Tony Scott embodies the history of the Young Scientist project

IF AFTER the first Young Scientist Exhibition, you told Tony Scott that in 2013 he would be talking about its migration and expansion in Africa, you might as well have told him it was on its way to Mars.

Scott embodies the history of the exhibition, devising the concept with Fr Tom Burke in 1963, but unsure then exactly what results their experiment would produce. It is fair to say, though, that Africa would not have figured in any model conceived by the duo.

“It’s nice to see a seed planted in Tanzania and growing. I went there last year for the first exhibit and again this year. On my first visit, when I went into the hall, if I closed my eyes, I could have been in the RDS. It is a mirror of our own exhibition and the prize for last year’s winners, was a trip to attend the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. The winners — three girls — are planning to study architecture, medicine and law when they finish school.