December 3, 2025 • 34 mins
A teenager builds a “star in a jar,” the press crowds around, and a Geiger counter clicks to life. That single image threads through our journey as we follow young makers who pushed past textbooks to light plasma, register neutrons, and force adults to decide how far curiosity should go. We open with David Hahn, the infamous “Radioactive Boy Scout,” whose improvised neutron source triggered a federal cleanup and a lifelong cautionary tale about brilliance without guardrails. Then we turn to Taylor Wilson, who hit fusion at 14 and parlayed it into award-winning detectors, threat screening tools, and bold ideas for small reactors that could power communities for decades.
What emerges is a question about access and authority. When fellowships and big-money backers swoop in, is that rocket fuel for public good or a funnel into narrow security work? We examine the promises and politics behind small modular reactors, the gap between what’s technically possible and what policy allows, and the persistent mismatch between youthful idealism and the systems that shape where inventions land. Along the way, we celebrate practical ingenuity: Jamie Edwards gets his school to fund a fusor, builds safety layers you can touch, and learns to balance vacuum, voltage, and measurement. Cesar fights leaks, files metal by hand, and proves that constraints can sharpen thinking more than any lecture.
This story isn’t about hype; it’s about agency. The internet taught these kids enough to try. Local mentors and cautious schools helped them finish. Institutions—government, industry, and philanthropy—decided what happened next. If you care about clean energy, STEM education, or the ethics of open knowledge, these lives are a map of how innovation actually moves. Hear the sparks, weigh the tradeoffs, and decide with us: should the next breakthrough be gated, or guided?
If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review telling us where you’d draw the line between safety and openness.
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https://www.koco.com/article/karen-silkwood-nuclear-whistleblower-51-anniversary-death-oklahoma-kerr-mcgee-contamination/69416709
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn
https://helena.org/members/taylor-wilson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HL1BEC024g&t=638s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tAsHGFA-74
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/09/nuclear-fusion-young-scientist-jamie-edwards-star-in-jar
https://newsforkids.net/articles/2024/09/04/16-year-old-student-builds-nuclear-fusion-reactor/
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2025/1/12-year-old-boy-who-achieved-nuclear-fusion-in-his-playroom-got-visit-from-fbi
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
And confirmed by fusion researcher Richard Holt,
(00:02):
who maintains a list of amateurscientists who have achieved
fusion at home.
Because Jackson achieved fusionat 1.30 pm, just two hours
before his birthday, at 3.38p.m., he was technically 12
years old, and therefore alsoreceived a Guinness World
Records title for his incrediblework.
But his story would prove farfrom over, as one Saturday he
(00:24):
was woken up by two FBI agentswho made a sweep of his house
with the Geiger counter to makesure there was no radiation
detected from Jackson'sexperiments.
(01:11):
And then we'll talk about KarenSilkwood and her story.
So we're just gonna divestraight in.
And I've been uh wanting to talkabout this one for a long time
or these sets of uh stories.
I think some of them we'vealready talked about, but it's
fine, we can put them alltogether and read it again.
(01:32):
Or read some more about them.
And to start off, I think I haveone, two, three, three kids.
Maybe four, I think three.
But David Charles Hahn, uhsometimes called radioactive Boy
Scout and the Nuclear Boy Scout,was an American nuclear
(01:52):
radiation enthusiast whoattempted to build a homemade
nuclear reactor at the age of17.
Hahn was born October 30th, 1976in Royal Oak, Michigan.
His father, Ken Hahn, was amechanical engineer.
His mother, Patty Hahn, sufferedfrom alcoholism and was
diagnosed with depression andschizophrenia, and sent to the
(02:14):
mental hospital when David wasfour.
His parents divorced when he wasnine and his father gained
custody.
He had a stepmother, KathyMasig, and stepsister Christina
after his father remarried.
David's stepgrandfather, JohnSimms, gave the Golden Book of
Chemistry experiments andencouraged his experiments in
(02:37):
chemistry and science.
David mowed other people's lawnsto help fund his experiments.
With one experiment he createdchloroform, and as the book
encouraged him to sniff thechemical, he did so and was
passed out for more than anhour, according to his
recollection.
