When you think about it the greatest scientists, such as Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein realized the greatest part of their work before the age of 30. Here is a collection of young innovators according to MIT's Technological review. These individuals are all under 35. Many of these innovators start up in university and form a company, or they are simply grad students researching at a University.
This year's winner David berry found a way to turn living organisms into hydrocarbon refiners.
By modifying their DNA, microbes are able to produce the base of crude, oil diesel or gasoline from cellulose. While this technology is still being developed, he has gotten a lot of attention from the gas and oil industry.
Jeff LaPorte, co-founder of Eqo Communications (Vancouver based) came up with the brilliant idea of turning your local minutes into international minutes. Using a computer, one is able to call around the world using Skype or other softwares through the internet. They are able to give you this service, through your cell phone, at a reduced cost and with the same sound quality.
I also took note of other innovators like Adam Cohen, who stops Brownian motion to make particles easier to analyze, or Rachel Segalman who found a cheap and very efficient way of converting heat into electricity using organic molecules. This technology will be able to extend the life of laptop batteries and other such devices.
Of personal interest, the inventor of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg (23 years old), a Harvard sophomore who created this site to share pictures with his friends. This popular website now has over 30 million users and is worth about 1 billion.
Bill Gates created Microsoft in 1975 (picture), at the age of 20. They just designed softwares for clients, but who knew one day this company would be worth 56 billions.
For more, take a look at TR's 35 2007 young Investors.
Engineering Watch
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