In this world, there will never be a shortage of prodigies, and today’s post-90s generation has already become the mainstay of the scientific research community. Today we will introduce an American prodigy- Taylor Wilson. Also known as the real-life version of "Sheldon".
In 1994, in an ordinary family in Texarkana, Arkansas, Kenneth, who worked as a bottler for Coca-Cola Company , was in great joy. His wife Tiffany gave birth to a child for him. Kenneth named the child Taylor Wilson.
Although Kenneth swore that no one in his father's generation or relatives had ever engaged in scientific research, or even had any interest in science... But Taylor seemed to be an anomaly. He had been interested in mechanical rockets and the like since he was a child. Something interesting.
When he was only 5 years old, he expressed that he wanted a crane for his birthday present. However, when his parents took him to a toy store, he angrily expressed that he wanted a real one. Finally, my friends at Kenneth Stow Construction actually got a crane for their birthday.
Imagination picture
When he was in elementary school, he was very excited to tell other children about NASA and rocket launches... This smart kid also aroused the interest of many scholars. At that time, the University of Tennessee in the United States even came to visit and told him seriously. Wilson, who is already 8 years old:
"We have prepared a scholarship for college for you. As long as you are ready, just come to school~"
Taylor who gave a TED speech
When Kenneth was 9 years old, when Kenneth took Taylor When arriving at the Space and Rocket Center.
Taylor as a child
In front of the Saturn 5 launch vehicle model, Taylor talked endlessly about how the Saturn 5 launch vehicle was designed and operated, as well as the relationship between its speed and exhaust speed, as well as its use The pros and cons of fuel and more.
Taylor's performance gave Kenneth a headache because the child was always saying something he didn't understand. When he was 10 years old, Taylor began to think about rocket fuel. The reason was also his interest in rockets... so he knew all kinds of rockets. His parents were also very enlightened and set aside their garage as his laboratory...
When he was 10 years old, he spent only one week memorizing all the periodic tables of elements, as well as their original atomic numbers and melting points. wait. When he was 11 years old, he invited everyone to come to the backyard to watch the results of his handiwork. Just when everyone thought he was just making beautiful and bright fireworks or other things. . .
There was a "bang" and everyone ran away in fear. Neighbors who heard the huge explosion ran out of their homes and saw a mushroom cloud rising from Kenneth's backyard... It turned out that Taylor It's a bomb.
Later, Taylor's grandmother thought it was too dangerous and gave him a book "Radioactive Scouts". The original intention was to save this naughty child from the "brink of danger", because this book tells a story: There was an American child who was studying the nuclear reactor at home, and was finally arrested by the police uncle for polluting the earth. .
Tyler, brother and grandma
However, after watching it, Taylor immediately had his next goal: to build a nuclear reactor.
He told his father that he was going to participate in the school science and technology competition. Fortunately, Kenneth was relatively open-minded and supported his child's idea. Kenneth actually borrowed a Geiger counter used to measure radioactive substances . On weekends, would accompany his son to antique stores to shop for goods, ranging from alarm clocks containing radium, gauze-shaded lanterns containing thorium, to holiday glass photosensitive plates containing uranium . . .
During the vacation, Kenneth accompanied his son on a trip to the desert of New Mexico to search for uranium ore...
However, later, Tiffany found an unknown liquid in the garage. She asked her child in horror: "Is this the leak you said? Can it kill people immediately?" Taylor said calmly: "Yes, but I don't think so quickly."
Tiffany saw that this was not possible, it was too dangerous, and the neighbors also shunned their home when they saw it. So Tiffany and Kenneth decided to send 13-year-old Tyler and his nine-year-old brother to Davidson College in Nevada, here The Genius Academy is specifically designed to cultivate those teenagers with extraordinary talents. The academy even exempted their tuition fees.
To explain, Taylor's younger brother showed extraordinary talent in mathematics when he was 3 years old. A genius child.
At Davidson College, Taylor met his famous physicist Professor Farnoff. When he learned that Taylor wanted to build a nuclear reactor, he did not refuse and also provided his own Laboratory.
Professor Farnoff began to invite the child to his advanced nuclear physics class.
Taylor spent every afternoon in the laboratory studying complex technical problems and began to search for materials that could become extremely high temperature and high pressure. Searching for various key components. With the help of the professor, the child began to slowly assemble the reactor, and gradually solved problems such as vacuum leaks, motor failures, and plasma flow field intermittents. He taught himself chemistry, engineering, plasma physics, etc. Knowledge in more than 20 fields.