Which seems incredibleincredibly dangerous.
I can't believe they wouldrecommend somebody to do that.
(02:59):
That's crazy.
David also loved to buildfireworks and model rockets,
which he altered with his owndesigns.
As the experiments at home werebecoming a problem increasingly
dangerous, David was encouragedby his father to join the Boy
Scouts to provide discipline anddistraction from his scientific
endeavors.
He was fascinated by chemistryand also attempted amateur
(03:23):
chemistry stuff, and it talksabout um that and he tried to
collect samples of every elementon the periodic table, including
radioactive ones.
He later received a merit badgein atomic energy and became
fascinated with the idea ofcreating a breeder in his home.
Han diligently amassedradioactive material by
(03:44):
collecting small amounts fromhousehold materials such as a
maricesium from smoke detectors,thorium from camping lanterns,
mantles, radium from old clockshe had obtained from antique
stores, and tritium from gunsites.
His reactor was a bored-outblock of lead and used lithium
(04:05):
from$1,000 worth of purchasedbatteries to purify the thorium
ash using a Bunsen burner.
Han ultimately hoped to create abreeder reactor using low-level
isotopes to transform samples ofthorium and uranium into fissile
isotopes.
His homemade neutron source wasoften incorrectly referred to as
a nuclear reactor, but itemitted measurable levels of
(04:28):
radiation, likely exceeding1,000 times normal background
radiation.
Alarmed by this, David Hahnbegan to dismantle his
experiments, but in a chanceencounter, police discovered his
activities.
I think if I remember correctly,they just like stumbled into the
garage somehow.
They were like looking forsomething or some but somehow
(04:50):
they I can't remember how.
Somehow they ended up there andand went into the garage and
they were like, what is this?
Alarmed by this, David Hahnbegan to dismantle the experien
the experiments, but in a chancepolice encounter they discovered
his activities, which triggereda federal radiological emergency
response team involving the FBIand Nuclear Regulatory
(05:13):
Commission.
Which, geez, that would beembarrassing.
On June 26, 1995, the EPA,having designated Han's mother's
property, a super fun site,hazardous material cleanup site,
dismantled the shed and placedits contents in steel barrels,
which were later buried aslow-level radioactive waste in
(05:35):
Utah.
Unbeknownst to officials, hismother, fearful that she would
lose her house if the fullextent of radiation was known,
had already collected themajority of the radioactive
material David Hahn had hiddenin the house and thrown it away
in the conventional garbage.
Hahn refused medical evaluationfor radiation exposure.
The EPA scientists believeHahn's life was expectancy may
(05:59):
have been shortened due to theexposure to radioactivity,
particularly since he spent longtimes in the small enclosed shed
with relatively large amounts ofradioactive material and only
minimal safety precautions.
But he refused theirrecommendation that he be
examined at the Enrico Ferminuclear generating station.
(06:20):
This was also probably from afear that they would use the
results of such examination tofurther his trouble.
(06:43):
His father and stepmother firstencouraged him to attend Macomb
Community College.
He enrolled in metallurgy.
Eventually he was encouraged tojoin the military.
He enlisted in the Navy andassigned a nuclear power
aircraft carrier, the USSEnterprise, as an undesignated
seaman, pay grade E3.
(07:04):
After a four-year tour, heachieved Interior Communications
Specialist with the rank ofPetty Officer, third class, pay
grade E4.
After his time on the USSEnterprise, Han enlisted in the
Marine Corps and stationed inNorth Carolina.
He eventually received the rankof Lance Corporal and was
honorably discharged on medicalgrounds and returned to
(07:25):
Michigan.
FBI investigation.
On April 23, 2007, the FBIreceived a leading regard a lead
regarding Hahn's allegedpossession of a second neutron
source in his freezer.
Contacted via telephone, Hahninsisted that he was not in
possession of radioactivematerial.
(07:46):
The FBI decided no imminentterrorist threat was present was
present, but decided to attempta personal interview.
During an interview at an FBIoffice on May 16, 2007,
investigators questionedquestions touched on a variety
of topics, such as flyers thatHan had distributed promoting
(08:07):
his book and upcoming film,theft of tires and rims from a
vehicle prior to his Navyservice, a diagnosis of paranoid
schizophrenia, and a few lesssignificant topics.
