Philip Streich: Intel Science Talent Search Third Place 2009

Biography

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.

Achievement Timeline

Philip Streich — every milestone on this page, placed by age.

2007

Receives an Intel ISEF Young ScientistReceives an Intel ISEF Young Scientist Award, listed as Philip Vidal Streich

2009

Named among the ten placed finalists oNamed among the ten placed finalists of the Intel Science Talent Search

2009

Placed third at 18; tells ABC News thePlaced third at 18; tells ABC News the friendships made in Washington mattered more than the award

Historical Comparison

Person	Country	Milestone	Age / Stat
Rishi Shiv Prasanna	India	Winning the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar in 2023 at eight, for…	Age 0
Cannan Huey-You	United States	Presenting research on a Milky Way gas cloud at the American Astronomical…	Age 11
Ángela Olazarán Laureano	Mexico	An AI medical assistant built in Veracruz, designed to work where there is	Age 14
Philip Streich	United States	Third place, 2009 Intel Science Talent Search	Age 16
Émer Hickey	Ireland	Co-winning the 2014 Google Science Fair grand prize	Age 16

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.