History - Retrospective - Luxembourg 1994

Institut Supérieur de Technologie (IST)

If there is one country that represents the multiplicity of cultures that Europe embeds, that is Luxembourg. An astounding 26% of its population is of foreign origin: mainly Portuguese, Italians, French, Germans and Belgians. But that situation is not new: until its independence in 1839, it was a region consecutively subject to Spanish, French, Austrian and German domination. Luxembourgers have put into practice very early the Europe of tomorrow and many amongst them fluently speak several languages. It is probably a question of survival.
Even a small country like Luxembourg has its own particular scientific history. Apart from the rise and efficiency of its steel-industry at the beginning of this century, Luxembourg was homeland to Henri Tudor (1859-1928). Tudor died of lead contamination after having successfully developed what was to become the Tudor Accumulator, one of the first correctly functioning lead storage batteries in the world. After his studies in Belgium he became a civil engineer, soon developing a keen interest in electricity and actually building a power station in Echternach (Luxembourg) alongside with his brother Hubert. The complex would allow the illumination of 120 lamps throughout the village. Tudor would later on establish similar plants in Belgium, France and England.
Luxembourg has been the scenery, as well, for some key progresses of the mining industry. Particularly the De Minett or "red lands", located on the Southwest of Luxembourg. The discovery of some Celt and Roman galleries over there revealed that these civilisations had already mastered the production of iron. It was only in 1838 that the composition of the soil was studied and re-assessed, resulting in the invention of new procedures in order to deal with the phosphor and make industrial extraction possible.
Luxembourg thus stands as a good example of how flexibility, open-mindedness in seizing opportunities, and technology can make miracles within a small-sized economy.


PRIZE WINNERS

FIRST PRIZES

  • Oliver Krüger : "The ecology of the common buzzard and goshawk" D
  • Eike Lau : "Internal addresses in the Mandelbrot set" D
  • Jane Feehan : "The Calluna Case-Carrier" IRL
  • Christian Krause : "Telephone break-in security" DK
  • Henrik Stroem : "An anti-boot virus program" N
  • Samuel Schaer: "Supersonic plasma rings" CH

    • SECOND PRIZES

  • Ivan Labanca : "A diffusion cloud chamber with magnetic field" I
  • Gijs Van Oort : "A computer controlled flute" NL
  • Jan Oeyulvstad : "Flood prevention in the river Otra in Southern Norway" N
  • Nuno Alves Da Silva - Hugo Macedo : "Image processing using a neural network" P
  • Stefan Serefoglou : "The two-to-one way rotation converter" GR shared the prize with Fernando Toro Chicano - Ricardo Penafiel Gil - Santiago Hervas Morales : "A new age plotter" E

    • TRAVEL AWARD TO THE NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY

  • Jane Feehan : "The Calluna Case-Carrier" IRL

    • TRAVEL AWARDS TO THE ISEF IN HAMILTON (ONTARIO), CANADA

  • Christian Krause: "Telephone break-in security" DK

  • Oliver Krüger: "The ecology of the common buzzard and goshawk" D
  • Henrik Stroem: "An anti-boot virus program" N

    • JURY MEMBERS

    Galo Ramírez
    Thor Bak
    Dervilla Donnelly
    Alfred Frennet
    Maurits Geerlings
    Joseph Lahr
    Alfred McLaren
    Christos Louis
    Fritz Paschke
    Werner Rathmayer
    René Zimmer