PAST WINNERS THE JUDGE FAMILY
The Judge Family Three siblings took part over a 12-year period, with one becoming the first in his school to take part, and two sisters declared the outright winners as Young Scientists in 2006 and then in 2013. “I thought it would be a boring science fair but it was so cool it blew me away when I got there,” says Aisling, the BT Young Scientist of the year for 2006. She was more interested in sport than anything to do with science, she says, and readily admits avoiding anything that looked nerdy or involved too much work. Yet it was a life-changing moment when Aisling’s parents insisted she travel up to Dublin to see her older brother Edward who in 2002 took part in the exhibition, becoming the first student to participate from their local Kinsale Community School. Also in tow was four-year-old sister Ciara who would also be impacted by the exhibition in a way none of the family could have expected. “I think it was my brother who paved the way for us,” says Ciara of her brother’s earlier participation in the event. “The two of us went on and won, but our brother was the first to take part from our school and enter in 2002. Edward was naturally the most inquisitive of us and he asked our parents if he could go and then asked the teacher and they got behind him. Now the school is very successful. And it really all started with my brother going.” Aisling describes being dragged to the event. “My brother was four years older than me and my parents said we all had to go up to Dublin and have a look. I can still remember saying ‘I hope you don’t think I am going to do it’,” says Aisling.
From left to right; Aisling and Ciara Judge
BT became the organisers and sponsors of the exhibition
Shane Browne Peter Taylor Michael O’ Toole
Investigating symmetrical shapes formed by polygons
48
BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition
Adnan Osmani
Gonzaga, Dublin
St Finian’s College, Co. Westmeath
The Distribution of the Primes and the underlying order of chaos
St. Killian’s Community School, Co. Wicklow
2001
David Michael O’Doherty
2001
2002
The graphical technological and user-friendly advancement of the Internet browser
2003
