Fionn Ferreira

Fionn Miguel Eckardt Ferreira (from Ballydehob, County Cork, Ireland) is an Irish inventor, chemistry student and Forbes 30 under 30 listee. He is known for his invention of a method to remove microplastic particles from water using a natural ferrofluid mixture.[2][3]

Fionn Ferreira
Headshot of Fionn Ferreira on the Irish Coastline, July 2021
Born2000 or 2001 (age 22–23)[1]
Ballydehob, Ireland
NationalityIrish
Websitehttps://www.fionnferreira.com/

Early life

Fionn Ferreira, whose full name is Fionn Miguel Eckardt Ferreira,[4] was born in Cork to boat-builder and modeller Anne Eckardt, from Germany and West Cork,[5] and boat-builder Rui Ferreira from Portugal, who had met in the UK in 1994 and settled in Ballydehob, County Cork.[6][7] He was brought up in Ballydehob and attended St James' primary school in Durrus and subsequently Schull Community College in Schull, completing school at the age of 18 in 2019.[1]

Ferreira spent part of his childhood kayaking around remote coastal areas of Ireland with his dog India, noticing an increasing amount of plastic washing up on the coastline. He created a methodology to quantify and collect plastic pollution, with a focus on microplastics. He built several inventions using LEGO, bits of wood and some microcontrollers to test for these microplastics.[8] He entered the national science fair, the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, three times, with two of his projects being Let Sanils do the cleaning, An investigation into the antioxidant concentration of different berries using the Briggs-Rauscher reaction in conjunction with a photometer and An investigation into the removal of microplastics from water using ferrofluids.[9] Ferreira worked as a curator at Schull's planetarium.[2]

Microplastic removal technology

Ferreira designed and tested a method to remove microplastics from water, following what he described as thousands of failed attempts. Ferreira has stated that he was inspired by an article by Fermilab physicist Arden Warner, who developed a new approach to cleaning up oil spills, using magnetic principles,[10] and made a device that uses a magnet-based method to remove the particles from water with extraction rates of 87% (+/- 1.1%).[11] The highest extraction rates observed in Fionn's experiments were for polyesters.[11] He first exhibited the project at the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2018 where he was awarded the Intel Award, best in category, Intellectual Ventures Award and a first-place award.[12] Ferreira subsequently exhibited at ISEF 2018 winning the 1st place American Chemical Society award, 2nd place award in Chemistry, 1st place for Drug Chemical and associated technologies, a scholarship to the University of Arizona and a certificate of honourable mention by the American Statistical Association.[11]

In 2019, Ferreira exhibited at the 2019 Google Science Fair winning the global grand prize award of $50,000.[12]

Education

In autumn 2019, Ferreira started a BSc in Chemistry at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and graduated in 2022 with Cum Laude.[13] Currently, Ferreira is following a MSc in Chemistry at the University of Groningen.[14]

Business

In 2020, Ferreira founded a business, Fionn & Co., focused on microplastic removal technology.[15][3] In 2020 and 2021 his work was featured by the global campaign by Hewlett-Packard: For every dream.[16]

Recognition

In 2018 the MIT Lincoln Laboratory named a minor planet after Ferreira, following his being awarded 2nd place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.[2] In 2021 he was named a National Geographic Society Young Explorer; he has since been working on a new platform for youth in the space of invention with the help of the funding from the society.[17] In 2021, he was named a Forbes 30 Under 30 listee in the Science and Healthcare category.[3] In September 2021 Ferreira was awarded a Premio Internationale Giuseppe Sciacca award for his conservation and ecological efforts.[18]

Ferreira has spoken at several events, including:[19]

Ferreira has been awarded:[19]

References
  1. Quann, Jack. "Cork student wins Google Science Fair in California". Newstalk. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  2. Bowers, Shauna (19 July 2019). "Irish teenager wins Google science award for microplastics project". The Irish Times. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  3. "Fionn Ferreira". Forbes. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  4. "Intel ISEF 2018 Special Awards Organization Profile". student.societyforscience.org. Archived from the original on 8 November 2019.
  5. Butler, Kate (23 November 2014). "This is what I do - Anke Eckardt, model builder". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 16 August 2021. I was born in Germany and my parents moved to the Ballydehob area of west Cork in 1980, when I was nine, ...met my partner, Rui Ferreira, in England and we both moved back to west Cork. We were boat builders ... my son Fionn
  6. "West Cork Boats". West Cork Boats. Retrieved 16 August 2021. We met at the International Boatbuilding Training College in England in 1994, where we obtained our City and guilds in wooden boatbuilding.
  7. "Irish Teen's Magnetic Solution To Ocean Microplastic Problem Nets Major Google Science Prize". Afloat (afloat.ie). Dublin, Ireland. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  8. "Fionn wins again – on home soil". The Southern Star. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  9. "One of world's top young scientists among Cork students collecting results". echo live. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  10. Armitage, Hanae (30 July 2014). "Accelerator physicist invents new way to clean up oil spills". Fermilab Today. Fermi National Accelarator Laboratory. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  11. "Full Abstract". abstracts.societyforscience.org. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  12. Nace, Trevor. "Irish Teen Wins 2019 Google Science Fair For Removing Microplastics From Water". Forbes. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  13. Boomsma, Christien (1 September 2019). "The boy wonder who will save us from plastic". Ukrant.nl. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  14. Ferreira, Fionn (25 November 2022). "I have graduated with a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Groningen with a Cum Laude". Instagram.com. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  15. "Fionn Ferreira | and& 2021". www.andleuven.com. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  16. "HP's Best - Premium Quality, High Performance Laptops for 2020". www8.hp.com. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  17. "The Ocean Plastics Pollution Solutions Contest". National Geographic Society. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  18. "Bando e Brochure 2021 -". Premio Internazionale Giuseppe Sciacca (in Italian). Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  19. Fleming, Sean (17 January 2020). "Meet the teen science star using magnetic liquid to remove microplastics from water". World Economic Forum.
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