5 ms·

Boy, 12, said to have created nuclear reaction in playroom lab

22 points by em3rgent0rdr 8y ago

dvh 8y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
scarejunba 8y ago
Everyone in this story sounds like they're in a Victorian steampunk novel. > Over the past month I have made an enormous amount of progress. I now have results that I believe to be worthy > I think there is a great disbelief until they actually see it.
- viivaux 8y ago
  > Everyone in this story All two of them.. It's like they're related or something... And also; not really.
  - astrodust 8y ago
    Have you tried turning your levity module off and on again?
    - viivaux 8y ago
      Levity is commenting at a 12yo performing nuclear fusion for using ever-so-slightly more eloquent than average language? I think I'll skip the new humour update defining that as funny.
samcday 8y ago
Can some people who consider themselves knowledgeable in the "nature/nurture" debate, either side, weigh in here and educate me please? When I was 14 I liked listening to Linkin Park, writing cheesy QBasic code, and playing Final Fantasy games. Also girls were starting to really hit the radar at that point. Maybe my memory just sucks, but I don't recall there being much nuclear friggin' fusion in the mix. I'm guessing a lot of people, even the smarties here on Hacker News, were also sorta kinda average like me when they were 14 So, what gives? How do prodigies like this kid happen?
- rossdavidh 8y ago
  1) there are a LOT of people in the world; it may happen to one kid in 100,000, you will still hear about a few of them now that we get news from so many places 2) while it is quite possible that this kid did this, it is also possible that his parents did, and are pretending he did. Similar things have happened in the art world. But who knows, maybe he did.
- semi-extrinsic 8y ago
  While it is certainly impressive to build a fusor, I don't think it immediately follows that this kid is a prodigy. What it does show is that he has the skills to follow other's instructions and adapt them, and the work ethic to see a project through. The main obstacle facing most kids who want to put their energy into something like this, is that their parents can't give them a spare room to convert into a lab and $10,000 to spend on equipment.
- codebolt 8y ago
  I certainly can't compare myself to this kid in terms of achievement, but I got heavily into physics around 15-16 after an intense psychedelic experience made me start to obsess over the idea of figuring out "what the universe is made of" (to which studying and researching physics seemed to be the most optimistic approach of getting any solid answers). [This lead me down a path to getting my undergrad physics degree a few years later, but I eventually shifted my focus to CS and am now a software engineer, partially because my obsession faded over time and because I realized that a tenure track in physics wasn't really the kind of life or career I had originally envisioned.] What motivated me is probably not at all similar to what is going on with this kid, but I just wanted to offer it as an anecdote to how a teenager might become fascinated with physics, since you asked.
- jboles 8y ago
  I don’t know, writing silly projects in QBasic with VGA mode graphics and sound from the beeper definitely felt like fusion to me...
- pmoriarty 8y ago
  If you are interested in the nature/nurture debate, I encourage you to read up on the Polgar sisters, whose father set out to prove that genius is made, not born. All three sisters went from nothing to excelling at chess, though only one of them, Judit, went on to continue playing it as an adult and became the strongest female chess player of all time.[1][2] [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r [2] - https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1990/06/13/09440007.h09.html https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1990/06/13/09440007.h09.h...
tomhoward 8y ago
Discussed recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19229433 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19229433
pmoriarty 8y ago
This reminds me of David Hahn, the so-called Radioactive Boy Scout.[1][2][3] [1] - https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scout/ https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scou... [2] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12957768 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12957768 [3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn

22 points by em3rgent0rdr 8y ago

dvh 8y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

scarejunba 8y ago

Everyone in this story sounds like they're in a Victorian steampunk novel. > Over the past month I have made an enormous amount of progress. I now have results that I believe to be worthy > I think there is a great disbelief until they actually see it.

viivaux 8y ago
> Everyone in this story All two of them.. It's like they're related or something... And also; not really.
- astrodust 8y ago
  Have you tried turning your levity module off and on again?
  - viivaux 8y ago
    Levity is commenting at a 12yo performing nuclear fusion for using ever-so-slightly more eloquent than average language? I think I'll skip the new humour update defining that as funny.

samcday 8y ago

Can some people who consider themselves knowledgeable in the "nature/nurture" debate, either side, weigh in here and educate me please? When I was 14 I liked listening to Linkin Park, writing cheesy QBasic code, and playing Final Fantasy games. Also girls were starting to really hit the radar at that point. Maybe my memory just sucks, but I don't recall there being much nuclear friggin' fusion in the mix. I'm guessing a lot of people, even the smarties here on Hacker News, were also sorta kinda average like me when they were 14 So, what gives? How do prodigies like this kid happen?

rossdavidh 8y ago
1) there are a LOT of people in the world; it may happen to one kid in 100,000, you will still hear about a few of them now that we get news from so many places 2) while it is quite possible that this kid did this, it is also possible that his parents did, and are pretending he did. Similar things have happened in the art world. But who knows, maybe he did.
semi-extrinsic 8y ago
While it is certainly impressive to build a fusor, I don't think it immediately follows that this kid is a prodigy. What it does show is that he has the skills to follow other's instructions and adapt them, and the work ethic to see a project through. The main obstacle facing most kids who want to put their energy into something like this, is that their parents can't give them a spare room to convert into a lab and $10,000 to spend on equipment.
codebolt 8y ago
I certainly can't compare myself to this kid in terms of achievement, but I got heavily into physics around 15-16 after an intense psychedelic experience made me start to obsess over the idea of figuring out "what the universe is made of" (to which studying and researching physics seemed to be the most optimistic approach of getting any solid answers). [This lead me down a path to getting my undergrad physics degree a few years later, but I eventually shifted my focus to CS and am now a software engineer, partially because my obsession faded over time and because I realized that a tenure track in physics wasn't really the kind of life or career I had originally envisioned.] What motivated me is probably not at all similar to what is going on with this kid, but I just wanted to offer it as an anecdote to how a teenager might become fascinated with physics, since you asked.
jboles 8y ago
I don’t know, writing silly projects in QBasic with VGA mode graphics and sound from the beeper definitely felt like fusion to me...
pmoriarty 8y ago
If you are interested in the nature/nurture debate, I encourage you to read up on the Polgar sisters, whose father set out to prove that genius is made, not born. All three sisters went from nothing to excelling at chess, though only one of them, Judit, went on to continue playing it as an adult and became the strongest female chess player of all time.[1][2] [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r [2] - https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1990/06/13/09440007.h09.html https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1990/06/13/09440007.h09.h...

tomhoward 8y ago

Discussed recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19229433 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19229433

pmoriarty 8y ago

This reminds me of David Hahn, the so-called Radioactive Boy Scout.[1][2][3] [1] - https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scout/ https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scou... [2] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12957768 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12957768 [3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn