Megan, from Whyteleafe, Surrey, had an idea for a keyring depicting a pair of blackened lungs to put people off smoking. She sent the idea to the anti-smoking consultancy Gasp, which liked it so much it put in an order for 25,000. The design has already proved effective — after she handed the keyrings out to parents at her school, five gave up smoking.
Megan has high hopes for a career as an inventor. “If I could invent anything, it would be a machine that lets people fly on their own,” she says. Although she is Britain’s youngest, Megan follows a long line of other youthful inventors.
Earmuffs
This winter, you’ve probably been keeping the cold air at bay with a pair of earmuffs. While ice-skating in Farmington, Maine, in 1873, 15-year-old Chester Greenwood noticed his cold ears were stopping him enjoying himself, so he fashioned a pair of ear protectors using wire and two pieces of fur. His invention was so popular that he supplied “ear-mufflers” to the US Army during the First World War.
Braille
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Louis Braille lost the sight in both eyes at the age of 3 after an accident in his fathers’ leather workshop. At school in Paris he found listening to lessons and not being able to read or write anything down frustrating. In 1824, at the age of 15, he invented the system of Braille, now used by blind people around the world.
Glo-sheet
Becky Schroeder invented a glowing sheet of paper, now used by doctors to write notes on patients in the dark. The idea for the Glo-sheet came as she was doing her homework at dusk. At 12, she was one of the youngest girls to take out a patent in the US.
Trampoline
If you enjoy bouncing up and down on a trampoline, you should be grateful to George Nissen. The American invented the sports equipment after seeing acrobats at a circus fall from a trapeze and bounce into the nets below. The teenage George thought it looked like such fun that he later created the first trampoline out of an iron frame and canvas.