Second place, 2013
The Society for Science's page for the Intel Science Talent Search 2013 lists the top ten in order. Kallenbach is recorded second, behind Sara Volz and ahead of Adam Bowman. That placing is the documented fact, published by the organisation that ran the competition.
Second place in a ranked field is a stronger statement than it is in most student competitions, because most of them publish a winner and an unordered list of finalists. Here the judges' ordering is on the record: not merely that Kallenbach reached the final ten, but exactly where in the ten he was put.
The published order
The 2013 list runs: Sara Volz, Jonah Kallenbach, Adam Bowman, Hannah Larson, Peter Kraft, Kensen Shi, Samuel Zbarsky, Brittany Wenger, Akshay Padmanabha and Sahana Vasudevan.
That is the entire published record of the 2013 result as read for this page. Ten names, ten positions, no descriptions. A reader looking for what any of these students actually did will not find it on the page that certifies the outcome, which is an odd inversion: the most authoritative source is also the least informative one.
What a ranking carries
A ranked result records a comparative judgement made on a particular day by a particular panel. It says that the work Kallenbach submitted was placed above eight of the nine other finalists and below one, and that a body with standing in the field made that call and published it.
What it cannot carry is the reasoning. No score, no criteria, no margin and no reviewer comment accompanies the order. Nor does a placing predict anything: a competition documents a verdict on one piece of work at one moment, and treating it as a forecast of a career is the error that student-prize coverage makes most often.
The missing middle
Everything a profile normally turns on is absent from the source. There is no project title against Kallenbach's name, no field, no abstract, no mentor, no school, no age and no award amount. The page that certifies second place does not say what second place was for.
The research record compiled for this page adds one detail, Ambler, Pennsylvania, as his home, and it is carried here as unconfirmed because the published listing gives no home town for any of the ten. The page itself now sits in the Society for Science's section for the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the programme's current name, with the 2013 edition filed under Intel's sponsorship; the archive is maintained as a register of names rather than of projects.
What is documented — and what is not
The firm fact is a single line, and it is reliable: second place in the Intel Science Talent Search 2013, published by the Society for Science, in a ranked field of ten headed by Sara Volz.
The open questions are almost everything else. No age or date of birth, no school, no photograph, no project, no award amount and no account of what he has done since. The Ambler detail is unconfirmed. A second, independent source would be needed to establish any of it, and until one exists this page reports the placing and stops there.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jonah Kallenbach | United States | Second place, Intel Science Talent Search 2013 | — |
| Melissa Rey | United States | Grand prize, 2008 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge | — |
| Sara Volz | United States | First place, Intel Science Talent Search 2013 | — |
| Victor Cai | United States | Second place, 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search | — |
| Amber K Luo | United States | Third place, 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Second place in the Intel Science Talent Search 2013 (Society for Science listing)
- Sara Volz placed first and Adam Bowman third in the same ranked ten
- The 2013 result is published as an ordered list of ten named finalists
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No project title, field, abstract or award amount in the source
- No age, school, home town or photograph in the source
- Ambler, Pennsylvania comes from the research record and is unconfirmed
- Nothing is documented about Kallenbach after 2013
Questions people ask about Jonah Kallenbach
What did Jonah Kallenbach achieve?
Second place in the Intel Science Talent Search 2013, as published by the Society for Science in its ranked list of the top ten.
Who won that year?
Sara Volz was placed first, ahead of Kallenbach in second and Adam Bowman in third.
What was his project?
The published listing does not name a project, a field or an abstract for any of the ten finalists.
How old is Jonah Kallenbach?
No source in this record gives an age or a date of birth.
Where is Jonah Kallenbach from?
The research record gives Ambler, Pennsylvania, and it is unconfirmed. The Society for Science listing gives no home town.
How much prize money did he receive?
No award amount appears in the source used here.
Where is Jonah Kallenbach now?
Not documented here. The published record ends with the 2013 placing, and no later reporting appears in this record.
Is Jonah Kallenbach on Wikipedia?
The research record lists no Wikipedia article for him, and no source used here points to one.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Kallenbach’s story?
Where did Jonah Kallenbach place in the Intel Science Talent Search 2013?
Who was placed first that year?
What does the published 2013 listing include?
Sources
- Intel STS 2013 — top 10 winners — Society for Science
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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