The winners of the 2007 Intel Science Talent Search have been announced. First prize goes to physics, as is right and proper:
Mary Masterman, 17, of Oklahoma City, submitted a physics project to the Intel Science Talent Search describing the spectrograph system she built for $300 at home (commercial units can cost $20,000 to $100,000). Mary found that machining the parts and aligning the optics (lenses from a microscope and a camera) were particularly challenging. Her Littrow spectrograph splits light, like a prism, and uses a camera to record the resulting Raman spectra - a specific vibrational fingerprint of the molecular compound being investigated. Using a laser as her light source, Mary tested several household objects and solvents and compared her results to published wave numbers. Despite the shortcomings of the inexpensive laser, she found she could make relatively accurate wavelength measurements with her homemade device.
That's pretty damn impressive. We see lots of students who can't get relatively accurate wavelength measurements with a $50,000 commercial spectrometer...
Second and third places went to mathematical projects, fourth place to "a large-scale structural and functional protein study (proteomic approach)," fifth to a public health study, and, well, read the whole list. It would be a fairly impressive collection of work for a bunch of graduate students, and it's downright amazing from high-schoolers.
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Hey! I sort of know her. ... and a few of the others. That's cool. Thanks for the pointer.
Isn't spectroscopty one of the most underrated discoveries ever? It underlies a ton of Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics at many levels, even things like Ecology. It has to be one of the final four of any experimental techniques bracket, probably the champ.
I'm (idly) wondering what makes the winner's project Physics instead of Chemistry? Not that it's really important, I'm just responding to the snarkiness of the first prize going to Physics "as is right and proper".
I am no end of chuffed that the winner is female and from Oklahoma. Which is probably pretty silly, but, hey, human beings are silly.
MKK
I spent a good part of the first year of my PhD begging, borrowing, or stealing time on a Raman spectrometer. That's bloody awesome!
"I'm (idly) wondering what makes the winner's project Physics instead of Chemistry?"
The optics?
Even though it's used in Chemistry, the building of it would be more about Physics.
If she had made some glass retorts, flasks and beakers, that'd be glassblowing, not Chemistry.