The news-makers: Where are they now?

Sarah Flannery: 1999's Young Scientist on an ever-upward trajectory

TO SAY Sarah Flannery’s life changed when she was named young scientist of the year in 1999 is a gross understatement. It triggered a sequence of events that included almost instant celebrity, the opportunity to publish a book, an invitation to study at Cambridge, and eventually a life in San Francisco and a share of a company in Silicon Valley.

“I absolutely love it, I get to go kite surfing here every week,” she says – yet another perk that comes with Being Sarah Flannery.

Sarah was only 16 when she won the BT Young Scientist award 11 years ago, with a project to develop a computer data security system.

It put her on to a rapidly accelerating trajectory that ultimately landed her in California. There, she and nine business partners co-founded a computer games company with an unmistakable Irish twist, TirNua (Irish for new country) – at TirNua.com.

The company’s new game runs on Facebook, but is very sophisticated – not surprising given all of those involved have years of experience in the games industry. They moved together from games developer Electronic Arts in 2008 to set up their new company, where Sarah is senior computer scientist.

“TirNua-Live Green Play Green” is the company’s first major product.

“TirNua is a very large world visualisation game,” she says. Players enter TirNua and then begin to interact with the new world, with staff back in the TirNua office keeping it up-to-date.

“It is very exciting for us here because we control it live,” says Sarah. It is also very current. TirNua is currently struggling with an oil rig explosion that has burst a pipeline in this virtual world, has polluted an orchard and is threatening more damage. Not long ago, residents of TirNua had to cope with ash from a nearby volcano.

Sarah says she could never have imagined her participation in the Young Scientist would ultimately bring her to a new life in California. The win had an immediate impact, with 70 phone calls logged from media, family and friends the next day.

Within two days she made the front page of the Times of London, and then her story began popping up around the world. She appeared in newspapers in the US, Far East and Europe, and the story was also picked up by radio and television.

Invitations to speak abroad started to arrive from places as far away as Singapore. And a publisher arrived with a book deal. In Code: A Mathematical Journeywas the result, joint-authored by Sarah and her father David. The publishers put her on a promotional tour that took her to 19 US cities, and also countries across Europe.

Even before the book deal could be agreed, Cambridge University was on the line inviting her to apply. This she did, completing a degree in computer science in 2003.

Her charmed existence continued. “I ended up getting hired by Wolfram Research, the company that developed Mathematica,” she says. She worked as a research associate with founder Stephen Wolfram on special projects at the company’s base in Champaign, Illinois.

Sarah then moved across to EA Games (Electronic Arts Inc), one of the biggest computer games developers in the world. It was an important move because she worked with the people who together would later leave to set up TirNua.

It has been something of a rollercoaster ride, but Sarah remains as unassuming and enthusiastic as when this reporter first interviewed her back in 1999. She loves her work, is mastering kite surfing, and looks forward to any opportunity to visit home.