Alex Deans
| Alexander Deans | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Alexander Matthew Deans May 1, 1997 Windsor, ON, Canada |
| Residence | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian, British |
| Education | Académie Ste Cécile International School, McGill University |
| Occupation | Inventor, Public Speaker |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Known for | iAid, Visual Arts |
Alexander Deans (born May 1, 1997) is a Canadian-British inventor. At age 12, he created the "iAid", a navigation device for the blind which won the 2013 Canada-Wide Science Fair in the intermediate category and several awards at the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
In 2016, Deans became Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Youth Leader for Canada. In 2014, Deans was one of twelve Canadians named on Maclean's magazine's list of Future Leaders under 25. In 2015, Deans accepted naming rights to a minor planet from MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Since 2014, Deans has been a speaker at WE Day events across North America for 160,000 youth.
Alexander Matthew Deans was born on May 1, 1997 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada to ophthalmologist Robin Deans and Joan Deans. He has an older sister Nicola and a younger brother, Marcus. Alex's father spoke of his childhood that he "was never really pushed to achieve in academics or competition. Instead, from a very young age, he was allowed to go out, play, and find and make things on his own". Deans was raised in Windsor, Ontario and attended Académie Ste Cécile International School in South Windsor for primary school. He speaks English and French.
In 2010, Deans competed at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Peterborough, Ontario with a project entitled "Saline Aqua Genesis. The innovation used a salt gradient solar pond to drive a generator for electricity production and distilled water for purification purposes in developing countries, but was unsuccessful at the fair.
At a competition in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Deans demonstrated the iBELT, an invention to aid visually impaired users. The device used echolocation-like technology to map the user's environment and plan paths to destinations, directing users through audible feedback.
Deans credits an encounter he had at age 12 with a visually impaired woman as his inspiration to create iAid. He noticed that she was struggling to cross the street and “asked if she needed any help and realized that she was visually impaired. I saw that she didn’t have any independence and couldn’t navigate well.” Deans taught himself to code, combining his knowledge of bat echolocation with robotics to create iAid prototypes. In an interview with CTV Canada AM anchor Marci Ien in June 2015, Deans remarked that "nature is an incredible innovator," and aimed to mimic bat echolocation through the development of the iAid.
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