Australia’s federal science agency, The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has taken time off from pursuing cutting edge scientific research to fulfill the dreams of a seven-year-old girl enamoured with How to Train Your Dragon and the majestic creatures it depicts. Writing to the agency, Sophie Lester asked politely, “Would you make a dragon for me? I would like it if you could, but if you can’t, that’s fine.” To which the scientists responded with a 3D printed titanium dragon. You can see the whole letter, including a depiction of how the dragon should look, below:
CSIRO explained, “We couldn’t sit here and do nothing. After all, we promised Sophie we would look into it… Her letter was very hopeful and it was very polite and we wanted to encourage her curiosity and encourage her love of science.” In turn, they replied to Sophie, apologizing for their lack of dragon research, and got to work, using their state-of-the-art 3D metal printers to craft a model of How to Train Your Dragon’s Toothless at Sophie’s request. Chad Henry, Additive Manufacturing Operations Manager described the metal chosen to print the creature, “Titanium is super strong and lightweight, so Toothless will be a very capable flyer.”
Sophie’s letter and the 3D-printed dragon made headlines, with the little girl making appearances on the local news. Her mother, Melissah Lester, has even heard from friends in New York and the UK who have come across the story. Not only that, but a representative from DreamWorks called Sophie’s mom about the whole thing. Because Sophie wrote the science agency, “I would call it Toothless if it was a girl and, if it was a boy, I would name it Stuart,” the film’s director had Sophie asked why Toothless was a girl. The studio has also decided to send the girl a dragon of their own. Melissah Lester has refrained from telling her daughter exactly how far the news has spread, waiting until she’s long passed the awkward hurdles of adolescence so that it doesn’t go to her head.
After all of the warm fuzziness, I’d also be reluctant to tell Sophie that CSIRO may have played a role in the suppression of an article critical of a carbon trading program being pushed through the Australian Senate in 2009.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