It sounds like they're trying toblackmail him.
FBI agents then interviewed anindividual whose identity was
not released, who stated thatHan was using cocaine heavily,
(08:28):
was not taking his prescribedmedication, was paranoid about
people that he claimed had theability to shock his genitals
with their mind, I guess like apsychic attack or something, and
had possibly been visited byprostitutes.
The individual also stated thathe believed Hahn was still
trying to build a reactor andwas collecting radium.
He stated that he did notbelieve Hahn had any intentions
(08:49):
of hurting anyone, but wasconcerned about his mental
state.
Larceny of smoke detectors.
On August first, 2007, Hahn wascharged with larceny in Clinton
Township, Michigan, forallegedly removing a number of
smoke detectors from the hallsof his apartment building.
His intention was to obtain amarasucium from them.
(09:13):
In his mugshot, his face wascovered in sores, which
investigators believe could havebeen ex from exposure to
radioactive materials.
Or, you know, if this guy'sdoing drugs and he may also have
sores from that, too.
I mean that's kind of a jump,but whatever.
During a circuit court hearing,Han pleaded guilty to attempting
(09:35):
attempted larceny of a building.
The court's online docket saidprosecutors recommended that he
be sentenced to time, served,and enter an inpatient treatment
facility.
Under terms of the plea, theoriginal charge of larceny of a
building would be dismissed.
Scheduled for October 4th, hewas sentenced to 90 days in jail
for attempted larceny.
Court records said that hissentence would be delayed six
(09:57):
months while Hahn underwentmedical treatment in the
psychiatric unit of MacombCounty Jail.
On September 27, 2016, at theage of 39, Hahn died in his
hometown of Shelby CharterTownship, Michigan.
His death was ruled anaccidental result of
intoxication from the combinedeffects of alcohol, fentanyl,
(10:18):
and definephydramine.
Whatever.
The medical examiner's reportindicated a blood alcohol
concentration of point zero orpoint four zero four milligrams.
Um so yeah, then it says thatthere was like a bunch of shows
(10:43):
and books and stuff written uhwith him as in mind.
So now we'll move on.
That's like the original one.
It's kind of an infamous storybecause he kind of had a bad
reaction, but it's you know, uhhe was like a genius.
I think it also kind of showsthe link between uh sometimes
some of these child prodigiesalso suffer from mental illness.
(11:06):
Uh it sounds like he was, youknow, fit into that category.
But not all of them do.
So let's move on to TaylorWilson, and this is from
Helena.org.
Taylor Wilson is a 24-year-oldinventor, scientist, and
entrepreneur at the time of thiswriting.
(11:27):
At age 14 in his home, state ofArkansas, Taylor became the
youngest person in history toproduce nuclear fusion.
He hadn't slowed down since.
Wilson is currently working inmedicine, nuclear security,
chemistry, and nuclear fission.
His in his reactor in hisparents' garage, he was able to
(11:48):
reach a temperature of 40 timesas hot as the sun.
Immediately, Taylor was all overthe press.
Numerous stories were writtenabout his breakthrough,
including popular sciencearticle The Boy Who Played with
Fusion, which subsequentlybecame a book.
After a bidding war inHollywood, Fox Studios slash
Chernin bought the story'srights to adapt into a future
(12:10):
film with Jeff Nichols, hiswriting and directing.
I don't know anything aboutthat.
I mean, I may we somebody needsto Google that.
I'm not very good with popculture, but I've never heard of
that movie.
Especially not Jeff Nichols.
Or is it Jeff Nicholson or JeffNichols?
I guess Jeff Nichols.
I was thinking somebody else.
(12:33):
Taylor has won numerous awards,including first place at Intel
International Science andEngineering Fair, and the Intel
Young Scientist Award.
His project countering nuclearterrorism, novel active and
passive techniques for detectingnuclear threats, caught the
attention of the US governmentand military.
(12:53):
He went on to develop severalgroundbreaking nuclear
technologies with applicationsin security, medicine, and
energy.
He is also the founder ofseveral companies which
commercializes these inventions.
