Advertising for Jugend forscht (from left): Thomas Zöllner, head of the regional competition, last year’s winner Maximiliane Otto, Ralf Wimmer, deputy managing director of the entrepreneurship, and Anna Karl, regional winner 2019.
Photo: Lammertz, Thomas (lamb)
The past two winners of the Jugend Forscht regional competition show that the competition not only introduces young people to science, it also brings direct results for the here and now. As in the case of last year’s winner Maximiliane Otto. “During a technical paper, I had the idea that there is a great deal of tension in corona prevention. Namely that between infection prevention on the one hand and climate protection on the other. If I’m constantly ventilating and the heaters are running at the same time, then I’m wasting a lot of energy. If I ventilate too little, the risk of infection increases,” says the 17-year-old, who wants to do her Abitur at Moltke-Gymnasium this year. Her solution: “I got various numbers from institutes such as the Max Planck Institute and used them to develop an Excel tool that calculates the optimal ventilation time depending on the size of the room, the number and type of windows, the occupancy of the room, the interior and outside temperature and so on,” she explains. The tool is used by the teachers in their school, even if the school mainly follows the guidelines of the ministry.
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Her predecessor, the 2019 winner, Anna Karl, in turn developed a chemical process to improve catalytic converters and filter nitrogen oxides from exhaust gases. “There was even interest from industry. Unfortunately, Corona put a stop to that,” says the 22-year-old medical student. This year, however, much of what gripped her about the competition will not be experienced. “The final event is really great. It’s a trade fair atmosphere, there are other participants, parents, jurors, everyone comes to your stand. When the prize is awarded, you stand in front of 1000 people and receive the certificate, it’s an incredible experience,” enthuses the Moerserin.
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