Double effect bra

Elena has been inventing things since childhood. Her first know-how was perfume created using the technology of extracting flower petals and peels of then scarce oranges.

“Unfortunately, my “potions” changed their smell over time and no longer smelled very good,” Elena laughs.

In 1986, when the accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Elena was a student at the Zaporozhye Medical Institute. Now, by the way, she is studying the consequences of Chernobyl from the point of view of the impact on people's health. And then she set out to develop simple and affordable protective equipment.
Around the same time, Elena Bodnar got married. As a wedding gift, her mother-in-law paid for her cutting and sewing courses. Now Elena says that without the ability to sew, she would hardly have been able to design her mask-bra.

Her classmates remember Elena very well and appreciated her unusual invention: they say it will protect against the flu. But the teachers consider it nothing more than a joke. Vladimir Kompaniets, dean of the medical faculty where Elena graduated, was skeptical about the respirator:
– Will not protect against chemical or bacteriological substances. If something happens, I wouldn't want to use my bra as a mask. My colleagues and I perceived the invention as a funny invention - and Elena received a comic prize.

Bodnar disagrees:
– Such a mask is not an ideal solution, but the main thing is that it is available in emergency situations, for example during a terrorist attack. In such cases, gas masks are not at hand. And the additional lock on the bra allows you to transform it into two masks in a few seconds without removing your clothes.

After medical school, Elena Bodnar studied cardiology in Zaporozhye, and in 1989 she left with her husband and son Yaroslav for the USA - there was an opportunity to work there. In Chicago, Elena had a daughter, Sofia. Now her children are already students, studying to become doctors.

And after the Ig Nobel Prize, Elena herself is looking for business partners, since they want to put her unusual mask into production.

Svetlana Oleynik.
Zaporozhye.