One of his earliest inventionswas a radiation detector, which
typically costs hundreds ofthousands of dollars.
Taylor's detector costs onlyhundreds of dollars and is used
(13:14):
in ports and containers aroundthe world.
It's interesting.
Here, get this, get ready forthis, guys.
When I first saw this, thisabsolutely blew my mind.
In 2012, Taylor was awarded aPeter Teal Fellowship where he
(13:37):
received a$100,000 grant toforego college and focus on his
inventions.
He has spoken about atechnology, science, and nuclear
security around the world,including twice at TED Talks,
NATO, Presidential Libraries,the United Nations, Google,
SpaceX, and many more.
He's been featured on 60 Minutesand was included on an energy
(14:00):
segment on Vice on HBO alongsideElon Musk.
So they put this guy up alongwith Elon Musk.
The Peter Thiel Fellowship.
Wow.
Peter Thiel is the billionairewho has manufactured JD Vance.
(14:20):
And he also sponsored JD Vancein a similar way.
And he's the one that wants tobuild these techno cities in
Greenland.
Uh that remember Trump wassaying we were gonna invade
Greenland.
Peter Thiel wants to buildtechno cities in Greenland that
are ethno futurist ethno citiesthat are uh inhabited by test
(14:50):
tube, white nationalist, hyperintelligent babies.
That's the vision.
That's what Peter Thiel, and Iknow this sounds so out there
and and sci-fi, but this isactually a real thing.
I need to make an episode allabout that, and I've been
meaning to, but I've just beentrying to figure out how and to
tie in a whole bunch ofdifferent stuff into that
(15:10):
because this is really big.
Like even here, I just stumbledupon this randomly.
In 2012, he was awarded thePeter Thiel Fellowship.
That's how long ago Peter Thielhas been working on this stuff.
Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.
Remember in the previousepisodes when I was talking
about how it seems like withFusion only the big tech uh
(15:31):
Broligarc type figures are theonly people that have access to
this.
And you see here, Peter Thielcame and swallowed him up.
He's like, No, don't go tocollege, you're mine now, and
you're gonna do all this stufffor us.
And uh the kid is is just a kid.
He doesn't know nobody knew whoPeter Thiel was back then.
(15:54):
At least I didn't.
I mean, I'm sure there were somepeople, but at least Peter
Thiel's starting to be exposednow, but he's one of the people
behind Palantir that's trying tomake stable coin, working with
the CIA, that's involved with JDVance, that wants to do all this
ethnic cleansing, and wants touh go into like fiefdoms and
(16:17):
smaller city states, going backto city-states and tech like
that are highly specialized andtechnological that can withstand
climate change.
It's just very out there stuff,but it's but they're racist type
people, and these are the peoplewho are in charge of all of our
big tech.
And also probably the peoplethat are uh looking at all of
(16:43):
this ET technology or or thislike behind the scenes
technology as well.
They're starting to get thisstuff, and that's the plan.
But this when I stumbled uponthis Peter Thiel thing, dude,
that blew my mind.
Absolutely crazy.
If you don't know about thisguy, you need to know more about
him.
(17:03):
Uh absolutely bizarre.
Just you can't make this stuffup.
But uh, so let's keep onreading.
Currently, Taylor is building asmall nuclear fission reactor
that has the potential tofundamentally disrupt the energy
landscape.
With a passion for the historyof science and technology,
Taylor's mission is to inspire anew generation of scientists and
(17:25):
engineers to dream big and usetechnology to make the world a
better better place.
And this is like an old, oldarticle.
It's like a 10-year-old article,at least.
Absolutely insane.
Imagine if we actually wouldhave had a world that did that,
and instead they just trappedthis kid, I bet.
And like I'm sure he does a lot,and they they also gave him a
(17:47):
lot of money to where he can dostuff, but ideologically,
they've he's working for them.
He's working for the dark side,and he doesn't even know it, I
don't think.
Or may have some clue.
I'm not sure.
This is 2013, so let's listen toa little bit of this guy, and I
have to speed it up to try toavoid copyright.
(18:12):
So let's uh listen to this for alittle bit.
It's gonna be pretty short.
SPEAKER_00 (18:18):
Oh, well, you launched this thing and it's
radioactive in the space, andwhat about accidents?
