Two inspiring examples for budding scientists

GiraDora – the pedal-powered washing machine (Photo: Alex Cabunoc)

As a 13-year old kid in July 1969, I sat on the floor of my school hall in Sydney, Australia to witness the fuzzy live broadcast of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong taking his famous ‘… one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind’.  Like millions of other kids of my generation, it inspired me to take a life-long interest in science and technology.

In the last month, we have witnessed two equally remarkable events that I hope will inspire generations of kids and young people to take an interest in science and engineering.  The scale and impact of these projects are at opposite ends of the return on investment spectrum but both are important for different reasons.

Almost everyone will have heard about the landing of NASA’s Curiosity robotic rover on Mars.  This is without doubt one of the most technically complex projects to date.  To gain a more complete understanding of just how difficult this task was plus a bit of inspiration, you might view NASA’s ‘7 Minutes of Terror’ video clip at:

Equally important was the launching of the GiraDora Pedal-Powered Washing Machine by Alex Cabunoc and Ji A You of the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.  These two young people have developed an inexpensive and portable pedal powered washing machine to ease the lives of women living in the slums of Cerro Verde, Peru.  Like NASA’s Curiosity, GiraDora is the product of inspiration, reasoned engineering and the material sciences.  To find out more about GiraDora take a few minutes to look at: http://www.gizmag.com/giradora-pedail-power-washer/23548/

Despite the many naysayers who criticise the spending of money on great research projects such as the exploration of Mars, we must remember that these fantastic endeavours have given us the inspiration, know-how and technology to make the world a better place for all of us.  Important projects such as GiraDora ‘stand on the shoulders’ of the research and development of previous great scientific understandings which gave rise to the materials and technical know-how that make them possible.