WATCH ABOVE: Ann Makosinski spoke with the Global BC Morning News on Wednesday.
A Victoria teenager has won a top prize at the Google Science Fair.
15-year-old Ann Makosinski won in the 15-16 category for her human-powered flashlight.
She was the only Canadian selected to go to the finals out of thousands of entries. She was one of 15 finalists.
Makosinski developed a flashlight that runs solely on heat from the human hand. It does not contain any batteries. It is fully functioning, and capable of producing 5.4 mW at five foot candles of brightness. Her design uses Peltier tiles, which is heated on one side and cooled on the other.
“One of my friends in the Philippines, she didn’t have any electricity, so she didn’t have any light to study with and because of that she failed her grades,” said Makosinski, speaking about her inspiration for the project.
She explains in her submission video:
Makosinski had to present her idea to a team of scientists at Google and told Global News back in June that she was nervous to do so.
“I was very shocked and I’m super excited for what’s going to happen next,” she said.
Makosinski gets a $25,000 scholarship and a trip to the Google headquarters, Cern in Switzerland, or the Lego headquarters in Denmark. She has always wanted to be a scientist and used to experiment with items around the house when she was young.
The grand prize winner at the Science Fair was 17-year-old Eric Chen from the U.S.A. who developed a new anti-flu medicine.
- Invasive strep: ‘Don’t wait’ to seek care, N.S. woman warns on long road to recovery
- Ontario First Nation declares state of emergency amid skyrocketing benzene levels
- Do Canadians have an appetite for electric vehicles? Experts are divided
- Nearly 200 fossil fuel, chemical lobbyists to join plastic treaty talks in Ottawa
Comments