The RDS is delighted to announce that nineteen-year-old Sam Hafford from Castleknock College, Co. Dublin is the overall winner of the RDS McWilliams Young Science Writers’ Competition 2009.Wednesday, September 16 – The RDS is delighted to announce that nineteen-year-old Sam Hafford from Castleknock College, Co. Dublin is the overall winner of the RDS McWilliams Young Science Writers’ Competition 2009. They say if you could bottle beauty, you could sell it and make a fortune. Well according to Sam, mathematicians with the help of nature deciphered the secret of beauty hundreds of years ago through the calculation of a number called phi (φ).
Reading Sam’s original and refreshing report, ‘Beauty is in the Phi of the Beholder’, the influence of phi in everything from architecture to physiology becomes obvious making it easy to understand why the mystery of phi has perplexed, captivated and inspired many of our greatest artists, philosophers and scientists from as early as the 3rd century.
Described by the panel of judges as being ‘exceptionally well-written’ this prize-winning essay earned Sam a digital camcorder for winning his category, and as the overall winner of the Competition, his very own laptop courtesy of sponsorship from the Marine Institute. Sam’s essay along with the other winning entries can be read by visiting http://www.rds.ie/youngsciencewriters
The Minister for Education and Science, Batt O’Keeffe TD, presented the prizes to all of the winners of the RDS McWilliams Young Science Writers’ Competition today in the RDS Library. Speaking at the event, Minister O’Keeffe said “the public is being confronted with science in many new ways and we must be able to put this information into context. The ability to interact with science is as important as knowledge of the concepts of science. The success of this interaction depends greatly on the ability of the scientist to communicate their findings in a meaningful way to the wider community. The RDS McWilliams Young Science Writers’ Competition, named in memory of the late and much-respected Irish Times science writer Brendan McWilliams, has inspired young people here today to take up the challenge of communicating science to the wider public.”
The RDS, founded in 1731, continues to fulfill its commitment to advancing agriculture, arts, industry and science. The coordination of the annual RDS McWilliams Young Science Writers’ Competition is part of the RDS Foundation’s Science programme which aims to support excellence in scientific endeavour and communication, emphasise the importance of science and technology in economic and social development and encourage young people to see science as provoking, challenging and fun. -Ends-
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