Earlier this week we posted about a letter we received from Sophie, a 7-year-old girl. All she wanted was a dragon.
“Our work has never ventured into dragons of the mythical, fire breathing variety. And for this Australia, we are sorry,” we replied.
Sophie’s letter, and our response, made an unexpected splash across the globe. It was featured on TIME, Huffington Post, The Independent, Yahoo, Breakfast TV, the list goes on. People contacted us offering to help, financial institutions tweeted their support and DreamWorks Studios phoned (seriously), saying they knew how to train dragons and wanted to speak with Sophie. The dreams of one little girl went viral.
We couldn’t sit here and do nothing. After all, we promised Sophie we would look into it.
So this morning at 9:32 a.m. (AEDT), a dragon was born.
Toothless, 3D printed out of titanium, came into the world at Lab 22, our additive manufacturing facility in Melbourne. The scientists there have printed some extraordinary things in the past—huge anatomically correct insects, biomedical implants and aerospace parts. So they thought a dragon was achievable.
“Being that electron beams were used to 3D print her, we are certainly glad she didn’t come out breathing them … instead of fire,” said Chad Henry, our Additive Manufacturing Operations Manager. “Titanium is super strong and lightweight, so Toothless will be a very capable flyer.”
Toothless is currently en route from Lab 22 in Melbourne to Sophie’s home in Brisbane.
Sophie’s mother Melissah said Sophie was overjoyed with our response and has been telling everyone dragon breath can be a new fuel. “All her friends are now saying they want to be a scientist and Sophie says she now wants to work at CSIRO. She’s saying Australian scientists can do anything,” Melissah told the Canberra Times.
We’d love to have you in our team, Sophie. For now, stay curious.
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UPDATE: Dragon delivery complete.
Media resources: More images and video: A 3D printed dragon
11th January 2014 at 1:07 am
You guys are awesome! I hope my daughter turns out as curious and imaginative as Sophie and has an amazing lab to interact with. Bravo!!
11th January 2014 at 1:05 am
You guys are awesome! I hope my daughter turns out as curious and imaginative as this little girl!
11th January 2014 at 1:03 am
Parabéns a todos pela iniciativa de deixar uma criança mais feliz.
11th January 2014 at 12:33 am
For the first time today I have laughed with pure joy. All the sadness in the news and finally something bright and wonderful.
Thank you CSIRO for making a little girl’s dream come to be.
I always have faith that Aussie scientists are the best in the world and now here is the proof!
10th January 2014 at 11:53 pm
As a scientist, female as well, I loved her letter and, even more, your response to her. Bravo.