The award
The Society for Science lists the 2011 Gordon E. Moore Award, worth $75,000, to Feddersen and Marggraff jointly. Shared top awards are uncommon at ISEF, where most entries are individual, and a team taking the fair's first prize is rarer still.
The project title is given in full: 'Treatment of Simulated Cancer Cells with Compton Scattering-Produced Secondary Radiation'. Every substantive word in this entry's description of the work comes from that title and nothing else, because the source publishes no further description.
What the title says
Compton scattering is the process by which a photon collides with an electron, transfers part of its energy and continues on a changed path with lower energy. The scattered photons and displaced electrons are the secondary radiation of the title.
The stated target is simulated cancer cells, not patients and not animals — a laboratory model. The source does not report the materials used, the radiation source, the dose or the results obtained, so this page makes no claim about whether the approach worked or how it compares with clinical radiotherapy.
The 2011 fair
Intel ISEF 2011 ran from 8 to 13 May at the Los Angeles Convention Center. More than 1,500 young scientists competed, selected from 443 affiliated fairs across 65 countries, regions and territories.
Seventeen Best of Category winners received $5,000 each, and more than 400 finalists left with awards of some kind. The Moore Award sits at the top of that structure as the single largest prize of the week.
Who else won in 2011
Two Intel Foundation Young Scientist Awards of $50,000 were given that year. One went to a three-student team from Suratpittaya School in Suratthani, Thailand — Pornwasu Pongtheerawan, 16, Tanpitcha Phongchaipaiboon, 17, and Arada Sungkanit, 17 — for 'Bio-Based Packaging Plastics from Fish Scale'.
The other went to Taylor Ramon Wilson, 17, of Reno, Nevada, for 'Countering Nuclear Terrorism: Novel Active and Passive Techniques for Detecting Nuclear Threats'. Between them, the 2011 top awards covered radiation medicine, biodegradable packaging and nuclear detection.
What is documented — and what is not
The Society for Science listing gives his full name, age, home town, the award, the amount and the project title. It names no school, no mentor and no laboratory, and it publishes no abstract.
It also stops in May 2011. No source used here reports where Feddersen studied afterwards, whether the work was continued or published, or what he does now. His birth year is inferred from being 17 that May and is approximate.
| 인물 | 국가 | 이정표 | 나이 / 기록 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rishi Shiv Prasanna | 인도 | 8세에 2023년 Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 수상, 수상 사유는... | 0세 |
| Cannan Huey-You | 미국 | 미국천문학회에서 은하수 가스 구름에 관한 연구 발표... | 11세 |
| Ángela Olazarán Laureano | 멕시코 | 베라크루스에서 개발된 AI 의료 보조 장치, 다음 장소에서 작동하도록 설계됨 | 14세 |
| Émer Hickey | 아일랜드 | 2014년 Google Science Fair 대상 공동 수상자 | 16세 |
| Matthew Feddersen | 미국 | Intel ISEF 2011에서 고든 E. 무어상 7만 5,000달러 공동 수상 | 17세 |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Shared the $75,000 Gordon E. Moore Award at Intel ISEF 2011, aged 17 (Society for Science)
- Project title: 'Treatment of Simulated Cancer Cells with Compton Scattering-Produced Secondary Radiation'
- From Lafayette, California; co-winner Blake Marggraff, 18
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No abstract, method or results published in the source
- No school, mentor or laboratory named
- No information on his education or career after 2011; the division of work between the two students is not documented
Questions people ask about Matthew Feddersen
How old was Matthew Feddersen when he won?
Seventeen, in May 2011. No date of birth appears in the source used here.
What did he win?
The Gordon E. Moore Award, Intel ISEF's top prize, worth $75,000, shared with Blake Marggraff.
What was the project?
'Treatment of Simulated Cancer Cells with Compton Scattering-Produced Secondary Radiation'. The source publishes the title but no abstract.
What is Compton scattering?
The process in which a photon collides with an electron, gives up part of its energy and continues on a new path. The scattered particles are the secondary radiation in the project title.
Did the treatment work?
The source reports no results. The project was tested on simulated cancer cells, and no clinical claim is documented here.
Where is Matthew Feddersen now?
No source used here reports on his studies or career after 2011.
Is he on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article on him was confirmed for this entry.
Who was his partner?
Blake Marggraff, also from Lafayette, California, who was 18 at the time. Both are credited equally.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Matthew’s story?
Which award did Matthew Feddersen share in 2011?
Who did he share it with?
What physical process was in the project title?
Sources
- Intel ISEF 2011 (top award winners) — Society for Science
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
