Gitanjali Rao: Tethys
Tethys — carbon-nanotube lead detector for tap water.
Rao, from an Indian-American family in Colorado, was 11 when the Flint water crisis made her ask why a household could not test its own tap water quickly. Tethys uses carbon nanotubes whose electrical resistance changes in the presence of lead ions; a processor compares the reading with a baseline and a phone app shows safe, moderate or unsafe. She won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge in 2017 and became TIME's first Kid of the Year in 2020, at 15.
We include her with the age stated plainly: the build was pre-teen; the recognition and the patent grant were in her teens. Her stated method, "observe, brainstorm, research, build, communicate", is the most repeatable thing on this list.
IP note
US 11,085,907 B2, sole inventor, filed Dec 2018, granted 10 Aug 2021.
Recognition
3M Young Scientist 2017; TIME Kid of the Year 2020.
What this means for a student inventor in India
[Editor: 120–200 words connecting this story to the Indian route — Section 6 (any true inventor may apply), provisional vs complete specification, disclosure at fairs (Section 31), renewals, and who owns what when a school is involved. Link to the relevant MYCrave guide.]
Related young innovators
- Boyan Slat — The Ocean Cleanup
- Deepika Kurup — Solar photocatalytic water purifier
- Param Jaggi — Algae Mobile
Sources
[Editor: list the 2–4 primary sources from the research notes for this entry, with the date checked.]
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