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At 13.00 on
Wednesday, 21 September the waiting was finally over for more than
120 young scientists – 16 to 20 years old – from 35
countries gathered in Moscow at the Bauman University to compete
in the 17th European Union Contest for Young Scientists. After judging
the 78 projects exhibited there, the winners were called forward
in a thrilling award ceremony that kept everyone in suspense until
the very last minute. This year, first prizes went to teams from
Germany, Spain and Switzerland for original projects in the areas
of fluid dynamics, a possible new species in Gran Canaria and preventing
urinary tract infections from catheters. (See attachment for details.)
The award ceremony was held in the beautiful Council
Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour complex. The prizes,
worth a total of €28 500 were presented by
Achilleas Mitsos, the European Commission’s
Director-General for Research, together with Ulf Merbold,
the President of the Jury, Alexander Fursenko,
Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and
Igor Fedorov, Rector of the Bauman Moscow State
Technical University, which hosted this year’s contest.
Addressing the young scientists and guests at the
award ceremony Dr Mitsos noted that the Contest is not just about
winning prizes, but it was also an occasion for the participants
to add to their evident enthusiasm for science. He also underlined
its role in bringing young people from different cultural backgrounds
together to exchange experiences and friendship. These are very
much the aims of the contest.
Next year’s contest will be held in
Stockholm, hosted by the Swedish Federation for Young Scientists
in collaboration with the Swedish Research Council and the Royal
Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Further information and photographs
| Further information
about the EU Young Scientists Contest – jury-member
details, project summaries, the contest catalogue, success
stories, and more – and downloadable, high-resolution
photographs of the event (posted during and
after the event) can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/youngscientists/moscow/press-centre_en.htm
You can also contact:
Stephen P. Gosden, Directorate-General for Research,
European Commission
Tel: +32.2.2960079, Fax: +32.2.2958220, E-mail: stephen.gosden@ec.europa.eu
For audiovisual media. A 13-minute documentary
about the contest (free of rights for broadcasting) is being
produced. To obtain a free copy, please contact Gérald
Alary, DDB Focus-Europe - working under contract
to the European Commission for this event.
Tel: +32.2.7612029, Fax: +32.2.7611906, E-mail: Gerald.alary@ddb.be
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Annex
Prize-winners
17th European Union Contest for Young Scientists
Because of the diversity of disciplines
represented at the contest, it is impossible to determine one overall
winner. So there is not just one first prize but three, along with
three second prizes and three third prizes. In addition there are
several special prizes: expenses-paid visits to the London International
Youth Science Forum in 2006 and Stockholm International Youth Science
Seminar (2005), to the European Patent Office and to EIROForum members.
| FIRST PRIZES (€5 000
per project) |
| Country: Germany |
| Contestants:
Igor GOTLIBOVITCH Age: 18 City/Region: München School:
Maria-Theresia-Gymnasium Career intention: Physicist Hobbies:
Aikido, fitness, swimming Renate LANDIG Age: 19 City/Region:
Bad Saulgau School: Störck-Gymnasium Career intention: Physicist
Hobbies: Playing the piano, fitness, riding, swimming |
| Field: Physics |
| Project title: Corners
in water – unexpected symmetry breaking in fluid dynamics |
| |
Every day, when we run the kitchen
tap, we see a “hydraulic jump” – where the
water hits the basin it spreads out thinly, but a little further
out the water level suddenly “jumps” and becomes
much deeper. This project investigated the phenomenon under
laboratory conditions, and found that under certain conditions
the border between the shallow and the deep water was not circular
but polygonal: the water had corners. |
| Country: Spain |
| Contestants:
Javier LÓPEZ MARTÍNEZ-FORTÚN Age: 18 City/Region: Las
Palmas de Gran Canaria School: Garoé School Career intention:
medicine doctor Hobbies: padel, play guitar, football Eliecer
PÉREZ ROBAINA Age: 18 City/Region: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
School: Garoé School Career intention: psychology Hobbies: basketball,
music, messenger Carlos MACHADO CARVAJAL Age: 18 City/Region:
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria School: Garoé School Career intention:
aeronautic engineer Hobbies: radio, control cars, racquet sports,
DIY, table games |
| Field: Biology |
| Project title:
Sonchus leptacaulis: a new species consolidation in Gran
Canaria |
| |
The purpose of this research was
to find out whether some plants discovered in 1998 belonged
to a new category that had not yet been described. It also investigated
whether similar specimens were to be found in other places around
the Canary Islands. |
| Country: Switzerland |
| Contestant:
Silvana KONERMANN Age: 17 City/Region: Zurich School:
Saechsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra Career intention: neuroscientist
Hobbies: cello, dancing, painting |
| Field: Medical |
| Project title: Development
of a system for the local prevention of catheter associated
urinary tract infection |
| |
When Silvana’s grandmother went
to hospital with a urinary tract infection, Silvana resolved
to prevent it from happening again. Post-operative urinary tract
infections are caused by the use of catheters, but the standard
treatment (oral antibiotics) is often ineffective because a
film develops on the catheter’s surface, protecting the bacteria.
