Original upload date: Wed, 15 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Thu, 09 Dec 2021 02:20:39 GMT
Jamie Edwards talks about how he built a nuclear reactor before successfully smashing two hydrogen atoms together, making helium through nuclear fusion.
Not many 13-year-olds would describe themselve
...
s as an "amateur nuclear scientist." That's precisely what Jamie Edwards calls himself. When most kids his age are off playing video games, Edwards stays late after school to work on a control panel for a nuclear fusion reactor. At 13 years old, Jamie Edwards became the youngest person ever to achieve nuclear fusion by colliding the nuclei of hydrogen atoms via inertial electrostatic confinement in his school lab. When Jamie told his headmaster about his plan to build the nuclear reactor and asked for funding, the reply was “Will it blow up the school?” Jamie got the funding, and rest assured, the school still stands.
For his next project, Jamie – who wants to be a nuclear engineer or work in theoretical physics – has his sights on building a miniature hadron collider.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
