College student wins national computing award
Posted on Monday 24 November 2008
Second year student Abhijit Chandgadkar has won a laptop computer after coming first in a national p
What would happen if Newton's Third Law was wrong?
Seventeen year old Farnborough Sixth Form College student, Abhijit Chandgadkar of Cove, has every reason to celebrate early this Christmas. He has just won a high-specification laptop computer as first prize in a national competition arranged by Manchester University to celebrate 60 years of the modern computer.
Abhijit was told about the competition last summer by his teacher of computing, Chris Taylor. Despite revising for his AS levels in maths, computer science, physics and business studies, he took time to write a computer animation on Newton’s Third Law of Motion.
Abhijit said, “I decided that it would be sensible to write a program relating to my A level syllabus and thought I would add a touch of humour, so I wrote it to show what life would be like if Newton’s Third Law of Motion was incorrect!”.
Abhijit’s entry so impressed the judges that he won two awards, the Best Program and the Best Comedy Film, resulting in his being named as the overall national winner. He added, “I was really shocked to have won both awards from a university so well-respected for its work in computer science!”.
Chris Taylor said, “We were all impressed with the program that Abhijit wrote using new software and techniques which he had not met before. This will stand him in very good stead for his future degree and career, which he hopes will be in computer science”.
College Principal, Dr John Guy, said, “Abhijit is very modest about his achievements and his ability but his work is outstanding and a tribute to his determination, and to the excellent teaching he has received here and at Wavell School where he took his GCSEs”.
Meanwhile, Abhijit is hoping to build on the four grade A passes he achieved in his AS levels. “It’s hard work but it is really special to be recognised as the national winner and the laptop will be great to take to university”, he said.
To view Abhijit's winning entry click here
