Five Manchester King David High pupils have their future secured after winning a Weizmann UK contest to design an unbreakable safe.
For the first prize in the Safe-Cracking Physics Tournament was a £3,000 travel grant towards participation in the international final, being staged at the Weizmann Institute in Israel next month.
The British event was contested by teams of AS-level students from Jewish and secular schools. Entrants were given three months to come up with the concept, design and assembly of their safe. The finished models were displayed at JCoSS in Barnet, where students attempted to open their opponents’ safes while keeping their own impregnable.
The Manchester entry particularly impressed the judging panel, which included Professor Herbert Huppert of Cambridge University and the Weizmann’s Ziv Meir and Anna Keselman. “It really was great to see these kids so excited about science,” Mr Meir observed.
King David team member Jacob Feddy said: “I cannot believe we won. We are all so excited about the big contest in Israel and competing against like-minded students from around the world.” Joe Landes, Noa Kirsh, Rivka Simon and Tamar Prais were the other team members.
KD head of physics Peter Curati was “thrilled to bits” for his charges. “The students must take all the credit — they did so much of it themselves.
“I think the main thing the students will take from this experience is the process of turning an idea into something real.”
