Christopher Columbus Coin Image

National Gallery for America's Young Inventors 1999 Inductees

Richard J. Barton, Age 19 - Lapotron, Submersible Digital Lap Counter/Timer for Swimmers

This device was designed for use by people who swim laps in a pool. The Lapotron automatically counts laps and times and displays this data for underwater swimmers. This device is especially useful for swim team competitors.

Joseph Heremans, Age 17 - Thermoelectric Relative Humidity Meter

This humidity meter is a vast improvement over the conventional chilled-mirror dew point meter because it measures directly the relative humidity of the air, and not merely the temperature at which the water vapor condenses. The measurement of relative humidity serves as a powerful tool for short-term weather prediction.

Jeffrey S. Martzall, Age 17 - Two-Dimensional Audio Tracking for Aviation Guidance Systems

The Audio Tracking System is an efficient angular and amplitude-based tracking system. Unlike most tracking systems, which use phase and time difference between two or more arrays of microphones, this device works on the principal that if one changes the angle of a microphone, one will get a different amplitude of output. In other words, one can change the sound that the tracking system listens to, thus eliminating echoes and other unwanted sounds.

Austin S. Meggitt, Age 11 - Glove and Battie Caddie

The Glove and Battie Caddie is a carrier that mounts to the handlebars of a bicycle, and is designed to transport a bat, baseball glove and ball. This allows a bicycle rider to carry these objects safely without loss of control.

Joseph Schuh, Age 19 - Universal Self-Contained Fiber Optic SensorNetwork

This device is capable of running many different sensors on a single duplex (double) fiber optic cable. The unique aspect of this application is that a multitude of sensors could be placed along the fiber optic cable which require no external power supply, diminishing the hazards and problems associated with external power. Each of these sensors derives its power from the light traveling within the fiber optic, using photoreactive materials (like solar cells to power the senor), and transmits information back to a central processing unit by modulating the light signal within the fiber optic as the carrier of data.

Alexander Wissner-Gross, Age 17 - Fullerene-Based Nanofabrication System

This is a novel process for the macroscopic control of extended nanoscopic fullerene structures. Since 1959, scientists have worked to realize a nanometer-scale technology for the fabrication and application of devices and material made to atomic specifications. Through an original computer simulation, Alexander designed, wrote and successfully tested a novel process for the rapid construction of such nanocomponents through the application of the physics phenomenon known as patterned granular motion.