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At just 15 years old, Gitanjali Rao was named “Child of the Year” by Time magazine, a newly created title that aims to highlight children who are changing the world. Rao distinguished himself in a total of five thousand named children between the ages of eight and 16.
Gitanjali Rao invented new technologies that have distinguished themselves in several areas, namely a device that can detect whether drinking water is contaminated with lead and a Google Chrome Kindly app and extension that uses Artificial Intelligence to detect cyberbullying.
In conversation with the actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie, the young woman confessed that she is not the “typical scientist” that the world is used to seeing, but that all the scientists she has seen grow up have been “men, older and usually white.” “My goal has changed and I not only want to create my own devices to solve global problems, but to inspire others to do the same,” adding that “it is not easy when we do not see anyone who looks like us.”
Introducing the first child of the year, Gitanjali Rao https://t.co/Hvgu3GLoNs pic.twitter.com/4zORbRiGMU
– TIME TIME) December 3, 2020
The young scientist began to stand out at the age of 11 when she created the device that detects lead levels in drinking water. At the time, this device was created as part of a challenge sponsored by Discovery in conjunction with the American multinational 3M.
The project, however dubbed Thetis, the Greek god of water, took five months to develop and was inspired by the crisis in the city of Flint, Michigan, in which the water system was contaminated in 2014. It was also with this project . that Gitanjali Rao was distinguished as the youngest scientist in America ”.
The young woman from the state of Colorado highlighted in the interview with Time that there are still many problems to be solved. “Our generation faces so many problems that have never been seen before. But at the same time, it faces old problems that still exist, ”he said.
“For example, we are experiencing a new global pandemic but we are also facing human rights issues,” referring to the Black Lives Matter movement. “There are problems that we did not create but now we have to solve them, such as climate change and cyberbullying, through the introduction of technology,” he said.
Time magazine began choosing “Man of the Year” in 1927, but quickly changed its mind and changed the banner to “Person of the Year.” Last year, Greta Thunberg had the honor of being the youngest person to be voted “Person of the Year” and featured on the cover.
The magazine notes that the creation of the title “Child of the Year” is intended to create “a barometer for the emerging leaders of America’s younger generation.” Next week, the choice of the traditional “Person of the Year” will be announced.
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