Luxury Hotel on Mars Expected : Future Scientists Expect to Conquer Diseases, Space
What scientific and technological achievements between now and the 22nd Century do some of the nation’s most promising future scientists forecast?
Computer brain implants to enrich the human potential, new propulsion systems for rapid transit throughout the solar system, the development of a nearly disease-free society and longer life spans.
These are a few of the conjectures by the 40 national winners from 13 states and Puerto Rico in the 44th annual Science Talent Search. They met here to share $89,500 in scholarships and cash awards in the competition administered by Science Service and funded by the Westinghouse Electric Corp.
Nobel Prize Winners
Now high school seniors ranging in age from 16 to 18, they all plan to pursue scientific careers after college. Five former STS winners have won Nobel Prizes.
“Within the next century, it is reasonable to expect that computer brain implants will be used to enhance mental capabilities and correct physical disabilities,” said Alan Hu, 17, La Jolla, Calif. He was the winner of the top $12,000 scholarship for a project combining mathematics with computer sciences. In the nearer term, he said, “Computers will become more common than telephones and used as easily as the electric bulb.”
Hu, first in his class at La Jolla High School, expects to continue his study of mathematics and computer science at Stanford University. His hobbies include volleyball, tennis, composing music, writing poetry and repairing cars.
More than half of the STS winners think the most dramatic changes will occur in space technology.
For example, Boris Gelfand of the Bronx borough of New York City suggested: “New propulsion systems will make it easy to travel throughout the solar system and we may see initial efforts for interstellar travel.”
The 17-year-old senior at the Bronx High School of Science earned a $500 prize for a mathematics project and plans to study physics or engineering at MIT. A native of the Soviet Union, Gelfand learned English just four years ago. Chess, computers and photography are among his hobbies.
“Space colonization will achieve its greatest impetus at the start of the 21st Century,” said Allan Goldstein, 17, of Wyncote, Pa. “Developed primarily as a haven to reduce the tensions of war-threatened Earth, space colonies will be developed for permanent residences. Within 200 years, we will see daily mass transit from Earth to space.”
A student at Cheltenham High School, Goldstein received a $5,000 scholarship. His winning project was in biochemistry, which he plans to study at Harvard. The winner of two first-place awards from the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science, Goldstein has also been awarded track and field medals in javelin and discus.
Space-Centered
Several STS winners referred to high technology mining and manufacturing operations in outer space, but 17-year-old Sheryl Lynn Ames of Plantation, Fla., offered a longer-term project. “It’s likely that there will be a luxury hotel on Mars someday,” she said. “There is also little doubt in my mind that life within the next 200 years will center around space rather than the Earth and will be much more complex.”
After graduation from Fort Lauderdale Christian High School, where she is president of the National Honor Society and active in sports, Ames hopes to attend the U.S. Naval Academy and study for a career as a naval officer and electrical engineer. She earned $500 for her winning STS entry related to computer science.
The overwhelming majority of STS winners envision sweeping changes in computer technology, ranging from miniaturization to computers with logic, emotion, conscience and tactile abilities. About this, Hu said: “Once such artificial intelligence is in place, we can expect vast societal changes such as two or three different careers before retirement, increasing leisure and, most certainly, a renaissance in creativity.”
Nearly half of the winners think the most spectacular gains for man’s benefit will occur in medicine, with cures for afflictions like cancer and the common cold a certainty. Longer life spans were predicted too.
“Medicine will eliminate most diseases and allow people to reach ages of centuries instead of decades,” said Todd Minter, 17, of Madison, Wis. Active in scouting and a model rocketry enthusiast, Minter attends Madison East High School. He received a $500 award for his project on astronomy, which he plans to study at the University of Wisconsin.
Thinking more of the immediate need to increase world food supplies than of longevity, Audrey Zelicof, 16, of Forest Hills, N.Y., foresees “the transformation of the Sahara desert to a fertile land mass.” Zelicof, a student at Stuyvesant High School in New York City and the recipient of a $5,000 scholarship for a mathematics project, enjoys skiing, running and playing piano. She hopes to major in physical chemistry at MIT.
