Young Scientist Award: A Limerick student who developed a new programming language for use on the web has captured the title as Esat BT Young Scientist for 2005.
The top group award went to an advanced maths project and projects on freshwater shrimp and an "intelligent" cat's eye took the main runner-up prizes.
The President, Mrs McAleese, last night presented Patrick Collison (16), Castletroy College, Limerick, with the top award at the Young Scientist exhibition at the RDS in Dublin. Patrick was runner-up at last year's exhibition, an unusual achievement at the annual event, now in its 41st year.
The top group award went to Francis Wasser (16) and Michael Mulhall (17), Christian Brothers, Synge Street in Dublin.
They carried out a challenging analysis of various solutions to equations developed by one of the Republic's greatest mathematicians, William
Rowan Hamilton.
The runner-up individual prize went to Kevin O'Reilly (16), Christian Brothers (Abbey) Grammar School, Newry, Co Down.
He conducted an intensive study of the feeding habits and preferences of the freshwater shrimp, Gammarus pulex.
The runner-up group award was claimed by three other Limerick students, 16-year-old fifth years Claire Conaghan, Áine Mulcahy and Seán Liston, Desmond College, Newcastlewest. They devised a new kind of road cat's eye that changes colour when the temperature drops below freezing.
The President praised the hard work put in by all the student researchers and also highlighted the importance of the Esat BT Young Scientist event.
She was accompanied at the lively and noisy awards ceremony by Esat BT chief executive officer and BT Northern Ireland managing director, Mr Bill Murphy.
The judges were highly complimentary of Patrick's winning project entitled "CROMA: a new dialect of LISP". His new language, CROMA, was an enhancement of LISP, a language developed 50 years ago. The new language operated faster and was particularly
suited to use on the web, they stated.
Patrick, a fourth-year student, spent nearly six months developing CROMA.
He has yet to decide where his future may lie and it was too soon to decide if he would go into computing, he said.
Patrick received a cheque for €3,000, a Waterford Crystal trophy and the opportunity to represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Moscow next September.
Francis and Michael are both sixth years at Synge Street and they decided to devise new solutions to equations produced by Hamilton in the mid-1800s.
They had to tackle some exceptionally difficult maths, but neither viewed himself as a maths expert.
"Once we got into it we wanted to beat it," said Michael. Their best group prize includes a cheque for €1,500 and an Esat BT perpetual trophy.
Fifth-year student Kevin O'Reilly carried out an exhaustive study of the diminutive freshwater shrimp. An import from Wales, the species has come to dominate Irish waterways, pushing out other species.
"The thing is it has out-competed native species to become the dominant species," he said. He discovered new information about its lifestyle in his project, which as runner-up individual netted a cheque for €750 and a perpetual trophy.
The runner-up group winners , decided on their project on road cat's eyes after Áine heard about a road death in Galway as a result of black ice. The three decided to come up with a new kind of cat's eye that would alert drivers to the possibility of icy roads.
After discarding thermostats and other elaborate devices, they hit on the simple idea of using temperature-sensitive dyes that go blue when the temperature drops. They were awarded €750 and a perpetual trophy.
The Esat BT Young Scientist and Technology exhibition is open to the public from 9.30 a.m. and comes to a close at 5.30 p.m. today. Student and OAP tickets cost €4, and €3 for primary schoolchildren. Adult tickets are €8 and family tickets admitting two adults and two children cost €20.
Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition: Overall winners
Esat BT Young Scientist of the Year - Technology - Intermediate: Patrick Collison, CROMA: a new dialect of LISP, Castletroy College, Limerick.
Best Group - Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences - Senior: Francis Wasser, Michael Mulhall, Numerical solutions of Hamilton's equations, Christian Brothers School, Synge Street, Dublin.
Runner-up Individual - Biological and Ecological Sciences - Intermediate: Kevin O'Reilly, The feeding behaviour of freshwater shrimp Gammarus, Christian Brothers (Abbey) Grammar School, Newry, Down.
Runner up-Group - Technology - Senior: Claire Conaghan, Áine Mulcahy, Seán Liston, Intelligent cat's eyes, Desmond College, Newcastlewest, Limerick.