Pride of Ukraine: Ukrainian children who conquered the world

Children are the future of the country. It depends on them what state we will live in in a few decades. It is they who will invent new technologies, fight diseases and implement promising business projects. Many truly gifted children are born in Ukraine. However, most of them receive recognition not at home, but abroad. On the Independence Day of the country, we decided to tell you about the Ukrainian guys who amazed the whole world with their talents. Perhaps they are the ones who can make our life better.

Ekaterina Malkina,

winner of the Olympiad of geniuses in the USA

Ekaterina Malkina has developed a unique eco-project (photo from open sources)

A resident of Mariupol, at the age of 14, offered the world a unique way of recycling plastic. The girl discovered that the larvae of a certain type of beetle are capable of eating polyethylene. Only 20 larvae can eat one packet in 9 months. And this is not some special kind of insect, these larvae are widely bred as food for domestic reptiles.

Ekaterina collected her observations into a project called "High Density Polyethylene Disposal Method". However, nobody was interested in it in Ukraine. But he received a silver medal at the World Ecology Olympiad in the Netherlands and a gold medal at the GENIUS Olympiad in the USA.

Sofia Butkalyuk,

laureate of the world NASA competition

Sofia Butkalyuk became a co-author of a real Mars flight (photo from open sources)

At the age of 11, a Ukrainian schoolgirl from Kiev invented an alternative source of energy for... a Mars aircraft. The girl suggested using dry ice that covers the surface of Mars as fuel. For fun, she registered with her idea at the NASA hackathon (developer forum). Her project attracted attention, a team of like-minded people from Ukraine immediately formed around them, who formalized Sofia's proposal into a full-fledged project of the MarsHopper Mars aircraft.

This project received the NASA SpaceApps Challenge Worldwide Audience Award. NASA is seriously interested in the Ukrainian spacecraft. The space agency helped develop a computer model of the rocket, adapted to fit NASA's Atlas B capsule. It is this capsule that will deliver the Ukrainian development to the Red Planet in the near future.

Vitaly Nechaev,

Laureate of the Giuseppe Chiakka International Prize

Vitaly Nechaev lectures on history at the university (photo from open sources)

A child with a phenomenal memory from Zvenigorodka (Cherkasy region) at the age of 9 became the absolute winner of the Giuseppe Chiakka International Prize. It is presented annually at the Vatican to the most gifted young people. I must say that Vitaly Nechav became the youngest laureate of this prize in the entire history of its existence. He amazed the jury that he knew "Kobzar" and the biographies of all Ukrainian hetmans by heart.

After the award, the boy was invited to the Cherkasy National University - where he lectures on the history of Ukraine. Vitaly is so well versed in dates and events that he answers the most tricky questions of students without hesitation. Moreover, he writes his own textbook on the history of our country, in which the subject will be presented in an intelligible, understandable and interesting way.

Victor Matviishen,

the youngest master of the International Chess Federation

Viktor Matviishen became the youngest FIDE master (photo from open sources)

Vinnitsa resident Viktor Matviishen is a real chess star. He became a prize-winner of many chess tournaments in Ukraine, twice won first place in the European Championship and became the youngest master in FIDE (International Chess Federation). The busy schedule of training (at least 3 hours a day) and tournaments (one chess competition takes 7-9 days from a student) forced the boy to switch to home schooling. However, this gives him the opportunity to try new heights: for example, he successfully competes for National chess team of Ukraine, and became one of the youngest participants in the International chess tournament.

Mark Drobnich,

finalist of the Google Science Fair competition

Mark Drobnich assembled an interactive robot from Lego (photo from open sources)

At the age of 15, a schoolboy from Uzhgorod reached the final of the prestigious Google Science Fair competition for young inventors. His project "School presentation microscope with remote control" (which the guy put together from a LEGO set) included 15 of the most interesting works among 10 thousand participants. The uniqueness of the microscope lies in the fact that it can be controlled using any smartphone or tablet on the Android system. At the same time, students from any school in the country can connect to the broadcast of the image.

After participating in the Google Science Fair, Mark Drobnich began to work closely with the LEGO company and created a real interactive robot based on these constructors. ELFi robot recognizes voice commands and can perform simple tasks such as bringing an item from a nearby room. However, the main "feature" of the project is that any teenager can assemble this robot (provided there are parts and tools). Now a talented inventor is trying to launch ELFi robots for sale.

Andrey Konovalenko,

inventor of the unique CamTouch device

Andrey Konovalenko invented the device, which was approved by the Ministry of Education and Science (photo from open sources)

At the age of 16, Andriy Konovalenko invented an invention that many Ukrainian schools use today. It's a CamTouch: it turns any flat surface into an interactive whiteboard on which to show presentations, as well as write with special stylus - make notes, create drawings, move objects and save everything written.

His project won the all-Ukrainian competition from Microsoft and took 4th place in the international competition for inventions Intel-Techno. After that, CamTouch began to be tested in Ukrainian schools, and a few years ago the Ministry of Education approved a plan for the purchase of these devices to equip the primary classes of the NUS.

Ilya Kovalevsky,

winner of the international Google Code-In competition

Ilya Kovalevsky entered the TOP-20 of the best programmers in the world (photo from open sources)

At the age of 14, the Kiev schoolboy entered the top twenty winners of the international programming competition Google Code-In. He competed with thousands of children from all over the world, the average age of the contestants was 16-18 years. Ilya completed 63 tasks, spending almost 7 weeks on it. Many tasks were designed for 2 days, but the young programmer managed to complete them in 30-40 minutes. The boy participated in the competition after school and homework.

Ilya is now considered one of the most promising programmers in the world. Many doors are open in front of him, but the guy does not want to leave Ukraine. He is sure that he can fully work on the territory of his native country, and gives all his free time to his second hobby after programming - music.

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