
The Nuclear Scientist Who Skipped College - sasvari
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/11/taylor-wilson/309132/
======
anandkulkarni
I'd like to see a tad less credulity in tales like this. Certainly,
innovations in engineering are quite workable by an amateur enthusiast,
particularly in niche areas with significant commercial interest like medical
isotope manufacturing.

But hard fusion is an area that's been looked at for decades by literally
thousands of top physicists around the world, and there's little low-hanging
fruit left for a tabletop inventor to come across. Multi-billion dollar
efforts like the National Ignition Facility involving hundreds or thousands of
scientists are where the action's at today, and they've brought together solid
plans for pursuing economically sustainable fusion.

An outsider may indeed bring new ideas that have value in niche areas, simply
because that's not where the majority of scientific attention is being focused
-- but it's unlikely to be a replacement for the core effort of an entire
movement, as the article suggests.

~~~
CrankyPants
Sadly, while reading it my inner (outer?) cynic thought, "another phenom I'll
be reading about on the 30-years-from-now version of cracked.com, about "Young
Phenoms Who Became Merely Very Good".

And after seeing all of the African urine generator stories that didn't have
even the slightest amount of scientific rigor to them, that didn't help.

But that said, one could argue that if thousands of people with traditional
backgrounds all attacked the same problem and couldn't crack it, if it's ever
going to be cracked it might require someone who comes from a completely
different system.

~~~
Retric
Overall amateurs spend a lot of time and money and contribute next to nothing
to scientific progress. Astronomy is known for the contributions from
armatures, but if you actually look at all known objects in space they have
contributed a ridiculously small fraction of them and have been limited to
rather bright objects.

I fear the media focuses so much on the armatures contributions that most
people have a rather distorted view of the value of large and well funded
projects like ITER.

~~~
goodcanadian
Amateur astronomers may only contribute a little on an individual basis (it is
not their primary job, after all), but collectively, they contribute massively
in some sub-disciplines. Two fairly prominent examples:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Association_of_Variabl...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Association_of_Variable_Star_Observers)

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_zoo>

As a side note, astronomy is not simply about discovering objects.
Furthermore, many amateurs have access to pretty impressive hardware; they are
not as limited as you might think.

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alanctgardner2
I, for one, am interested in his creating a fusion reactor at 14. I suppose
from a regulatory perspective it's easier than fission, because the materials
are safer and there's no risk of a runaway reaction (we wish). But while I've
heard accounts of fission in garages and such, I'd never heard of anyone doing
fusion. Ostensibly because of the exotic materials and energy required.

This piece is pretty fluffy, does anyone have something more technical about
his first reactor design?

~~~
arethuza
Probabably a fusor, according to the Wikiepedia article "Fusors have been
assembled in low-power forms by hobbyists."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor>

~~~
kveykva
Apparently correct. As noted by direction from

[http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/01/living/teen-nuclear-
scientist/...](http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/01/living/teen-nuclear-
scientist/index.html)

to

<http://www.fusor.net/>

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bugsbunnyak
His website: <http://sciradioactive.com/Taylors_Nuke_Site/Welcome.html>

As speculated, he did indeed build a fusor:
[http://sciradioactive.com/Taylors_Nuke_Site/Neutron_Sources....](http://sciradioactive.com/Taylors_Nuke_Site/Neutron_Sources.html)

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varjag
Thick on rebellion against the system, thin on science.

Auto-didactic nuclear physicist? OK, not entirely impossible, but pardon my
skepticism, I need more details. Did any of his inventions went in production?
What kind of fusion reaction we're talking about?

~~~
scotty79
Fusion at 14 was just a hobby. Cheap sensitive detector and isotope production
method are innovative achievements.

~~~
timr
If these achievements are anything like the ones that get hyped at things like
the Intel science fair, there's probably a lot more mainstream science than is
getting credit.

Behind nearly every 14-year-old "genius" stands a supportive expert who made
the work possible, but doesn't get the press. The media is credulous when it
comes to stories of youthful precocity.

------
OldSchool
I think he should still knock out a quick PhD in physics or similar,
especially from a top notch school. There's got to be -something- he can learn
being around and cooperating with really smart people. Or as his mom says,
"You've got to have something to fall back on..."

~~~
flatline
Even if he gets accepted directly into a graduate program (I think this is
very rare but he may qualify), the first couple years are not going to be
dedicated to research. I agree that there would be a lot of value there for
someone so young - what's the rush? - but I've never heard of a quick PhD.

~~~
keiferski
Wittgenstein received a PhD from Cambridge solely from his book _Tractatus_ ,
which he wrote during WWI.

<http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein#section_6>

~~~
keeganpoppen
Well thanks to you I just spent the last hour reading about Wittgenstein...

~~~
001sky
_1929–1941: Fellowship at Cambridge PhD and fellowship

At the urging of Ramsey and others, Wittgenstein returned to Cambridge in
1929. Keynes wrote in a letter to his wife: "Well, God has arrived. I met him
on the 5.15 train."[123] Despite this fame, he could not initially work at
Cambridge as he did not have a degree, so he applied as an advanced
undergraduate. Russell noted that his previous residency was sufficient for a
PhD, and urged him to offer the Tractatus as his thesis. It was examined in
1929 by Russell and Moore; at the end of the thesis defence, Wittgenstein
clapped the two examiners on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I know
you'll never understand it."[124] Moore wrote in the examiner's report: "I
myself consider that this is a work of genius; but, even if I am completely
mistaken and it is nothing of the sort, it is well above the standard required
for the Ph.D. degree."_[125]

\-- The story in a nutshell.

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stygianguest
Very cool he's going off to do such things. I only hope he'll meet the right
people that allow him to achieve even more, people that he would have met at,
say, MIT.