Uh but we launched plutoniumbatteries all the time.
Everybody was really excitedabout curiosity, and that had
this big plutonium battery onboard that has plutonium-238,
which actually has a higherspecific activity than the
low-enriched uranium fuel ofthese molten salt reactors,
which means that the effectswould be negligible because you
launch it cold.
And when it gets into space iswhere you actually activate this
(18:39):
reactor.
So I'm really excited.
I think that I've designed thisreactor here that can be an
innovative source of energy,provide power for all kinds of
neat scientific applications,and I'm really prepared to do
this.
Um I graduated high school inMay and I graduated high school
in May and I decided that I wasgonna start up a company to
(19:01):
commercialize these technologiesthat I've developed, these
revolutionary detectors forscanning cargo containers in
these systems to produce medicalisotopes.
Um, but I want to do this, andI've slowly been building up a
team of some of the mostincredible people I've ever had
the chance to work with, and I'mreally prepared to make this a
reality.
And I think, I think thatlooking at the technology, this
will be cheaper than cheaperthan or the same price as
(19:21):
natural gas.
And you don't have to refuel itfor 30 years, which is an
advantage for the developingworld.
And um, I'll just I'll just sayone more maybe philosophical
thing to end with, which isweird for a scientist, but um I
think there's something reallypoetic about using nuclear power
to propel us to the stars.
Um, because the stars are giantfusion reactors.
They're giant nuclear cauldronsin the sky.
The energy that I'm able to talkto you today, while it was
(19:41):
converted to chemical energy inmy food, originally came from a
nuclear reaction.
And so there's something poeticabout, in my opinion, perfecting
nuclear fuse fission and usingit as a future source of
innovative energy.
So thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (19:54):
So here he's talking about small nuclear fission
reactors, which is what my lastepisode was kind of about as
well, the SMRs.
So this is a kid talking abouttwelve years ago SMRs.
And he had figured it out juston his own.
And did you hear him when hesaid this is a perfect
opportunity for developingnations?
(20:14):
Oh, you sweet summer child.
You think that Peter Thiel, theguy who gave you all this money,
is gonna let you develop thirdworld I mean I would like that.
I would love that, but that'sobviously has it happened?
Has it happened?
It's been twelve years sincethis kid had this dream and got
(20:38):
that money and has it happened.
What that shows right there thatPeter Thiel is a black hole of
energy and money and that likeand technology and that people
like him are hoarding thisstuff, and that kids like this
want to give it out.
He wanted to get it out, he justsaid it, and it still hasn't
happened.
Absolutely insane.
(20:59):
Instead, they had him working onuh like national security stuff.
Okay, and so here we have uhthat was Taylor Wilson, right?
So here we have Jamie Edwards,who has like almost no um
information out there about him,hardly, like, other than this
(21:22):
video, which is 11 years old.
So this is a let two years afterthe one we just watched.
How I built a nuclear reactor atthe age of 13.
SPEAKER_01 (21:31):
Nuclear power.
I guess this is what most peoplethink of when it comes to
nuclear power.
Well, for me, this is what Ithink of.
Or more specifically, this.
But before I tell you aboutthat, let me tell you how all
this started.
Even as a young kid, I wasalways asking questions.
Questions to my mom, my dad,teachers, but eventually they
weren't able to answer myquestions anymore.
So I turned to the internet tofind some answers.
(21:51):
It was on the internet that Icame across this guy, Taylor
Wilson, who'd created nuclearfusion at 14.
That was like wow, fusion in thebackground.
I had to find out more.
So once station online, I cameacross fusion.net.
A group of amateur scientistswho were building these plants
with fusers.
It was that worked out that itwas actually possible for me to
build one of these.
I figured it cost around£2,000.
(22:12):
That's my problem.
I didn't have£2,000.
And I was gonna have to writethe money myself.
So I started writing to somelocal nuclear labs, big
engineering companies,universities, but you know what,
for some reason they didn't wantto give£2,000 to a 13-year-old
trying to build a nuclearreactor.
No idea why.
So instead of asking a schoolscience teacher if you could
help me with my project.
She suggested we tried a headteacher.
Dr.