Professor Farnoff also helped him obtain a spare high-voltage insulator at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
One day in 2008, the 14-year-old Taylor injected deuterium fuel into the reactor. Turn on the power and confirm the production of neutron . He succeeded, and Taylor became the 32nd and youngest person in the world to complete deuterium ion nuclear fusion ...
nuclear fusion
Later, Taylor also concentrated it himself. Ammonium diuranate. What Saddam wanted to get from Nigeria was now made like a cake and put in the cabinet.
However, this was not enough. Once, he saw an article. According to reports, tens of thousands of containers are shipped into the United States every day, and it is impossible for detectors to detect whether nuclear weapons are hidden in each box; and the helium-3 elements required for these detectors are very expensive at this time. Taylor had an idea: “Why not use neutrons produced by nuclear fusion to detect nuclear weapons? ".
In the next few weeks, he conceived a rapid detection device: If a nuclear weapon was hidden in the container, the neutrons produced by nuclear fusion would force the weapons' atoms to fission, thereby emitting gamma rays or nitrogen gas. The detector will pick up the signal and sound an alarm. The nuclear weapons detector he built for a few hundred dollars is more sensitive than the customs one that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2008, Wilson took this nuclear detector to Intel International. Science and Engineering Grand Prix - the world's highest level science exhibition for middle school students and won the grand prize. In the following two years, he won 9 awards with a total prize money of US$100,000 (approximately 620,000 yuan). In 2006, Wilson was invited to participate in a science and technology exhibition held at the White House and introduced his detector to President Obama, becoming the subject of media coverage.
As a result, Taylor became a well-known genius young scientist in the United States. How to creatively improve the nuclear reactor so that the power generation efficiency is 50%, fully enclosed, buried underground, the primary fuel can be used for 30 years, and it can provide stable power supply to 25,000-100,000 families, and can be mass-produced to help more people who lack! Developing countries with basic electric power facilities .
Taylor was explaining his idea
because he said that the reason why today's nuclear power plants still have nuclear leakage problems is because they still use the principle of steam turbines to generate electricity, and the efficiency is only 30%-35%. , need to replenish fuel every 18 months.
In addition, he also plans to study some side jobs. For example, while Wilson is busy studying radioactive materials, his grandmother suffers from cancer and often does radioactivity. treat.Wilson found that the isotope used to diagnose and treat cancer was expensive, and many patients could not receive treatment, so he studied in how to reduce the price of isotopes used to diagnose and treat cancer; and how to use small nuclear reactors to treat cancer. The rocket provides power and the basic nuclear power infrastructure for future Mars colonization plans.
Taylor is a "comprehensive talent" with a high IQ and good expression. He was very popular when he was at Davidson College. "Sometimes I would take girls to visit the laboratory. This trick was very useful. When I said, 'You Do you want to see my nuclear reactor? 'Which girl would say no?' Normally, Wilson also likes to play football with his friends. His easy-going personality has also become the target of everyone's jokes, "Don't mess with Wilson, that guy has Nuclear reactor!" Wilson would always laugh.
Once, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security invited Taylor to participate in a discussion to see if his design could be used to fight terrorism. Officials had little expectations for the teenager, who was just going through the motions.
But Taylor came prepared. He shook hands with everyone politely and then said unexpectedly: "You all know that this building has radioactive materials, right?". It turns out that the granite used to decorate the building contains radioactive materials, and the Geiger counter he carries will sound an alarm when it detects the reflection. Although the harm was very small, it made these officials look at him differently.
"They finally started to take me seriously and stopped treating me like a child." Taylor said proudly.
But everyone, building nuclear reactors is very dangerous. Let me remind you that before Taylor, there was a 17-year-old boy who wanted to build a nuclear reactor alone. However, because his parents divorced, he did not provide timely guidance, provide a good family education, and did not accept After receiving good education and guidance from teachers in related fields, he went too crazy and turned a residential area into a radiation zone, reaching more than 1,000 times the normal standard. He almost caused the neighbors to be infected with nuclear radiation. His crazy experiments also caused his own body. Lesion, died in 2016!
David is an example of failure.
Taylor has given TED speeches twice to explain his life experience and scientific research experience.
In one sentence: Not everyone can be a genius!
If you want your children to develop healthily and fully develop their intelligence, then parents must lay a good foundation for their children, not by forcing them to learn, but by giving them reasonable guidance. His mother's understanding, his father's help, and his grandmother's support are the inexhaustible motivation that keeps Taylor focused on pursuing his dreams.
Taylor and his younger brother
hope that every parent can become an enlightened parent who knows how to educate and guide!
