18 Year Old Girl Wins Prestigious Science Award
March 24, 2010
by Hughes
|Congratulations to Erika DeBenedictis! Who is Erika? She’s a young super scientist, who won the grand prize at the Intel Science Talent Search, only the country’s oldest and most prestigious pre-college science competition. This 18 year-old genius developed a software navigation system to help improve spacecraft travel through the solar system. Her research found that:
the gravity and movement of planets create “easy transit routes,” which will ultimately help spacecraft move faster and with less fuel.
Competition for the prize was tight.
Of the 1,736 high school seniors who entered the Intel Science Talent Search 2010, 300 were announced as semifinalists in January. Of those, 40 were chosen as finalists and invited to Washington, D.C., to compete for the top 10 awards.
Intimidating? Not for Erika. Remember her name. We may be reading about her accepting a Nobel some day.
The Intel Science Talent Search encourages students to tackle challenging scientific questions and develop the skills necessary to solve the problems of tomorrow. Over the past 68 years, Science Talent Search finalists have gone on to win seven Nobel Prizes, two Fields Medals, three National Medals of Science and 11 MacArthur Foundation Fellowships.
If you are inspired by brilliance, an innovative mind and a passion for knowledge and solutions, watch this video of Erika explaining her research:
Brava Erika!
Cool! Congratulations Erika.
Good grief! Would you headline that an 18 yr old BOY won something?
Certainly she deserves the adult title of woman at 18!
twandx. in your egalitarian for genders universe you may not have come across that science was too tough for one of the genders and if that gender were interested in science they should definitely not go into physics but rather something soft like biology?
Marille -
I would respond if I had any idea what you mean by your post. I fear you did not understand my post was lamenting the fact that she is being called a girl.
My gravitar does not appear to be working on this site.
looks like I misunderstood you. maybe 18 y/o don’t see themselves as girls but as adults who can drive and vote.
Yes, Anna. Women awa men are capable of doing really great things and thinking great thoughts – no longer children but ready to make our world better.
We should not put them down by calling them children all their lives. They are too important to the world.
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