September 23rd 2019

By Leslie Salzillo (of the Daily Kos community)

Daily Kos

If you’re wondering who is one of the most talked-about inventors these days, you might be surprised to find out she’s a 9-year-old girl from Mexico. Her name is Xóchitl Guadalupe Cruz Lopez.

WLRN in Miami reports:

The young indigenous girl from Chiapas state in southern Mexico built a solar-powered water heater from recyclable materials - an invention that promises to do more than just give folks in that poor rural region better access to hot water.

According to Mexico News Daily, Xóchitl’s solar heater contains a “15-meter black hose, 10 PET bottles that she painted black, plastic cable ties, a wooden base, black nylon and recycled glass.” Xóchitl says she used the glass doors of a broken cooler to create a greenhouse effect. The solar heater is installed on her home’s rooftop. 

Xóchitl’s invention caught the attention of Nuclear Sciences Institute at Mexico’s National Autonomous University, or UNAM, from where she was awarded the ICN Women’s Recognition Award. The young inventor won the award last year when she was eight, but the news is just making the rounds in America, where she is receiving more accolades. UNAM helped her complete her project through their Adopt a Talent Program (PAUTA). 

The brilliant young mind told Mexico’s Imagen News that “people won’t have to chop down trees to heat their water anymore,” as she demonstrates the box-like glass-and-wood device. She said she was inspired to invent the solar water heater because of the cold climate in her hometown.

“In San Cristóbal it’s very cold most of the year so if people shower with cold water they can get sick with respiratory illnesses and constantly have to go to the doctor,” she said.

The invention is important on a massive and global level, as well. Its economic and environmental benefits will help to develop deforested countries throughout the world.

The now-famous inventor has been entering science competitions since she was four. In between her brilliant innovations, Xóchitl loves soccer and mathematics and plans to gain her doctorate in the latter. 

Below is the Imagen News YouTube video (in Spanish) of Xóchitl talking discussing and showing off her great invention. 

Great things lie ahead for this young lady. Congratulations to Xóchitl Guadalupe Cruz Lopez. And special thanks to her for helping to promote and open more doors for the science education of girls around the world.

Posted with permission