A teen scientist from Penwortham, England,
has become the youngest person in the world
to build a functioning nuclear fusion reactor.
Jamie Edwards, 13, constructed the reactor
from scratch to beat the 2008 record of
American Taylor Wilson, who was 14 when he
built his reactor. Edwards didn’t have much
time to spare as he turns 14 on Sunday; the
reactor was completed on Tuesday and it
worked successfully the following day when
two atoms of hydrogen smashed together to
form helium.
“Yesterday I successfully achieved fusion at
11:30 am, this was brilliant! I am waiting from
fusor.net for confirmation that I have actually
done fusion but looking at the results I am
almost certain I have… The reactor consists of
many parts, some of the main ones include
the vacuum pumps, high voltage supply,
vacuum chamber and deutirium system,”
Edwards wrote on his blog on Thursday.
Edwards received help from his classmates
and his head teacher with the project.
“One day, I was looking on the Internet for
radiation or other aspects of nuclear energy
and I came across Taylor Wilson and his
reactor,” Edwards told the Lancashire Evening
Post. “I looked at it, thought ‘that looks cool’
and decided to have a go. Basically I made a
star in a jar. It’s amazing really, quite a feat,
to be from Penwortham and be the youngest
person in the world to do this.”
Edwards’ accomplishment is certainly
surprising, but perhaps it shouldn’t be. The
young man is so interested in science that he
used to take his older brother’s homework and
try to do it for him.
“It is quite an achievement,” Edwards told the
Lancashire Evening Post. “It’s magnificent
really. I can’t quite believe it — even though
all my friends think I am mad.”
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