(22:32):
Dragon's Dentile Peter, Mr.
Hogan, and managed to persuadeinto power 2,000 pounds.
So I'm with the school creditcard if I turned to eBay.
I bought plants from all overthe world, police applies from
the USA, resisted from HongKong, and vacuum pumped from
Lithuania.
I built this.
My teacher manager.
So however, I couldn't geteverything from eBay.
The tension conditions were alittle restricted.
(22:54):
Even the specialist gas appliedthings in turn.
They wanted to know why exactlya 13-year-old schoolboy from
Lancashire wanted 10 liters ofdeuterium gas.
Anyway, this is the neutrondetector.
It's a key part of the reactor.
I used it to tell me if thereaction has actually happened
or not.
However, they're not easy to gethold of.
I have to call everyone on youto find someone who might know
someone who might just happen toknow someone else who actually
has one of these.
(23:14):
In the end, a local universitylet me this one.
High voltage power supply wasone of the most expensive parts.
But when it arrived from theUSA, it didn't work.
Even to this day, I haven'tfigured out why.
But luckily, a local Switch gearcompany not only let me the kids
to use it, they also taught mehow to use it safely.
There's so much about safety.
Apparently, there's some concernabout letting a 13-year-old lose
with a nuclear reactor inschool.
Not sure why.
One of the conditions was thatto be able to two meters away
(23:34):
from the reactor while he was inoperation.
Slight problem.
So but thanks to the schoolstate department and some
complex engineering, we madethese.
There's also the problem that mytwist reactor while he was in
operation.
So we made a high-tech chickenwhite cage and put it on the
reactor so I couldn't touch it.
(23:55):
There's also the problem abouthigh-inity neutron radiation
coming out the reactor.
This is my solution.
My twisted fish type.
Minus the fish you called.
We filled them with the boronsolution type as a moderator and
absorber of the neutrons.
And finally, just in case Imanaged to electrocute myself,
we made this.
It is indeed a book made of allbike energy cubes in case I
managed to electrocute myselfand needed rescuing.
(24:18):
So the big dead comes.
I might mention a littlesomething to Mr.
Hogan about the possibilities ofPia from school.
I was only thinking the localpaper, but press from all over
the place turned up.
So I had everything set up, thecameras were ready, my hook was
at the ready, and then weswitched on the reactor.
The first thing I did was pumpdown the chamber and apply the
high voltage.
(24:38):
That's when I achieved this.
Plasma.
A key step in producing fusion.
I played with this for a whileuntil I was confident I was
getting the balance rightbetween power and vacuum.
And then all I had to do was upthe voltage and added a tiny bit
of justium gaps.
I achieved this.
A reading on the neutrondetector.
I'd done it.
It was amazing.
All my hard work had paid off.
But now, as a young scientist, Inow need to go back to the
(25:00):
experiment and bit again.
Because as you all know, inscience, we need to repeat our
experiments and duplicate ourresults.
And that's my current focus.
But none of this would havehappened if it wasn't for a
science teacher who believed inthe dreams of her pupils, and a
head teacher that was willing totake a risk to give me the
opportunity.
So to any young scientist outthere, no matter how young,
nothing is ever too big for youto try.
All you need is curiosity,determination, and an open mind.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (25:23):
So he got inspired by the last guy we just watched.
So this is like a chain ofinspiration, which is pretty
fascinating.
Here we have The Guardian, whichis a 10-year-old article.
Uh Jamie Edwards made historywhen he built a working nuclear
fusion reactor at home.
Uh this was pretty hard to find.
I had to I I I don't know why Ihad to dig so hard to find this.
(25:49):
He said that the moment came onMarch 5th last year when Jamie
Edwards, then 13, flicked theswitch and waited with a bated
breath.
Seeing the purple glow was thebest part.
As the neutron detectorconfirmed it, Edward knew he'd
been he'd become the world'syoungest fusioneer.
What I've done, it's the exactsame process that happens on the
(26:10):
sun.
Basically by creating a vacuumin a chamber, filling it with
deuterium, a heavy isotope ofhydrogen, and then running an
extremely high voltage throughit, Edward was able to encourage
two hydro two hydrogen atoms tosmash together into each other
and fuse to create helium.
