Avishi Katko and Maya Brown from Moshe Sharet High School in Netanya, they are the winners of the Young Scientists and Developers competition for their work in the field of life sciences on water disinfection using solar radiation
Seven works were announced yesterday as winners in the "Young Scientists and Developers" competition held at the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem: Avishai Katko and Maya Brown from the Moshe Sharet High School in Netanya won first place for their work in the field of life sciences on water disinfection using solar radiation. The two developed a system intended for third world countries where there is a serious problem of mortality as a result of drinking contaminated water. The system is cheap to manufacture, easy to use and can be placed in any home.
Avishi and Maya won study scholarships worth NIS 12,000 and represented Israel at the Intel ISAF competition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Four students won second place: Tova Tatiana Hanimov, from the Shapira Religious High School in Netanya, for her physics work on the Magnus effect in small pilot vehicles; Amit Kahana from the Israel High School for Sciences and Arts in Jerusalem for his work in psychology on the psychoschematic cinematography of free choice. Tova Tatiana and Amit also represented Israel at the Intel ISAF competition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Hadas Inbar from Beit Shinoch high school. Galili in Kfar Saba for her work in chemistry on the production of nanometric gold particles for biological sensing; and Amit Shafaran from the Israel High School for Sciences and Arts in Jerusalem, for her work in history on the subject of a Magi amulet from the Cairo Genizat. Hadas and Amit will represent Israel in the European Young Scientists and Developers Competition that will be held this year in Bratislava, Slovakia.
The four second place winners received study scholarships worth NIS 8,000.
The third place was awarded to two: Or Sagi from Kiryat David Ben Gurion School of Education in Emek Hafer, for his work in computer science on the use of magnetic bacteria for self-replicating digital memory. Or represented Israel at the Intel ISAF competition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; And Alfaruk Abu Alhassan from the multidisciplinary high school Ahad for excellence in science in Hora for his work in physics on the kinetics of water crystallization in porous environments. Alfarok represented Israel in a competition for young scientists and developers in Bratislava, Slovakia. Or and Alfaruk both won a scholarship worth 6,000 NIS.
The Young Scientists and Developers Competition was held for the 15th year at the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem, under the auspices of Intel and the Science and Technology Administration of the Ministry of Education.
The finals of the competition took place in the Knesset Science and Technology Committee in the presence of Minister of Education Gideon Sa'ar, Minister of Science and Technology Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee Ms. Ronit Tirosh and CEO of Intel Israel and Vice President of Intel Global, Maxine Fassberg.
Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar quoted Einstein who said that 'we cannot solve the significant problems we encounter today with the same way of thinking in which we created them'. "This competition", said Sa'ar, "encourages its participants to realize the potential of originality inherent in them so that they can solve the significant problems". He praised the participants because they are the future of the country because its future lies steadfastly at the forefront of research and science.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, also quoted Einstein in another saying that holds that 'all our science, when measured against reality, is primitive and childish and yet it is the most precious thing we have.' "In this statement," he said, "there is a tremendous promise for the future; We will never know everything and not even the majority, but each generation can add another drop of knowledge to enrich our knowledge even a little."
Hershkowitz added and compared the current ceremony to the Nobel Prize awarding ceremony in Stockholm which he attended several months ago, when Prof. Dan Shechtman received it; "As Napoleon said: 'Every soldier carries in his backpack the baton of the generals,' so I believe that each of those present here carries in his backpack the key to the Nobel Prize ceremony, and it is exciting to me to stand here today and touch the future."
