What happened in Washington
ABC News reported on 11 March 2009 that the Intel Science Talent Search had crowned its ten leading students, with Streich, 18, of Platteville, Wisconsin, placed third. Finalists spend a week in Washington being questioned by scientists before the placements are announced.
Asked what the week had been worth, Streich pointed at the other finalists rather than the scholarship. "I've made true friends, not just kids or connections," he told ABC News. "I've met people who I think I will stay in touch with in the future, hopefully to solve some of these daunting problems we're facing."
The 2007 award that came first
Two years earlier, Streich had received a Young Scientist Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, where he is listed as Philip Vidal Streich in the fair's record of top award winners. ISEF is the world's largest pre-college science competition, drawing finalists from dozens of countries to a single judged hall.
The double is the striking part of the record. ISEF and the Science Talent Search are different contests with different judging cultures: one international and project-fair based, the other American and interview-driven. Placing at the top of both, two years apart, is rare.
What his field was
Streich's field is recorded as nanotechnology, and the searches that still carry his name attach it to carbon nanotubes. The sources used for this page do not describe his project, its method or its results: the ABC News report names the placement and quotes him, and the ISEF listing gives the award and the year.
That limit is worth stating plainly, because a detailed account of a teenager's nanotube chemistry circulates easily online without a citation attached. Where this page cannot show a source, it says nothing.
What the contest was in 2009
The Science Talent Search ran under Intel's sponsorship from 1998 until 2016, when Regeneron took it over; before Intel it was the Westinghouse, from 1942. The name changes, the format does not: original research, submitted by seniors, defended in person.
The ten placed finalists in any year are drawn from roughly 1,500 to 2,000 entrants. A third place therefore puts a student in a group of three in the country for that year, which is why a placement is treated in American science as a credential rather than a school prize.
What is known since
No later reporting on Streich appears in the sources gathered for this page. There is no documented university, company, patent or publication here, and no update on the nanotechnology work.
The gap is a limit of this file rather than a statement about him. What the record firmly supports is a 16-year-old winning a top award at the world's largest school science fair, and the same student, at 18, placing third in the United States' oldest science competition and saying the friendships mattered more.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- He placed third in the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search at 18
- He received an Intel ISEF Young Scientist Award in 2007
- He is from Platteville, Wisconsin, and his field is recorded as nanotechnology
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- The subject and findings of both award-winning projects
- The prize amounts attached to either award
- Any university, employer or later publication
- Any family or school detail
Questions people ask about Philip Streich
How old is Philip Streich?
He was 18 at the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search and his birth year is recorded as 1991. No date of birth appears in these sources.
What did Philip Streich win?
Third place in the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search, two years after an Intel ISEF Young Scientist Award in 2007.
What was his project about?
His field is recorded as nanotechnology. The sources used here do not describe the project itself, and this page does not invent a description.
Where is he from?
Platteville, Wisconsin.
What did he say about the competition?
He told ABC News: "I've made true friends, not just kids or connections. I've met people who I think I will stay in touch with in the future, hopefully to solve some of these daunting problems we're facing."
Where is Philip Streich now?
No source used here records what he has done since 2009. No university, company or publication is documented on this page.
Is Philip Streich on Wikipedia?
He has no article of his own in these sources. He appears as Philip Vidal Streich in the top-award winners list in Wikipedia's article on the International Science and Engineering Fair.
How much prize money did he receive?
The ABC News report describes a scholarship award but does not state the amount, and no figure is attributed to him here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Philip’s story?
Where did Philip Streich place in the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search?
What award had he won two years earlier?
What did he tell ABC News mattered most about the finals?
Sources
- Intel Science Talent Search crowns 10 promising students — ABC News, 2009-03-11
- International Science and Engineering Fair — Wikipedia
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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