Brussels, September 2006
24 Young people today received a share of the €28500 prize pot awarded at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists. Three projects received €5000 each as first prize was shared by Michael Kaiser and Johannes Kienl of Austria for "Development of a complete new de-ice system for aircraft", Johannes Burkart and Alexander Joos of Germany for "Flight curves of table-tennis balls" and Tomasz Wdowik of Poland for "Synthesis of new potential ß blockers". Other prize-winners came from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Spain. The winners were chosen by the jury from a field of 120 young scientists, aged from 15 to 20 from 33 countries. The ceremony took place in the Winter Garden of the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, which hosted the Nobel Prize ceremony from 1901 to 1929. The winners were chosen by a jury of 15 distinguished scientists headed by Prof Jane Grimson of Trinity College Dublin. Next year’s event will be held at the University of Valencia.
European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik congratulated the winners saying: “Science knows no boundaries, and that includes age. What we have seen today shows the innovative and questing spirit of our young people. I offer my warmest congratulations to all of you who participated in the Contest and of course, the prize winners. I very much hope that you will all continue to enjoy the thrill of invention and discovery, now and throughout your lives.”
Because of the diversity of disciplines represented at the contest, it was impossible to determine one overall winner. Therefore three first prizes were awarded, along with three second prizes and three third prizes. In addition there were several special prizes: expenses-paid visits to the London"> ">http:///www.liysf.org.uk/"> London International Youth Science Forum and the Stockholm"> ">http:///www.fuf.org/siyss"> Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar , to the European"> ">http:///www.european-patent-office.org/"> European Patent Office in Munich and the following members of EIROforum :"> ">http:///www.eiroforum.org/"> EIROforum : CERN: The European Laboratory for Particle Physics, EFDA: The European Fusion Development Agreement, EMBL: The European Molecular Biology Laboratory, ESRF: The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, ESA: The European Space Agency, ESO: The European Southern Observatory and the ILL: The Institut Laue-Langevin. This year, a Special Donated Prize came from the Umeå"> ">http:///www.upsc.se"> Umeå Plant Science Centre in the North of Sweden, where up to 6 contestants will enjoy a ten-day visit of the centre. A full list of winners is available on www.eucontest.se
The prizes were announced at the September ceremony at the Winter Garden of the Grand Hotel Stockholm. They were awarded by:
- Prof. Jane Grimson of Trinity College Dublin, and Chairman of the selection jury;
- Leif Pagrotsky, Swedish Minister of Education, Research and Culture; and
- Jean-Michel Baer, Director, DG Research., European Commission, representing Commissioner Potočnik.
PRIZE-WINNERS
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Item source: IP/06/10 Date: /09/2006