Press Release: In the footsteps of Nobel laureates – winners of the 2006 European Union Contest for Young Scientists announced

Twenty four young people have received a share of the €28,500 prize pot awarded at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists. Three projects received €5000 each as first prize was shared by Michael Kaiser and Johannes Kienl of Austria for "Development of a complete new de-ice system for aircraft", Johannes Burkart and Alexander Joos of Germany for "Flight curves of table-tennis balls" and Tomasz Wdowik of Poland for "Synthesis of new potential â blockers". Other prize-winners came from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Spain. The winners were chosen by the jury from a field of 120 young scientists, aged from 15 to 20 from 33 countries. The ceremony took place on 27 September 2006 in the Winter Garden of the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, which hosted the Nobel Prize ceremony from 1901 to 1929. The winners were chosen by a jury of 15 distinguished scientists headed by Prof Jane Grimson of Trinity College Dublin. Next year’s event will be held at the University of Valencia.