Deepika Kurup facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Deepika Kurup
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| Born | April 12, 1998 Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Harvard University Stanford University |
Deepika Kurup, born on April 12, 1998, is a talented inventor and a strong supporter of clean water. She won the 2012 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Award. She received $25,000 for creating a new, affordable way to clean water using the sun's energy. In 2014, she was also a finalist for the international Stockholm Junior Water Prize. Her project aimed to clean wastewater using a special material.
In January 2015, Forbes magazine recognized Deepika as one of their "30 Under 30" in the Energy category. She has also been featured in Teen Vogue for her important work. As of July 2025, she is a student at Stanford School of Medicine.
Contents
Early Life and Inspiration
Deepika Kurup was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, in the United States. She has shared many times what made her want to work on cleaning water. In a video she made for a competition, she explained how her invention works. She also talked about the reasons that led her to create it.
Deepika's father, Pradeep Kurup, is a civil engineering professor. He came to the United States from India in 1983. Her mother, Meena Kurup, is from the southern Indian state of Kerala.
Every year when she was growing up, Deepika's parents would take her to visit India. There, she saw how different the two countries were. One of the biggest differences she noticed was how hard it was for some people to get clean water.
The Water Crisis in India
Deepika saw children outside her grandparents’ house collecting dirty, unsafe water. They used this water for drinking, cooking, and washing clothes. Deepika understood the deeper problems caused by this lack of clean water. For example, girls without access to clean water might miss school. This can happen when they have no clean clothes, especially during their period.
Deepika explained that "instead of spending time with their family and instead of spending time working and raising money, women have to walk hours on end every day to go collect water." This inspired Deepika to create something that would help solve the global water crisis. She began to learn all she could about this big international problem.
How She Cleans Water
Deepika Kurup's first idea won her the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Award in 2012. This method uses a special material that cleans water with light. Her project used a mix of titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, hollow glass beads, and cement.
In 2012, her special material could greatly reduce the amount of harmful bacteria in water. It also cleaned up a blue dye called Methylene blue faster than other solar cleaning methods.
Improving the Method
Deepika kept working to make her method better. After three years, she created a new material using sand, titanium dioxide, cement, and silver nitrate. This new material was even more effective. It reduced harmful bacteria by 98% right after filtering.
When the filtered water was then exposed to sunlight with a special disc made of her material, all the remaining bacteria were gone in just 15 minutes. This improved method made her a finalist in the 2014 international Stockholm Junior Water Prize. She also won the National Geographic award at the 2015 Google Science Fair.
Making a Difference
In 2016, Deepika started an organization called Catalyst for World Water. This group focuses on sharing her water purification invention. Their goal is to distribute it around the world to help more people get clean water. Deepika believes that access to clean water is a basic human right for everyone.
Deepika is planning to study neurobiology in her future education.
See also
In Spanish: Deepika Kurup para niños
