I've noticed people on this forum like to post links to depressing/shocking news, so I feel kind of shady when I come along and actually try to point out some good news, the good news being this: 12 Year Old Boy Invents New Type Of Solar Cell ------- Written by Ariel Schwartz Now here’s a story that makes me feel profoundly unaccomplished: a 12 year old boy in Beaverton, Oregon recently developed a new type of 3D solar cell that makes other solar cells look inefficient by comparison. William Yuan’s 3D cell can absorb both visible and UV light. According to his calculations, solar panels equipped with his 3D cells could provide 500 times more light absorption than current commercial solar cells and nine times more light than existing 3D solar cells. Yuan received a well-deserved $25,000 scholarship for his research. The next step? Getting his invention to market. Of course, the viability of his solar cells will ultimately depend on their cost efficiency—but Yuan has his whole life ahead of him to work on that. You can check out the original press release here. ------ I'm happy! Albeit worried that it'll turn out to be really hard to make. Still, if a twelve-year-old could obtain the materials to figure it out, hopefully large governments can get it done.
Very nice story. That kid is scary smart! He must have good mentors guiding him through life . . . I noticed they are continuing him through the traditional school system instead of bypassing it in favor of direct admission to college. Even though he's a genius, he's still just another middle school kid from a maturity standpoint.
Incredible! If he's inventing this kind of stuff when he's 12, I wonder what he's going to create when he's an adult.
Man, some people are just naturally gifted. I heard today that Ben Franklin would have been off the I.Q. charts, exceeding 200 pts. Still, that's really cool that someone that young was able to discover something like that. I think the remarkable wealth of knowledge and technology available to the modern consumer really helps as well.
It is good to see that there is no talk about fast-tracking him. No matter what he can do in that area of science doesn't change the fact that he's a kid and should be allowed to be a kid, with others his age. Besides, being a super-genius in one area doesn't mean that he shouldn't go at a normal pace to study other subjects.
Clicky. Unfortunately, the censor won't let me put the comic in directly, but this thread made me think of it.
Hmmm? Being intelligent isn't a matter of "subject", it's of learning. If his learning speed is as high as I think, most other subjects would probably bore him with repetition. He has already studied nuclear fusion and nanotechnology! The physics behind nuclear fusion are very complicated... If he is performing groundbreaking work in his field, maintaining other elements of school might logically be relegated to insignificance. @Banzai: I also remembered that strip, haha! There's an xkcd for every occasion : p.
now that is something to worry about really... I mean this 'child' is obviously a genious, as had been pointed out. But in 20 years time, with far more knowledge, what will he invent? Probably the same as everyone else, another object that will do nothing but aide in the further destruction of the planet as always!
http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2008/09/12-year-old-rev.html This link explains some of the more fantastical elements of the story (i.e. he improved on research already conduct by a team of research scientists at the Georgia institute. He's also in a streamed school for children strong in Maths and English).
Okay, so he's a genius. That means he's not a kid? I don't care if he might be bored with a little repition. The fact that he would relegate other elements of school life to be insiginificant is a bad thing. To give you an example, I went on a date last Saturday with a guy who has pretty much been allowed to think of nothing much beyond his major in university, and from what I know of him, it was about the same in high school, too. It didn't work out because all he could talk about was the stuff he was studying. It's the same reason that the parents of the kid from The Sixth Sense sent him to a normal arts-based high school. Yes, they focus on arts, but also do all the same things other high school kids do. Look at what happens to so many child actors that were home schooled. The same kind of thing would happen, though in a different way, if you allow a child to just be a genius and not a kid.
