Filipino-Canadian Ann Makosinski won the 2013 Google Science Fair in the 15-16 age group category.
She was named one of Time magazine’s 30 Under 30 Youth Changing the World, and was featured on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” NBC News.
Her claim to fame is a flashlight (torch in Australia) powered solely by body heat. It was inspired by her friend from Mindanao who got failing grades in school because she couldn’t spend time to study at home because they had no electricity.
Having done science fair projects since Grade 6, Makosinski was spurred into action. She had to learn manual skills in a machine shop, winding tiny transformers and working with small electronic parts.
She also sought help from experts; after three months of hard work in the lab, she was able to come up with a working flashlight.
The flashlight makes use of Peltier tiles, which can produce a small amount of electricity when heated on one side by the palm of your hand or your forehead, and cooled on the other by air passing through an aluminium tube. She’s currently talking to multiple manufacturers, and has filed a patent for her invention.
“The biggest misconception about students who join science fairs is that we’re these super genius kids. But in fact, I’m not the genius nerd some people expect me to be. The only difference is, we’re always questioning how things work,” she said.