Liam McCarthy (born 1995/96) and John D. O'Callaghan (born 1994/95) are Irish students from

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,281 (a ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

. They were the winners of the 45th

Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, commonly called the Young Scientist Exhibition, is an Irish annual school students' science competition that has been held in the Royal Dublin Society, Dublin, Ireland, every January since the co ...

in 2009 at the ages of thirteen and fourteen respectively. Their win meant that their school, Kinsale Community School, became the first school in the country to be attended by multiple Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition winners after their fellow student

Aisling Judge Aisling Judge is an Irish scientist from Kinsale, County Cork. She was the winner of the 42nd Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2006 at the age of 13. She was the youngest winner in the history of the competition, until her record was ...

won the same award in 2006. McCarthy and O'Callaghan went on to be named EU Young Scientists of the Year in September 2009.

Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition

McCarthy and O'Callaghan were second-year students at Kinsale Community School in County Cork at the time of their competition win. They come from a background of

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or ...

. Their project at the exhibition was titled "'The Development of a Convenient Test Method for Somatic Cell Count and Its Importance in Milk Production". Their intention was to mix detergent with milk to reduce

somatic cell A somatic cell (from Ancient Greek σῶμα ''sôma'', meaning "body"), or vegetal cell, is any biological cell forming the body of a multicellular organism other than a gamete, germ cell, gametocyte or undifferentiated stem cell. Such cells compo ...

s. The judges described their invention as "marketable" and "of tremendous commercial help to farmers". The announcement was made at a ceremony on the night of 9 January 2009 in the exhibition hall. The judges claimed their decision was an easy one.

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Brian Cowen Brian Bernard Cowen (born 10 January 1960) is an Irish former politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 2008 to 2011. Cowen was elected to Dáil Éireann in 1984, for the constituency of Laois–Offaly and served in a ...

was on hand to announce the winner. Their prize was a €5,000 cheque and a trophy of

Waterford Crystal Waterford Crystal is a manufacturer of lead glass or "crystal", especially in cut glass, named after the city of Waterford, Ireland. In January 2009, the main Waterford Crystal manufacturing base on the edge of Waterford was closed due to the ...

European Union Contest for Young Scientists

They went on to represent Ireland at the 21st European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Paris, France in September 2009. They received first prize, announced on the night of 15 September 2009, and won €7,000 in prize money. They returned to the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2010 to accept applause and cheers from the audience.

Future plans, as of 2009

McCarthy and O'Callaghan wish to study and work in farming and science as, according to O'Callaghan, "the importance of the agriculture sector on the

rish Rish ( bg, Риш Riš) is a village in Smyadovo Municipality, Shumen Province, Bulgaria, with a population of 604 as of 2019. Population According to the 2011 Census, the population of Rish consists mainly of Bulgarian Turks (72.6%), followe ...

economy is huge". They said their inspiration was 2006 winner and fellow student at Kinsale Community School, Aisling Judge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Liam and OCallaghan, John D. Irish children 21st-century Irish scientists People from County Cork Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition Living people Duos Year of birth missing (living people)