Silvana’s solution was to use a high-tech polymer to impregnate
the catheter itself with antibiotics, which is also better for
the patient. |
SECOND PRIZES (€3 000 per project)
| Country |
Name of contestant |
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Czech Republic |
Zdeněk JANOVSKÝ |
19 |
Environment |
Vegetation dynamics of the small
forest and open-landscape ponds and its historical causes |
| Germany |
Stephen SCHULZ |
19 |
Chemistry |
Lab on the chip – new perspectives
with electrons as universal reagent |
| Ireland |
Patrick COLLISON |
17 |
Computer science |
Croma: a new dialect of lisp |
THIRD PRIZES (€1 500 per project)
| Country |
Name of contestant |
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Denmark |
Gitte Ahlquist JONSSON |
19 |
Medical |
Aid for putting on
and taking off stockings for handicapped persons |
| Estonia |
Margus NIITSOO |
18 |
Mathematics |
Generalizations of the Fibonacci
sequence |
| Luxembourg |
Eric DELE |
15 |
Biology |
Cartography
of galls |
| Pierre HAAS |
16 |
HONORARY AWARDS
Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar
2005
to attend the 2005 Nobel Prize ceremonies, meet the Nobel Laureates
and take part in a series of other scientific/cultural activities
during the week.
| Country |
Name of contestant |
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Germany |
Igor GOTLIBOVITCH |
18 |
Physics |
Corners in water –
unexpected symmetry breaking in fluid dynamics |
| Renate LANDIG |
19 |
| Switzerland |
Silvana KONERMANN |
17 |
Medical |
Development of a system for the
local prevention of catheter associated urinary tract infection |
London International Youth Science Forum 2006
to meet young scientists from around the world and take part
in the annual two-week intensive summer science festival during
July-August 2006.
| Country |
Name of contestant
|
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Spain |
Javier LÓPEZ MARTÍNEZ-FORTÚN |
18 |
Biology |
Sonchus
leptacaulis: a new species consolidation in Gran Canaria |
| Eliecer PÉREZ ROBAINA |
18 |
| Carlos MACHADO CARVAJAL |
18 |
SPECIAL DONATED PRIZES
There are eight special donated prizes: a five-day
visit of a technical and cultural nature to the European Patent
Office in Munich, and a one-week stay at each of the seven members
of EIROforum[1]:
- CERN: The European Laboratory for Particle Physics
- EFDA: The European Fusion Development Agreement
- EMBL: The European Molecular Biology Laboratory
- ESA: The European Space Agency
- ESO: The European Southern Observatory
- ESRF: The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
- ILL: The Institut Laue-Langevin
The European Patent Office, Munich, Germany
A five-day visit of a technical and cultural nature to the European
Patent Office in Munich
| Country |
Name of contestant
|
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Austria |
Susanne CERNAK |
16 |
Biology |
MiHyP
– microbiological hydrogen production |
| Felix FASCHINGER |
18 |
| Marcus METZ |
20 |
| Czech Republic |
Zuzana TVARŮKOVA |
18 |
Biology |
New possibilities to control fungal
diseases of wheat and barley by use of plant extracts |
| Germany |
Stephen SCHULZ |
19 |
Chemistry |
Lab on the chip – new perspectives
with electrons as universal reagent |
EIROforum prizes
CERN: The European Laboratory for Particle
Physics
| Country |
Name of contestant
|
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Lithuania |
Gediminas KIRANSKAS |
18 |
Physics |
Isospin in the theory of an atom |
EFDA: The European Fusion Development Agreement
| Country |
Name of contestant
|
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Lithuania |
Erikas GAIDAMAUSKAS |
17 |
Physics |
Isospin in the theory
of an atom |
EMBL: The European Molecular Biology Laboratory
| Country |
Name of contestant
|
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Israel |
Ronit SHAPIRA |
18 |
Medicine |
The effect of dietary components
on the dopamine mechanism in Parkinson’s disease |
ESA: The European Space Agency
| Country |
Name of contestant
|
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Poland |
Agata KARSKA |
20 |
Physics |
The history of discovering and
exploring BD+14° eclipsing contact binary |
ESO: The European Southern Observatory
| Country |
Name of contestant
|
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Bulgaria |
Petar Georgiev TODOROV |
19 |
Physics |
The variable star RZ Cassiopeiae.
Investigation of the hypothesis of a third companion |
ESRF: The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
| Country |
Name of contestant
|
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Turkey |
Bilkan ERKMEN |
18 |
Physics |
New methods in analyzing the propagation
of light in moving media |
ILL: The Institut Laue-Langevin
| Country |
Name of contestant
|
Age |
Field |
Title |
| Turkey |
Serdar KARATEKIN |
19 |
Physics |
New methods in analyzing the propagation
of light in moving media |
[1] EIROforum is a collaboration between seven European intergovernmental
research organisations. As world leaders within their respective
fields of science, the member organisations of the EIROforum constitute
the vanguard of European science, enabling European scientists to
engage in truly cutting-edge research and be competitive on a global
scale.
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