Union engineer wins Polhem Prize
It is not everyday that trade unionists rub shoulders with royalty, but that's precisely what happened when Petra Wadström was announced as the Gold Medal winner of the Polhem Prize.
His Royal Highness, Prince Carl Philip of Sweden presented the Polhem Prize and a cheque for SEK 250,000 to the inventor at a glittering awards ceremony in the tunnels of Norra Länken (the North link), a 4 km long tunnel connecting the highway with Värtahamnen, one of Stockholm's harbours.
The Polhem prize is Sweden's oldest and most prestigious prize for technological innovation and has been awarded every other year by UNI Global Union’s affiliate, Sveriges Ingenjörer (Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers), since 1878. The prize is named after Christopher Polhem (1661-1754), the father of Swedish mechanics. His inventions include the iconic Stjärnsundsuren clocks, which are still manufactured.
The winning invention that was recognised at this year’s award came from the artist and inventor, Petra Wadström, for the potentially life-saving invention, Solvatten. A Solvatten is a solar powered household water treatment unit that makes unsafe water drinkable by using solar energy. Petra got the idea for Solvatten when she lived in Australia and travelled to Indonesia, where lack of clean water is a major problem.
The jury commented: "Petra’s invention is seemingly simple but ingenious. It helps to solve a growing and acute global problem - the lack of clean water."
UNI Global Professionals and Managers’ Group President, Ulf Bengtsson, who is also President of Sveriges Ingenjörer, said: "We are immensely proud of Petra’s achievements. This accolade is a very well deserved prize for an extraordinary engineering and humanitarian invention. The engineering community continues to make the world a safer and better place.”
The evening also saw the Wimanska Award for best university thesis at graduate level, and the ’Little’ Polhemsplatsen Prize for best thesis at undergraduate level, go to Emil Nämgren and Fredrik Schaufelberger respectively.
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