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Exhibition Facts
45 Years and running
2009 saw the exhibition enter its 45th year making it one of the longest standing exhibition of its kind in the world.
Size Matters…
The 2009 event was the largest exhibition to date. Over 1,100 students with 500 projects participated and over 37,400 people visited the Exhibition.
The Exhibition received its highest ever entry numbers with 1,616 projects entered, breaking all previous records.
Entries have increased steadily every year from 606 entries in 2000 to the 2009 record number, which marks an increase of 167%.
- 500 projects took part in the finals.
- 31 Counties were represented at the RDS in January 2009.
- Over 200 schools took part
BT will celebrate 10 years of involvement this year...
We are proud to not just sponsor the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, but also to be entrusted with the organising and running of it too. Ours is a company founded on an inventive and pioneering spirit, we are passionate about technology and feel a real affinity with all the entrants. And as this is the 10th anniversary of our involvement we're going to make sure it's the best one yet!
40th anniversary
January 2004 celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Young Scientist exhibition, the longest standing display of secondary school students abilities in the area of science and technology.
The first ever Young Scientist Exhibition was held in the Mansion House in 1965: 230 students participated and 5,000 people attended.
Since 1965, three quarters of a million people, spanning 43 years, have visited the Young Scientist Exhibition.
And the Winning Continues…
To date, Irish students have taken the top honours ten times at the European Union Science Contest.
Irish Young Scientists are amongst the youngest entrants and have scooped over 20 top awards to date in the Science and Engineering Fair in the USA.
Famous Milestones… Through the Years
The first ever winner of the Young Scientist Exhibition was John Monahan from Newbridge College, Co. Kildare (1965). John is now President of his own biotech company, Avigen Inc, based in California.
The first female winner was Mary Finn from the Ursuline Convent, Sligo (1966).
Richard Elliot, from Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, was the first student from Northern Ireland to win Young Scientist of the Year (1974).
Turan Mirza, William Murphy and Gareth Clarke from Carrickfergus Grammar School in Antrim were the first group team to win the Young Scientists of the Year title (1983).
The only mixed team to take the Young Scientists of the Year title was Emma Donnellan and Henry Byrne from FCJ Secondary School, Bunclody, Co Wexford (1987).
Sarah Flannery from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál in Blarney, Cork featured on the front page of newspapers around the world after she scooped the 1999 Esat Telecom Young Scientist of the Year title for her project on encryption. Sarah went on to take first place at the 11th EU Science Contest in Greece and represented the European Union at the International Nobel Prize ceremonies in December 1999.
Peter Taylor, Shane Browne and Michael O’Toole won the 2001 exhibition and went on to win third place at the 13th EU Young Scientist Contest, Norway in September.
Aisling Judge, Kinsale, Co Cork won in January 2006 and was the first Cork winner or female winner since Sarah Flannery’s global success seven years earlier. At only 14 years old, Aisling was the youngest ever winner in the exhibition’s history. Aisling went on to claim third prize at the European Union Young Scientist Contest in September 2006.
Abdusalam Abubakar won the title in January 2007. Abdul also went on to win the European Young Scientist in Valencia in Spain in September 2007 with this project, entitled 'An Extension of Weiner's Attack on RSA Encryption'
The 2008 winner Emer Jones from Tralee is the youngest ever BT Young Scientist, she won with a project entitled, "Research and Development of Emergency Sandbag Shelters". Emer went on to take second place at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Copenhagen in September 2008.
John D. O’Callaghan (aged 14) and Liam McCarthy (aged 13), 2nd year students from Kinsale Community School, Co Cork won in January 2009 with their project entitled, “The Development of a Convenient Test Method for Somatic Cell Count and its Importance in Milk Production”. John and Liam will go on to represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Paris this September.
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