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This message was sent from Georgia Magazine (http://uga.edu/gm/). Professor’s book inspires teenager - Around the Arch December 2009 Issue William Kamkwamba with his handmade windmill. Special photo A science textbook written by UGA education professor Mary M. Atwater is being heralded as the inspiration and guide for a 14-year-old African boy’s quest to build a windmill that provided electricity to his family and village. Eight years ago, William Kamkwamba’s native Malawi suffered through one of its worst droughts. Thousands died. Others were surviving on one meal a day. William dropped out of school when his family couldn’t pay the tuition but spent his days at the library, where he found a book with photographs of windmills. That book, Using Energy, was Atwater’s 8th grade science textbook, first published in 1993. It was one of dozens donated to his village in Malawi.
Inspired by the diagrams in the book and pictures of windmills, William decided he would bring electricity to his family’s home, a luxury only 2 percent of Malawians are able to afford. 

 Using Atwater’s book, he built a … Read full article at http://uga.edu/gm/ee/index.php?/single/2009/12/658/.