~~~
alanctgardner2
Being a wunderkind has probably afforded him more opportunities for networking
than the average postdoc. He may be resented over his age or education, but
he's already differentiated himself, even outside his field. I feel like a lab
he's associated with could do very well funding-wise.

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Create
The NIF reminds us that the line between optimism and overselling is a thin
one that can too easily be crossed.

<http://www.nature.com/news/ignition-switch-1.11748>

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devopstom
Reminded me vaguely of <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn> The
Radioactive Boy Scout..

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code_chimp
My favorite anecdote from his Popular Science write up: “Tay, it’s time for
supper.” “I think I’m going to have to clean this up first.” “That’s not the
stuff you said would kill us if it broke open, is it?” “I don’t think so,” he
said. “Not instantly.”

[http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-02/boy-who-
played...](http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-02/boy-who-played-
fusion?page=all)

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anonymouz
"My other big development is a system to produce medical isotopes that are
injected into patients and used to diagnose and treat cancer. It’s a design
that costs less than $100,000 and wheels right into a hospital room—replacing
multimillion-dollar, warehouse-size facilities."

I can see how a low price is attractive. But why bring the isotope source into
a hospital room? Seems to be better placed in a warehouse...

~~~
cmckay
These isotopes have limited (and sometimes quite short) lifetimes. Bringing
them closer to the patients means that they can be produced in smaller
quantities on an as needed basis, and reduces the necessary infrastructure to
transport them.

~~~
marvin
Is it correct that this is the kind of stuff used for PET scans? I didn't read
the article, but my radiology friend told me that they create semi-custom
isotopes for PET scans.

~~~
marksbrown
PET (for oncology at least) typically uses 18-FDG, a glucose analog.
Unfortunately has a short half life requiring facilities to be close to the
source.

------
iaw
I'm surprised we haven't seen more mention of ITER in this thread

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER> <http://www.iter.org/>

One of my professors from college moonlights as a consultant for the project.

What most people don't acknowledge about the "30 years away" joke is the type
of environments in which the statement was made. In the 1950's the confidence
was rooted in naivete (similar statements were made about making artificial
life), but in the 1970's the confidence was rooted in economics. The fuel
crises led to substantially increased funding in alternative energy sources.

Much lamented by my professor from college, as oil prices dropped back down so
did research funding for fusion reactors (although given that the bulk of
electricity in this country comes from coal, nuclear, natural gas, and to a
lesser extent hydro I'm not clear why that would've been the case, maybe we
were running more extensively on fuel oil back then).

If ITER proves promising (beyond energy break even) another facility will have
to be constructed that will be more expensive and will take longer to
construct, this facility will prove promising only if it indicates potential
for economic break even (I think it has to put out >7x the input energy). If
that can be accomplished then there's still a few material challenges (neutron
bombardment has a tendency to make metals brittle, the appropriate containment
chamber materials aren't even a glimmer in a material scientists eyes yet as
well as the radioactivity issue (the entire plant will gradually become more
radioactive).

If this kid built a fusor he clearly has a great deal of potential, while I'm
skeptical that he can make a difference alone I wouldn't be surprised if he
could offer contributions to the current projects underway to advance this
field. Plasma magnetohydrodynamics has so few people that understand it that
every additional mind has potential to make a difference.

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esalazar
Here is a brief Ted talk he gave,
[http://www.ted.com/talks/taylor_wilson_yup_i_built_a_nuclear...](http://www.ted.com/talks/taylor_wilson_yup_i_built_a_nuclear_fusion_reactor.html)

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phasetransition
FYI,

Taylor's self described "best nuclear friend" (1) is a fellow named Carl
Willis who has an interesting, albeit infrequently updated, blog called
"special nuclear material" here: <http://carlwillis.wordpress.com/>

(1) [http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-02/boy-who-
played...](http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-02/boy-who-played-
fusion?page=all)

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stevewillows
I love the photo of his 'lab'.
<http://sciradioactive.com/Taylors_Nuke_Site/My_Lab.html> \--- it's amazing to
see such a smart kid that is also a strong communicator.

~~~
CrankyPants
Same thing struck me about his prose.

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jayfuerstenberg
He's not only bright but incredibly articulate.

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htmltablesrules
L. Ron?

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fkaminski
Life imitates Art.. This is the real life Sheldon Cooper :)

~~~
monochromatic
"art"?

~~~
fkaminski
Sorry.. think im seen too much camelcase c++ classes these days :/

