In the world of science there is a new contender for the title of young nuclear physicist, has attained a thermonuclear fusion reaction. It is a 13-year-old boy named Jackson Oswalt, living in Tennessee (USA). While his peers, which is typical for this age, played video games and watched TV, Jackson has been busy assembling a compact fusion reactor in his lab, which he himself had created in the former game room of his house, writes portal Science Alert.
To the establishment of fusion Oswalt began when he was only 12 years old, but on the 19th of January this year, just hours before his 13th birthday, he announced that he had reached the goal.
With the help of 50,000 volts of energy the guy managed to push two atoms of gaseous deuterium within the reactor created them, successfully draining the core in the zone of active plasma. After further research, Oswalt became more confident in the results achieved.
“For those who have not seen my previous and say that I will never be able to achieve the fusion process, this information should be a surprise. In the past month, I have achieved very great progress, deciding all the major faults of my system. And now I got the results that I think something is really worth,” wrote Oswalt on the forum Fusor.net.
In fairness it should be noted that while the results not to be subjected to third party evaluation of other professionals and will not be published in a peer-reviewed journal, all of his words should be taken with a grain of salt.
However, the success of Oswalt sure not only he. The Open Source Fusor Research Consortium also confirmed the results of the boy. According to the administrator of the web site Jason hull, Oswalt added to the list of group of fans, under the age of fusion.
“Excellent work. A great system. You invested a lot of money in this installation,” commented hull.
By the way, it should be noted that the cost of creating a nuclear reactor of Oswalt, which is the “tiny pozorom” really has been quite substantial – about 10 thousand dollars, which the boy gave parents. The Jackson’s father says allowed the son to work on the project only after the invited experts, who told the boy about the dangers of radiation and voltage in thousands of volts.
If the results of the boy will be criticized or proven scientific organization, it is officially edging out 14-year-old Taylor Wilson, previously the youngest man who ever attained fusion.
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