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From chemistry to code-breaking, genetics to geology, these scientifically precocious young men and women have gone on to win Nobel Prizes—and live fascinating lives
Since 1942 the science talent search first sponsored by Westinghouse, and later by the Intel Corporation, has launched approximately 2,500 young finalists and winners into the national limelight.
Every year, we marvel at these high school students' projects. Some prove mathematical theorems. Some develop potential new cancer detection techniques. We wonder what amazing things these precocious young people will do with their lives.
The "Where are they now?" column seeks to answer this question. Some have won Nobel Prizes, whereas others have become MacArthur Fellows. Most simply lead interesting lives that show the breadth of careers open to people who learn about problem-solving early on, and the joys and challenges of building a knowledge-based career.
Once a week, we'll profile past winners and finalists of all different ages and in different fields. This week, as another of Intel's projects, the International Science and Engineering Fair, gets underway in Atlanta, we'll highlight three past finalists, and we'll be on hand at the festival to blog from it live as students present their work and wait eagerly to see who's won.
We invite past Westinghouse and Intel Science Talent Search winners and finalists to contact us to participate in this series.
Writing a computer program made him a 1974 Westinghouse finalist. Now he practices psychiatry, using data to drive diagnoses--including that of an accused September 11, 2001, attack planner
A 2000 Intel Science Talent Search finalist's interest in science was sparked on her family's cattle ranch. Now she's studying for a PhD in biochemistry while managing bipolar disorder
A 1970 Westinghouse finalist almost became a mathematician, but is now a novelist and defense writer
A 1985 Westinghouse finalist studied climate change, and now teaches high school physics
A 1978 Westinghouse finalist studied physics, and now administers research at his home state's university
A Westinghouse finalist's childhood fascination with fossils turns into a career in paleontology
A 1984 Westinghouse finalist went from studying materials science to watching how others learn about matter
A 1989 Westinghouse finalist studied how elite players choose moves, now he advises companies on how to think about the price of power
A 1973 Westinghouse finalist built a moon launcher, but today he operates closer to the ground as an eye surgeon--and he flies his own plane
A 1967 Westinghouse finalist's project focused on ecology and crayfish, but his career aspirations led him to treat HIV/AIDS
A 1965 Westinghouse finalist used geometry to figure out how metals act at a molecular level, and now studies clusters of galaxies
A 1986 Westinghouse finalist works to come up with better treatments for devastating childhood cancers
A 1981 Westinghouse finalist now builds better investment vehicles—and parses letters from people like Warren Buffett
A 1999 Intel finalist works toward a career in medicine—but don't count out his Boston-inspired rock band
A 1991 Westinghouse finalist practices "pure medicine" in Birmingham, Ala., and Granada, Nicaragua
A 1987 Westinghouse finalist combines a love of photography with a love of launching rockets, and invents a new aerial reconnaissance technology
A 1988 Westinghouse finalist who worked on rat brains now studies ovarian and prostate cancer
A 1972 Westinghouse finalist went from studying chaparral in Los Angeles for a high school project to figuring out the uses of plant terpenes as director of a one of Germany's top research institutes
A 1968 Westinghouse finalist is now a philosopher of science—and professor of logic
A 1998 Westinghouse finalist modeled the nervous system. Now he models responses to natural disasters
A 1997 Westinghouse finalist now picks apart suspect statistics as The Wall Street Journal's "Numbers Guy"
A dream summer job lead to a 1952 Westinghouse finalist spot, then a career in anthropology
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