when he was only 19, he and his brother John sold their software company for €3 million.
2004 winner: Ronan Larkin
School: Synge Street CBS, Dublin
Project: “Generalised Continued Fractions”
Ronan developed new techniques for solving difficult mathematical equations. He then represented Ireland in the EU Young Scientist contest, and visited MIT in Boston as part of the Young Scientist prize.
“Then I sat that dreaded thing called the Leaving Cert (it’s not that bad).” Since then Ronan has successfully completed a degree in mechanical engineering at UCD.
2003 winner: Adnan Osmani
School: St Finian’s College, Mulllingar, Co Westmeath
Project: “The graphical technological and user-friendly advancement of the Internet browser: XWebs”
Adnan developed a new networking socket and web browser that enabled faster Internet access, even on ordinary modems and without compressing data.
His project was extensively covered in the international media, from the Wall Street Journal to CNN and the BBC.
Adnan now has a BSc in Applied Computing and Software Engineering, and an MSc in Computer Science and Research.
2002 winner: David Michael O’Doherty
School: Gonzaga College, Dublin
Project: “The Distribution of the Primes and the Underlying Order to Chaos”
David’s prize was for research into the second Hardy-Littlewood conjecture, an unsolved problem in number theory which concerns the number of primes in intervals.
David went on to study mathematics at the University of Cambridge.
2001 winners: Peter Taylor, Shane Browne and Michael O’Toole
School: St Killian’s Community School, Bray, Co. Wicklow
Project: “Investigating symmetrical shapes formed by polygons”
The team solved a problem in geometry about how regular polygons can be arranged into circular patterns of optimum symmetry. They also took third place at the EU Young Scientist contest.
2000 winner: Thomas Gernon
School: Coláiste Rís, Dundalk, Co Louth
Project: “The Geography and Mathematics of Europe’s Urban Centres”
This was the first time that a Social and Behavioural Sciences project won the top award. Thomas went on to win the prestigious Alumni Prize at the EU Young Scientist contest, and two local councils honoured him in a joint civic reception.
Thomas studied geology at UCD, and his research on volcanic eruptions has taken him from diamond mines in Botswana and Arctic Canada, to active volcanoes in Iceland, Italy, Greece and Far Eastern Siberia.
Dr Gernon (he completed a PhD at the University of Bristol) now lectures in geology at TCD.
Learn more
Visit the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition’s website
Patrick Collison has described his experiences on his fantastic journey from BT Young Scientist to software millionaire in a guest lecture for Science Week 2008. View the video.
Read more stories from the Past Winners Blog
