For Rishikesh and Prithvi maths & science are synonyms with their names

The human computer:
Rishikesh Reddy Kayathi wrote his maths exam for one last time this June, as a Class X student of the Bachupalli branch of Oakridge International School. That’s because the 16-year-old has now joined the Chaitanya Junior College and will study science (botany,  zoology, chemistry and physics).

Rishikesh could not have been happier about the way he closed this chapter. He has topped the subject of maths in the Class X IGCSE board exams with 200 on 200 marks, worldwide. The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an academically rigorous, international curriculum offered by the University of Cambridge. The questions are put together by faculties in London and even answers are corrected there.

This way, he has also kept a promise. Rishikesh says, “My dad, Rajender (an engineer) scored 100 per cent marks in maths during his college days at NIT, Warangal. He often tells me stories of how hard he has worked. So, I was like ‘If my dad can do it, I have to do it’.” It’s a great finish to a subject he grew up loving in the US, before his family moved to Hyderabad in 2009. In fact, Rishikesh has been so good with computation, that his teachers have often referred him as a “human computer”.

But he isn’t a nerd, Rishikesh puts it straight, adding,“I am more of an all-rounder. In my school, I was this ‘smart kid who could play basketball’. I wouldn’t bring my homework back home and study till late. I would finish it up in class and help other students finish theirs.”

Rishikesh admits the “academically bright” student is a combination of “God’s gift, motivation from his mom, Padmaja, and inspiration from his dad.”

Meanwhile, as much as he’s happy with his report card, he doesn’t have any time to party. Rishikesh is studying to be a neurosurgeon. For this, he wants to make it to the AIIMS-Delhi, so he is studying from 6 am till 9.30 pm. “It’s a matter of two years. Then I will get to enjoy my life. No complaints,” he says.

Name in the sky:
As a child, Gundlapalli Prithvi spent more time assembling electrical circuits than Lego blocks. He was intrigued by the lights on the circuit boards and those small boxes of batteries. “How do they work?”, the Hyderabadi, who studied in Hyderabad Public School, would often wonder. Years later, after his family shifted to Singapore in 2001, Prithvi found his answers in the physics class. But he wasn’t done yet. He wanted to know more than what he was being taught.

In his junior college in 2013, Prithvi put together a lithium ion rechargeable battery, which runs three times longer than what is available in the market, and its capacity only gets better with time. Since then, his research project has won him prizes at Singapore Science & Engineering Fair, Intel International Science & Engineering Fair, a scholarship of '12.5 lakh and here’s the best part, even an asteroid. In 2013, the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid discovered by Lincoln Laboratory as 29575 Gundlapalli. Most recently, he received Singapore’s prestigious Lee Kuan Yew Award for mathematics and science in recognition of his academic excellence.

Prithvi, 19, has currently taken a break from his research project, as he is doing his National Service and training to be an officer at the Singapore Armed Forces’ Officer Cadet School. But he wishes to study physics  further.

He says, “I will also restart my work on the lithium batteries. It’s not an experimental project, it was never one. It is commercially viable as well as a cheaper option. For now, I have only been testing it inside the labs of the National University of Singapore. I would need some more time to build a prototype for market use.”