Scientist of the Week
Meet the brilliant minds who changed our world
Rodion Zaichikov
At just 15 years old, Rodion Zaichikov built an experimental arc-jet wind tunnel capable of creating temperatures above 3,000°C to study hypersonic airflow and test a scramjet engine model. His innovative project won the Ellison Scholars Prize at the 2026 European Union Contest for Young Scientists.
Rodion Zaichikov is a young science enthusiast from Luxembourg who studies at the International School Luxembourg. His interest in aerospace engineering began after watching a YouTube video of an arc jet. Instead of just watching, he wondered if he could build one himself! Through curiosity, creativity and countless experiments, he developed his own low-cost experimental wind tunnel. He has also won awards at international science competitions in Portugal and Taiwan. Rodion dreams of developing advanced technology for vehicles that can travel through space and return safely to Earth.
✨ Fun fact: He made invisible air movements visible! Rodion built his own Schlieren imaging system, which uses light and optics to reveal invisible changes in air density and shock waves around his experimental engine model.
Past Honorees
Francis Halzen
Won the 2026 Nobel Prize for helping detect mysterious “ghost particles” from space using Antarctic ice!
Josh Engels
Resigned from Google DeepMind to sound the alarm on the safety and ethical risks of advanced AI.
Dr. Atanu Nath
Won the prestigious 2026 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for unlocking secrets of subatomic particles.