Second, and the public vote
Discovery Education announced the result on 19 October 2022. The title of America's Top Young Scientist and $25,000 went to Leanne Fan, a ninth grader from San Diego, for Finsen Headphones, an antibiotic-free, low-cost way to detect and treat a middle-ear infection using machine learning and blue light therapy.
Venkatesh took second with The Comptometrist, described as a cost-efficient solution that cuts down the time needed to determine myopic power in a patient's eyes. Her award was $1,000 and a trip. Shanza Sami of West High School in Iowa City was third with a five-stage air pollution filtration system, on the same $1,000. Venkatesh also carried the Improving Lives Award, the one prize in the competition decided by the public rather than the judges.
What a refraction test costs
Myopic power is the number written on a spectacle prescription: how strongly a lens must bend light to bring a short-sighted eye into focus, measured in dioptres. Establishing it is routine in a wealthy country and a bottleneck almost everywhere else, because it normally requires either a trained refractionist working through a trial frame or an autorefractor costing thousands of dollars.
The World Health Organisation has repeatedly identified uncorrected refractive error as one of the largest single causes of visual impairment worldwide, and it is the one that is trivially fixable, with a pair of glasses, once the number is known. A device that shortens the measurement and lowers its cost attacks the measurement step rather than the spectacles, which is the step that actually keeps people from seeing.
How the challenge is run
The 2022 competition was the fifteenth annual 3M Young Scientist Challenge, staged on 17 and 18 October at 3M's global headquarters in St Paul, Minnesota, with nine finalists. The contest is aimed at middle school students; entrants submit a short video explaining an idea, and those selected as finalists are each given a 3M scientist as a one-to-one mentor over the summer to turn the idea into a working prototype.
The final is judged on ingenuity, application of science and engineering, evident passion for research, presentation, and the capacity to inspire others. It is a formula designed to reward communication as much as laboratory ability, which is one reason the challenge's winners are so much more visible in the American press than the winners of more technically demanding competitions.
Where it sits in the record
The years around Venkatesh's runner-up place show what the contest rewards. In 2023 the title went to Heman Bekele for a skin-cancer-treating soap; the runner-up that year, Shripriya Kalbhavi, built a low-cost microneedle patch for self-administered drug delivery. In 2024 the winner was Sirish Subash, for a handheld pesticide detector using spectrophotometry and machine learning.
All of these are medical or environmental devices aimed at a cost barrier rather than a scientific frontier, and that is the competition's distinctive taste. The Comptometrist fits it exactly: not a new optical principle, but a cheaper route to a number that millions of people cannot currently obtain.
What is documented, and what is not
Firm: Venkatesh was a ninth grader at Phillips Exeter School, listed in the announcement as Brentwood, New Hampshire; she placed second at the 2022 3M Young Scientist Challenge with The Comptometrist; the award was $1,000 and a trip; she also won the public-voted Improving Lives Award; the final was held on 17 and 18 October 2022 in St Paul with nine finalists.
Not documented: her age or birth year, how the device works in any technical detail, whether it was tested on patients, and anything published about her since October 2022.
Watch: Harini Venkatesh on camera
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harini Venkatesh | United States | Second place, 2022 3M Young Scientist Challenge | — |
| Raphael Hurley | Ireland | Young Scientist of the Year 1998, the mathematics of Monopoly | — |
| Marina Dimitrov | United States | America's Top Young Scientist, 2009 | — |
| Minula Weerasekera | United States | Second place, 2024 3M Young Scientist Challenge | — |
| Shripriya Kalbhavi | United States | Second place, 2023 3M Young Scientist Challenge | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Second place at the 2022 3M Young Scientist Challenge with The Comptometrist
- Also won the public-voted Improving Lives Award
- Ninth grader at Phillips Exeter School, listed as Brentwood, New Hampshire
- Award of $1,000 and a trip; the final ran 17-18 October 2022 with nine finalists
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- Age and birth year are not stated
- No technical description of how the device measures myopic power is published
- No evidence in the sources of clinical testing, or of anything after October 2022
Questions people ask about Harini Venkatesh
What is The Comptometrist?
Harini Venkatesh's entry to the 2022 3M Young Scientist Challenge: a cost-efficient device that cuts the time needed to determine the myopic power of a patient's eyes.
What did she win?
Second place, worth $1,000 and a trip, plus the Improving Lives Award, the prize decided by public vote.
Who won that year?
Leanne Fan, a ninth grader from San Diego, for Finsen Headphones, which detect and treat middle-ear infection with machine learning and blue light. She received $25,000.
What is myopic power?
The strength of lens needed to correct short-sightedness, measured in dioptres. Determining it normally needs a trained refractionist or an expensive autorefractor.
How old is Harini Venkatesh?
No source consulted gives an age or birth year. The announcement identifies her as a ninth grader in 2022.
Where did she go to school?
Phillips Exeter School, which the announcement locates at Brentwood, New Hampshire.
Where is Harini Venkatesh now?
Nothing published after October 2022 was found in the sources used for this page.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Harini’s story?
What did The Comptometrist measure?
Which extra award did Harini Venkatesh win?
Who was named America's Top Young Scientist in 2022?
Sources
- 14-Year-old from California Named America's Top Young Scientist — Discovery Education, 2022-10-19
- 14-year-old named America's Top Young Scientist for development of skin cancer treatment — Discovery Education, 2023-10-11
- 14-year-old named America's Top Young Scientist for inventing an AI handheld pesticide detector — Discovery Education, 2024-10-16
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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