Record entries for Young Scientist competition

A RECORD number of students have entered projects in the 40th Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, which gets underway in Dublin this week.

A total of 1,040 entrants will be hoping to emulate 2003 winner Adnan Osmani, whose high-speed internet browser astounded the judges and international computer scientists.

Since then, the Mullingar man has done the Leaving Certificate and is now studying computer engineering at Sheffield University in Britain.

He has been invited, along with all previous winners since 1965, to attend a gala dinner in their honour this week to mark the 40th anniversary of the competition.

The 719 girls and 321 boys participating in the exhibition will begin setting up more than 470 projects at the RDS today, with Dublin entrants being joined by their peers from 29 other counties tomorrow.

The real excitement begins tomorrow afternoon when the judges start the onerous task of assessing each project to select the overall winner and a number of category awards.

On Friday night, the Esat BT Young Scientists of the Year 2004 will be awarded €3,000, the Esat BT perpetual trophy and the chance to represent Ireland at the EU Contest for Young Scientists.

A prize of €1,500 will be awarded for the best individual or group, depending on whether the overall winner is a group or an individual, and a trophy. The best runner-up and group will each receive €750 and a trophy.

The students will compete for prizes in a number of categories, the most popular of which was social and behavioural sciences, with 176 projects. The other categories are biological & ecological sciences (148 projects); chemical, physical & mathematical sciences (86 projects); and technology (61 projects).

Chief executive officer Esat BT and BT Northern Ireland Bill Murphy said the Young Scientist Exhibition remains the heartbeat of the science community.

“Technology is fast becoming a fundamental part of school life, and we will continue to work with Government to ensure the generation we see at Young Scientist are totally equipped to take their place in Ireland’s information society,” he said.