Namibian teen goes to North Pole as part of Icebreaker of Knowledge project

SWAKOPMUND teenager Teaghan Beresford (15) is on the verge of becoming one of the few people on the planet to reach its northernmost point.

The teenager won the opportunity to journey to the North Pole as part of the ‘Icebreaker of Knowledge’ project, an initiative aimed at encouraging interest in science and nuclear technologies and supporting talented youth.

Beresford has joined students selected from 20 countries, including Namibia, South Africa, and Ghana on board the nuclear icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy (meaning ‘50 years of victory’).

Here she will take part in an intensive educational programme, engage with researchers, and become one of the first Namibians to reach the North Pole.

Beresford explains that she initially learned about the competition through a newspaper article.

“I thought that it’s way too good to be true, because it’s always been a dream of mine to go to the Arctic, and one of my biggest interests is nuclear physics. I was not sure at all how many people were participating or if I would even have a chance,” she said.

The competition took place over three rounds, the first testing the students’ scientific knowledge. They then participated in webinars by leading experts, and finally put together their own creative video presentations. Beresford’s video on the opportunities nuclear technology could hold for Namibia seems to have impressed the panel of judges.

“I was actually meeting up with a friend when I got the email that I won. I was completely in shock,” she says.

Beresford says she is passionate about science and hopes to become a researcher one day.

“It started when I was 12, I think. I had a notebook and I would do research on toxicology. That was first more of a plant biology thing, but later developed into radiology and also learning about different mushrooms and different plants. After a while, I borrowed some physics books,” she says.

“I read up a lot about particle physics and found that to be the most interesting of all the science I’ve done in my life. To learn about the elementary particles and the fundamental forces. When I was 14, in German class, I wrote a magazine article about the Chernobyl disaster and how it could have been prevented. And that’s, I think, where the whole reactor physics thing started. And I’ve since then done really extensive research. My favourite activity is having my notebook and writing down all the things from the websites I go on.”

Alongside the students, the expedition includes experts in various scientific fields including nuclear technology.

The group is expected to reach their destination on Sunday and is expected back in the Russian port city of Murmansk on 22 August.

This year marks the sixth iteration of the ‘Icebreaker of Knowledge’ project, which is being organised by Energy of the Future with the support of Rosatom, a leading company in the field of nuclear development.

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