The BT Young Scientist for 2006 is the youngest winner in the 42-year history of the event, writes Dick Ahlstrom, Science Editor
Kinsale student Aisling Judge (14) last night claimed first prize in the annual competition at the Royal Dublin Society with a biology project that greatly impressed the judging panel.
A second-year student from Kinsale Community College, Aisling took the €5,000 award and trophy in her youthful stride.
She said winning was "so brilliant. It is the best moment in my life."
Aisling developed a simple and inexpensive warning device built into food packaging that can warn the consumer if the food inside has gone off.
This year's awards were notable for a number of reasons, not just Aisling's record-breaking youth.
Students from CBS Synge Street in Dublin claimed two of the top four awards, both with advanced maths projects. Its students claimed a second place last year and were outright winners in 2004, a remarkable performance given the tough competition seen at the RDS year after year.
The new Irish have also had a notable impact on the 2006 event. The best group project winners, Synge Street fifth years Keith Florea, Adrian Chisa and Sandeep Sihag hail from Romania and India, respectively. They developed a more accurate way to calculate the position of an orbiting satellite.
The runner-up individual project winner Gohar Abbasi, again from Synge Street CBS, is originally from Pakistan. His project may transform the way stock markets trade options with a new method to calculate stock and commodity option prices.
The runner-up group project award went to three transition-year students from Presentation Secondary School in Kilkenny. Tara McGrath, Vanessa McGrath and Nicola Woodgate developed games that can teach creativity and inventiveness to primary pupils.
