19-Year-Old Canadian Inventor Makes Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List

Another day, another 30 Under 30 list for 19-year-old Canadian inventor Ann Makosinski.

The second-year student at the University of British Columbia has been named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in the ‘Energy’ category. In 2013, she was named to Time’s 30 Under 30 list.

“It’s been a little goal of mine for a while, so it was great to finally get there,” Makosinski told CTV News about her inclusion on Forbes’ list. Her shoutout by Time, meanwhile, a little different.

“To be honest, I didn’t even know what Time’s 30 Under 30 was until someone told me, and then I was like, ‘Oh, this is kind of cool’,” she said. “So it was a big surprise for me and also a wonderful thing to add to my resume.”

Forbes recognized Makosinski for her work on two pretty incredible inventions: The Hollow Flashlight, which is powered by the heat of a human hand, and the e-Drink, a mug that can charge a phone battery via hot coffee. The latter even earned her an appearance on an episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

On the inspiration for her work, Makosinski said, “I wasn’t given many toys, so I’d have to take garbage from around the house and piece together ‘inventions’ – of course they never worked – but the idea of creating things with the resources around me was always there from the start. And then I did 10 science fairs from Grade 6 to Grade 12, so I was just making things constantly.”

As for us, we’ll be here waiting for her inventions to hit the market.

[ad_bb1]