Abdusalam Abubakar (born 1989/1990) is a Somali-born Irish scientist from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. He was the winner of the 43rd Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2007 at the age of seventeen. He went on to be named EU Young Scientist of the Year in September 2007.

Biography

Abubakar was born in

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

to an Irish father of Somali descent. He is an only child. He moved to Ireland in May 2005, joining Synge Street CBS in central

. He first entered the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition alongside two fellow students who invited him along and taught him to research and solve properly. They won an award for

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

at the event. He was mentored by Jim Cooke. Abubakar then re-entered the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition for the 2007 event as a third-year student at Synge Street CBS. His project at the exhibition was titled "An Extension of Wiener's Attack on RSA". His project was based on the topic of

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

. Abubakar won the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition at the RDS, Dublin on 12 January 2007. He defeated runner-up

Beara Community School Beara may refer to: *Beara, Jamalpur, a village Bangladesh * Beara Peninsula, Ireland *Beara GAA, a sporting organisation on the Beara Peninsula * ''Beara'' (moth), a genus of Nolidae *Beara, Ampanihy, a rural municipality in Ampanihy Ouest (dist ...

in County Cork's Ciara Murphy and her study on hearing loss in teenagers. He admitted afterwards that he had never used a computer before coming to Ireland twenty months earlier. An interview with Abubakar in '' Xclusive Magazine'' called him "the hottest name in Ireland right now" and said achievement was "obviously a landmark in science" after his win. He appeared on the front cover of that edition of the magazine, under the headline "GENIUS! How Abdusalam Abubakar, a sixteen-year-old Somali, broke a 13-year-old Irish record". Abubakar appeared on '' Dustin's Daily News'' on 19 January 2007. He went on to represent Ireland at the 19th

European Union Contest for Young Scientists The European Union (EU) Contest for Young Scientists is a science fair, initiated by the European Commission. It is a part of the European Union Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, and is managed by the Directorate Gen ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, Spain in September 2007, claiming first prize in the field of

for Ireland. Abubakar studied financial mathematics at

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) ( ga, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin'' in 1975, it enrolled its f ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abubakar, Abdusalam Living people 20th-century births Year of birth uncertain Somalian emigrants to Ireland Somalian scientists Scientists from Dublin (city) People educated at Synge Street CBS Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 20th-century Irish mathematicians 21st-century Irish mathematicians