Bright spark’s power play wins R1.5m bursary
WHEN Peter Theron changed a light bulb for the first time, it sparked in him a love of electricity that would take him from the small rural town of Matatiele to the bright lights of Beijing, China.
The 17-year-old matric pupil won a silver medal in the Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition in April for his invention — a power source that generates energy from the static electricity abundant in the atmosphere.
The atmospheric power station was devised and a model of it built by Theron and former classmate Glen Makhoba over a two-year period. They began working on the invention when Theron was 15 and Makhoba 14.
Their invention debuted at the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists last year, where it won a gold medal.
Until he invented the device, Theron’s school fees at Focused High School were paid by his mother, who makes a living selling vetkoek at the local taxi rank. He has now received a full bursary from the National Research Foundation covering the remainder of his high school education and university fees to doctorate level.
Theron said his mother, Thobeka, was his biggest inspiration. “She always said: ‘Don’t come back to where we are.’ She never completed school and she kept telling us to
There is no way I could have sent him to study further after school
work hard and make sure we didn’t end up in the same position. That kept pushing us.
“I owe my success to my mom,” said Theron.
As any mother in her position would be, Thobeka is extremely proud of her son’s achievements. “I could never have expected this,” she said at her vetkoek stall this week.
“I am so happy. God has really helped us. There is no way I could have sent him to study further after school. I am very proud of him.”
With his future looking bright, Theron has his sights set on ever greater things. “I want to work as a engineer for Telkom or [US space agency] Nasa,” he said.
The invention that he and Makhoba developed is being tested in Johannesburg by the National Research Foundation.
Theron said the device was inspired by the regular power failures endured by the people in Matatiele. “It works 100%.” The power station, said Theron, uses an antenna to pull positively and negatively charged ions from the air and into the device, powering a generator.
The result is electricity plucked from the air.
“We knew that in the community we had frequent power failures. We thought we should find a way to give our community free electricity.
“We sat down and Glen and I worked on it together.
“Ever since I changed a lightbulb for the first time, I have been fascinated by electricity. I’m always tampering and fiddling with things, so I figured electrical engineering would be a good career for me. That’s definitely what I want to study,” he said.
Makhoba has moved with his parents to the US after being awarded a bursary to study there.
His father had previously been employed in the US.
According to Focused High School principal Lodewikus van Rooyen, the National Research Foundation bursary will be worth as much as R1.5-million if Theron goes as far as completing his doctorate.