Ions, Paul the Apostle share young scientists' prize

A paper on Paul the Apostle that refutes his attempt to separate Judaism from Christianity and claims he was a Jew who tried to understand the new situation after Jesus, as well as a project on “catching multipole ions,” shared first prize in the Intel-Young Scientists competition on Tuesday.

With the winning innovation on a religious theme, Dimitri Azrohi of Jerusalem’s Arts and Science Academy High School will be awarded a full university scholarship, and will also participate in an academic delegation to Germany initiated by that country’s government.

Only rarely has a project on history won the top prize in the competition, which is now in its 16th year and initially attracted 220 projects by teenagers.

His co-winner was Victor Isserov of the Agnon School in Netanya, whose project could lead to better investigation of quantum characteristics of ions and the development of quantum computers. Isserov, who will also receive a full scholarship, will represent Israel in the EU science competition in Prague in September.

The second prize was shared by Linda Ahdut and Oz Rahmani of the Shapira religious school in Netanya, for their model of a pump without valves that could help patients with cardiac insufficiency. The other second-prize winners were Omer Granek and Idan Sharon of the Hof Hacarmel School at Ma’agan Michael, who developed an automatic buoyancy control system to save divers from drowning. All four will represent Israel in the Intel-INSEF competition to be held in May in Phoenix, Arizona.

Third prize was given to Noam Korb of the Hartman Experimental High School in Jerusalem for his research into Kristallnacht in Germany and the resultant changes in relationships between the Jews and their neighbors. He too will represent Israel in an academic delegation.

He shared third prize with Ziv Bogoslavsky, Bar Hikri and Idan Dyunovitzky of the Sharet School in Netanya, whose project dealt with improving the function and independence of paralyzed people by using nonsensory communications. They too will participate in the EU competition in Prague.

A third project also won third prize – Nadav Rubinstein of the ORT high school in Givatayim, who worked on a system for improving ability to focus in children with attention deficit disorder. He will also be sent to the Arizona competition. A fourth project that shared the third prize was carried out by Noam Otolenghi of the Yahad school in Modi’in, who developed a calculation model for finding the Higgs particle, also earning him a slot in the Intel- INSEF competition.

Forty-eight innovative ideas by 69 teenagers – girls and boys, Jewish and Arab – were examined by a panel of judges at the competition at Jerusalem’s Bloomfield Science Museum. The contestants competed in four categories: history and social sciences; life sciences and the environment; technology and computer sciences; and natural sciences and mathematics.

The winners were announced at a ceremony at the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus. The winners are usually announced on National Science Day on March 14 – Albert Einstein’s birthday – at the President’s Residence or Knesset, but because the new coalition has not yet been formed, it was held two days early.

The quality of the projects – some having aroused serious interest among public and private bodies – improves every year, as the level of science education – at least among elite pupils – continues to rise. Each of the students receives guidance from a mentor in the field.

Intel Israel general manager Maxine Fassberg said the company invests a high volume of resources into education in general and the teaching of science in particular: “As a technological company that employs many workers in these fields and develops technological innovations, we regard the development of human capital in the next generation as very important.”

“Science and technology teaching, research skills, asking questions, creativity and exposure to the scientific process,” Fassberg added, “are the basis for moving Israel’s economy and society forward.”

Citations were given to a variety of other projects, on topics including the irrationality of war; chemical analysis of emotional tears in women and those triggered by irritants such as onion; a simultaneous translation system for sign language; and radiowaves emitted by quasars.