In 2004, Septinus George Saa, a wonder boy from Indonesia did the country proud by winning the First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics. Although he is from Jayapura, Papua Province, he was originally from West Papua. Dig deep into some highlights about him below.
Born in a Simple Family in West Papua
Born in Manokwari, West Papua, on September 22, 1986, Septinus George Saa is widely known as an Indonesian physicist. He is the youngest of five children from the family of Nelce Waho (40) and Silas Saa (48).
Even though George was from a simple family financially, he kept fighting and achieving excellence. The financial condition began to get better when his father Silas Saa was appointed as the Head of the Forestry Service of South Sorong Regency, West Papua, for the period 2003-2008. However, his family still had to survive and save money to send him and his siblings to school.
Georga Saa’s older sister, Apulena Saa, is a Forestry graduate from Cenderawasih University. Meanwile, Franky Albert Saa, the second son after George, is currently pursuing a Masters in Management Program at Cenderawasih University. The third son, Yopi Saa, is a medical student at the Indonesian Christian University, Jakarta. Agustinus Saa, fourth son, student of the Faculty of Forestry, State University of Papua, Manokwari.
The Wonder Boy in Physics
In 2004, George Saa made his first international debut in the First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics when he studied at SMA Negeri 3 Jayapura, Papua. It is an annual international competition in research projects for high school students focused on Physics, which originated and is situated in Poland.
George won the Physics competition through a paper entitled Infinite Triangle and Hexagonal Lattice Networks of Identical Resistor. In the discovery, he discussed the formula to calculate resistance between two points positioned in a resistor circuit. He eventually gave it his own name, George Saa Formula.
Professor Yohanes Surya, a physicist and coach of the Indonesian Physics Olympiad team, specially trained the wonder boy. George had to manage a presentation regarding the results of his research assessed by physicists in Poland later in November 2006. It was meant as proof that his discovery was his authentic idea.
Upon the achievement, George Saa was granted a one-month research study at the Polish Academy of Science in Poland guided by a great physicist. Moreover, he also received a scholarship from the Freedom Institute owned by Aburizal Bakrie to take a bachelor’s study in Aerospace Engineering Major at Florida Institute of Technology, United States, in 2006.
Taking only three years and a half, George Saa wonderfully made a completion upon his study by 2009. Then, in a mining company in Bintuni, West Papua, he pursued his professional career. He also took a master’s study at the University of Birmingham, England, and the subject he managed was Materials Engineering.
Future Dreams for Papua, Indonesia
Despite his difficult past, Septinus George Saa has proven that the difficulty does not mean he has to stop dreaming. He still dreams that one day all elementary schools in Papua should be free of charge and all students to be picked up every day to go home. According to him, lunch should also be free at school, and special mentoring programs need to be provided for those who want to learn special skills at the high school level.
George himself said that he wants to contribute to Indonesian research institutions by combining aerospace and mechanical engineering. At the university level, he dreams of initiating collaborative research and a complete research database system.
George wants to create a design center on campuses in Papua equipped with small-scale manufacturing capability. The purpose of the establishment is product creation, creating technology-based products that will be very profitable for the region in various aspects, such as economy and business.
West Papua has numerous promising figures, including Septinus George Saa himself. Inspiring, isn’t it?
