NEW YORK - A Turkish student, who is currently in a doctoral program in the United States, won the grand prize of the U.S. Collegiate Inventors Competition 2004 organized by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Turkish student Ozgur Sahin became the grand prizewinner for this year's Collegiate Inventors Competition and he was awarded with 50.000 U.S. dollars with his invention, ''Harmonic Cantilevers for nanoscale sensing''.
Sahin, 24, invented a dramatically improved type of Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), an exciting type of instrument capable of taking pictures of individual atoms. The AFM is used by a wide range of researchers, from people designing cutting-edge computer chips to biologists trying to learn the inner workings of cells. The AFM uses a tiny probe that vibrates over a sample, literally feeling the surface.
His improved microscope is especially useful for examining molecule-sized pieces of biological samples, giving medical researchers a powerful new way to study biological processes.
Sahin received his B.S. in electrical engineering from Bilkent University in Turkish capital Ankara. He is currently in a doctoral program at Stanford University, hoping to receive his degree in 2005.
(EÖ-MS) 14.10.2004