Abdusalam Abubakar

For the former President of Nigeria, see Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Abdusalam Abubakar
Born 1989/1990
Somalia
Residence Dublin, Ireland
Nationality Irish
Known for An Extension of Wiener's Attack on RSA
Notable awards BT Young Scientist of the Year (2007)
EU Young Scientist of the Year (2007)

Abdusalam Abubakar is a Somali-born Irish scientist from County Dublin. He was the winner of the 43rd Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2007 at the age of seventeen. He went on to be named EU Young Scientist of the Year in September 2007.

Biography

Abubakar was born in Somalia to an Irish father.[1] He is an only child.[1] He moved to Ireland in May 2005,[1] joining Synge Street CBS in central Dublin.[2] He first entered the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition alongside two fellow students who invited him along and taught him to research and solve properly.[1] They won an award for mathematics at the event.[1]

Abubakar then re-entered the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition for the 2007 event as a third-year student at Synge Street CBS.[2] His project at the exhibition was titled "An Extension of Wiener's Attack on RSA".[3] His project was based on the topic of cryptography.[2]

Abubakar won the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition at the RDS, Dublin on January 12, 2007.[2] He defeated runner-up Beara Community School in County Cork's Ciara Murphy and her study on hearing loss in teenagers.[3] He admitted afterwards that he had never used a computer before coming to Ireland twenty months earlier.[1]

An interview with Abubakar in Xclusive Magazine called him "the hottest name in Ireland right now" and said achievement was "obviously a landmark in science" after his win.[1] He appeared on the front cover of that edition of the magazine, under the headline "GENIUS! How Abdusalam Abubakar, a sixteen-year-old Somali, broke a 13-year-old Irish record".[1] Abubakar appeared on Dustin's Daily News on January 19, 2007.[4]

He went on to represent Ireland at the 19th European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Valencia, Spain in September 2007, claiming first prize in the field of mathematics for Ireland.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "ABDUSALAM ABUBAKAR". Xclusive Magazine. http://www.xclusive.ie/08/abubakar.html. Retrieved 15 January 2010. 
  2. ^ a b c d "Dublin student wins Young Scientist prize". RTÉ. 12 January 2007. http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0112/scientist.html. Retrieved 15 January 2010. 
  3. ^ a b "Special awards". Irish Independent. 13 January 2007. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/special-awards-59197.html. Retrieved 15 January 2010. 
  4. ^ "January 19th - Abdusalam Abubakar". Dustin's Daily News. 12 January 2007. http://www.rte.ie/tv/theden/ddn/ddn_avlong.html?2170453,240,230. Retrieved 15 January 2010. "In Turkey Towers there's Young Scientist winner Abdusalam Abubakar. Plus there's more Beak Beak Brother and Niamh reports on more of Ireland's top young scientists." 
  5. ^ "The 19th European Union Contest for Young Scientists". European Union Contest for Young Scientists. http://ec.europa.eu/research/youngscientists/valencia/prize_winners_en.htm. Retrieved 15 January 2010. 
Winners
1990s
2000s
Thomas Gernon (2000)  · Patrick Collison (2005)  · Aisling Judge (2006)  · Abdusalam Abubakar (2007)  · Emer Jones (2008)  · Liam McCarthy and John D. O'Callaghan (2009)
2010s
Richard O'Shea (2010)  · Alexander Amini (2011)
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