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The E-Mail Express

Have you ever heard of the luck of the Irish? Sarah Flannery, 16, from Blarney, Ireland, has invented a software code that can send electronic mail much faster than today's systems can. But her invention isn't just luck. It's pure brilliance!

Sarah's new code sends e-mail 20 times as fast as the code currently used in more than 100,000 e-mail systems. Her code has won her first prize at the Irish Young Scientists and Technology Exhibition in Dublin. She will represent Ireland in the European Union Science Contest in Greece this fall.

Suddenly being called a "genius" and "math whiz" by grownup mathematicians seems just plain weird to Sarah. She's not the type to stay locked in her room thinking about math all weekend! Sarah loves basketball, long-distance running and horseback riding. She plays the piano and tin whistle.

But as a very little girl, she became fascinated with solving mathematical codes and puzzles. Her dad, a math professor, kept her busy. "When I was about 6, my dad would leave a puzzle on the blackboard in my room each day for me to solve," says Sarah. As she got older, her dad made the puzzles tougher, but Sarah always rose to the challenge.

For a project this school year, Sarah got a chance to work on her e-mail-code idea with experts at a company that specializes in developing codes. After playing around with the idea for months, she finally figured out how to make it work.

Sarah does not plan to patent, or gain legal ownership of, her code. If she did, she could charge money for people to use it. But Sarah isn't looking for money. Instead, she wants to share her idea with other software developers so they can build on her work. "It's good to share your ideas with the science world," says Sarah. "By patenting it, I'd be hindering that process."

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