It's the process that keepsstars from going.
(26:31):
And this is the same thing wella s not the same thing, but a
similar process as what the uhQuantum Fusion Corporation
article said that they weredoing was a similar type of
thing.
Only I think they said they wereusing low voltage, which was the
most bizarre part.
It's this process that keeps thestars going, says Edward.
(26:53):
So I've recreated the sameprocess and a box about the size
of a jar.
You could call it a star in ajar.
Sitting with Edwards, a pupil atPennyworth Priori Academy and
Preston, you'd be hard pressedto guess at his achievements.
Under the surface though,there's just a hint.
He's become accustomed to hismedia appearances, as well he
(27:14):
might.
At the age of 14, now he'salready an old hand at CERN,
given TED Talks, and appeared atthe David Letterman show.
And that's all within the lastyear.
With ambitions to become anengineer or nuclear physicist,
there seems to be little thatcan hold him back.
When he's younger, he'd trollcar boot sales and charity shops
(27:35):
for uranium glass.
It's just green glass, but ifyou put a UV light on it, it
will glow bright alien green.
And it's sort of radioactivebecause it's the uranium that
gives it its color.
He saved up to buy a Geigercounter from the US.
But it was watching videos onYouTube that eventually led him
to giving a pitch to hisheadmaster for the funding to
(27:57):
build a nuclear fusion reactorin his laboratory.
After securing 2000 Euro, hescoured eBay for parts to piece
together, and with a little helpfrom local universities and
labs, he finally completed itsix months later.
His headmaster was concernedabout safety.
There was a chance that I couldbe electrocuted by high voltage
(28:19):
power, and then probably thechance of the vacuum chamber
imploding because of the forceson it.
But quite a minimal aspect to itwas the radiation.
And yeah, so that's we'vealready heard all of that.
Uh except for I was thinkingthat maybe I could make a
handheld laser cutter, so I'vebeen looking into really
(28:40):
high-powered lasers, which is uhanother method of fusion that
I've talked about, uh the likean ion laser uh fusion.
That's what they were sayingthat they could uh just start
and stop the reaction with alaser.
So like instantly stopping thefusion reaction.
Just in case, I mean, I don'tknow if anything could happen,
(29:02):
but I don't think so.
But they could stop itinstantly.
Which is interesting.
And here we go.
Article was published a yearago.
This is on Newsforkids.net.
Sixteen-year-old student buildsnuclear fusion reactor September
4th, 2004, Cambridge, England.
(29:22):
Cesar Min Sorini, which I'mpretty sure I've already read
about this kid before on the uhpodcast, but it's worth
mentioning again.
Recently graduated from theSixth Form School, which is
equivalent to high school inEngland with excellent grades,
but he was probably more excitedabout the success he had a
previous year, building aworking nuclear fusion reactor
(29:44):
at the age of sixteen.
Cesar grew up in Italy, but he'sbeen going to school at Cardiff
Sixth Form College in Cambridge,England for the past two years.
His focus was on math,chemistry, and physics.
And it shows him.
Working on a computer.
Caesar's mother is an architectand his father is an electronic
(30:07):
engineer.
As a child, Caesar becameinterested in electronics.
He loved to experiment.
He learned to program computersand devices like the Arduino
Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
He also worked with the 3Dprinter.
At Cardiff, Caesar was allowedto choose an extra area of
study.
After seeing a video aboutsomeone building a fusion
(30:29):
reactor, then notice how this isall just from people watching
videos on YouTube.
Caesar decided he wanted tobuild one too.
The school wasn't so excitedabout the idea, but Cesar worked
to persuade his teachers.
Finally, after a complete safetyreview with an extra advisor
offering to help him out, theschool agreed.
(30:52):
And this is a picture of likedifferent parts of it.
Here, let me zoom it in foranybody watching.
Because it's probably reallytiny.
CSAR was a strong student, buthis regular classes weren't
teaching him how to build afusion reactor.
To learn this, he spentcountless hours doing research,
looking up information on theinternet, and watching videos.
(31:13):
We're living in an age whereeverything is available just by
searching.
When he faced a problem, hewould read, watch 10 or 15
videos, and then go to tacklethe problem.
