At age 15, Ann Makosinski won the Google Science Fair for inventing the Hollow Flashlight, a body-heat-powered thermoelectric light source requiring no batteries.
On October 22, 2013, fifteen-year-old Ann Makosinski was announced as a top winner of the Google Science Fair for her invention, the Hollow Flashlight. The device used Peltier tiles to convert the heat of a human hand into enough electricity to power an LED light, eliminating the need for batteries entirely.
The project was born from a simple observation: a friend in the Philippines struggled to study at night due to a lack of reliable electricity. Makosinski, a high school student from Victoria, British Columbia, applied principles of thermoelectricity to design a low-cost, sustainable lighting solution accessible to people without access to consistent power grids.
Her win at the Google Science Fair, one of the most prestigious international STEM competitions for young people, catapulted her to global recognition as a teen inventor. Media outlets around the world profiled her, and she was invited to speak at conferences, universities, and technology forums. The victory was historically significant not only for the ingenuity of the invention but for showcasing a young woman succeeding in engineering and physics, fields historically dominated by men, and inspiring a wave of interest in STEM among young girls internationally.
The Hollow Flashlight became the foundation for her subsequent patent filings and a multi-year career developing thermoelectric technology, establishing her as one of the most prominent teenage inventors of her generation.
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