Rebecca Young, 13, named one of 10 ‘girls of the year’ for her invention intended to help rough sleepers in winter
A Scottish schoolgirl has been named a “girl of the year” by Time magazine after she invented a solar-powered thermal blanket to help rough sleepers keep warm.
Rebecca Young, 13, came up with her design after seeing homeless people struggling in subzero temperatures on the streets of her home city, Glasgow, in winter. She said her message to young people was: “If you see a problem you think you can fix, you can do something about it.”
She joins nine other girls from across the world on the magazine’s first list to spotlight girls’ achievements. It builds on Time’s existing women of the year list, with the express intention of recognising young female role models globally.
Rebecca’s design – a solar-powered backpack with an electric blanket inside – won an engineering award in a UK-wide competition that received 70,000 entrants and Rebecca has since developed it as a prototype.