He also joined a website wherehe got advice from scientists
with more experience.
Step by step, working long hourswith his physics teacher and
advisor, Cesar built thereactor.
(31:34):
Last June, at the very end ofschool year, the reactor was
finished.
And this is him smiling with itall done.
Looks pretty well done.
One important step to building afusion reactor is to achieve
plasma.
That's when atoms are so excitedand heated up that they gain or
lose electrons, creating aglowing gas called plasma.
(31:54):
But Cesar still couldn't get thereactor to achieve plasma.
A small a special piece of metalthat was supposed to fit
perfectly in the device didn'tfit well.
The seal kept leaking.
Finally, Cesar and othersdecided to try filing down the
piece of metal by hand.
That failed four times.
The team was almost ready togive up, but the next time the
(32:17):
seal held and the reactorworked, creating plasma.
Caesar would barely believe hiseyes.
It worked, he cried excitedly.
And I guess this is a pictureseen the picture of plasma seen
through the viewport on Caesar'sfusion reactor.
(32:37):
It's just like a circular pieceof metal with like nuts on it
and a purple glow in the middle.
Which is interesting.
Over a year has passed sincethen.
Caesar continued to improve thereactor.
He's built complicated devicesto control the pressure and to
(32:59):
better see and understand what'sgoing on inside the reactor.
He's one of the youngeststudents to have built such an
advanced fusion reactor, but forCaesar it wasn't just about the
reactor, it was also aboutlearning by doing things and
making connections with otherpeople doing similar things.
College is the next step.
For Caesar, perhaps in England,perhaps in Italy, no matter
(33:20):
where he goes, he'll probablycontinue to change people's
ideas about how much youngpeople can achieve.
One problem Caesar faced wasmoney.
The school approved his project,but they only gave him 25% of
the money needed.
Caesar says not having enoughmoney meant he had to be very
creative, and as a result, hewound up learning much more.
Which you kind of hear that inother cases as well.
(33:46):
That you have to be more craftyand creative when you're uh more
poor and have less resources,and you end up being smarter as
a result of it.
Twelve-year-old boy who achievednuclear fusion in his playroom
got a visit from the FBI,published twenty-eighth,
January, twenty twenty-five.
And confirmed by fusion researcher Richard Holt,
(00:02):
who maintains a list of amateurscientists who have achieved
fusion at home.
Because Jackson achieved fusionat 1.30 pm, just two hours
before his birthday, at 3.38p.m., he was technically 12
years old, and therefore alsoreceived a Guinness World
Records title for his incrediblework.
But his story would prove farfrom over, as one Saturday he
(00:24):
was woken up by two FBI agentswho made a sweep of his house
with the Geiger counter to makesure there was no radiation
detected from Jackson'sexperiments.
(01:11):
And then we'll talk about KarenSilkwood and her story.
So we're just gonna divestraight in.
And I've been uh wanting to talkabout this one for a long time
or these sets of uh stories.
I think some of them we'vealready talked about, but it's
fine, we can put them alltogether and read it again.
(01:32):
Or read some more about them.
And to start off, I think I haveone, two, three, three kids.
Maybe four, I think three.
But David Charles Hahn, uhsometimes called radioactive Boy
Scout and the Nuclear Boy Scout,was an American nuclear
(01:52):
radiation enthusiast whoattempted to build a homemade
nuclear reactor at the age of17.
Hahn was born October 30th, 1976in Royal Oak, Michigan.
His father, Ken Hahn, was amechanical engineer.
His mother, Patty Hahn, sufferedfrom alcoholism and was
diagnosed with depression andschizophrenia, and sent to the
(02:14):
mental hospital when David wasfour.
His parents divorced when he wasnine and his father gained
custody.
He had a stepmother, KathyMasig, and stepsister Christina
after his father remarried.
David's stepgrandfather, JohnSimms, gave the Golden Book of
Chemistry experiments andencouraged his experiments in
(02:37):
chemistry and science.
David mowed other people's lawnsto help fund his experiments.
With one experiment he createdchloroform, and as the book
encouraged him to sniff thechemical, he did so and was
passed out for more than anhour, according to his
recollection.
Which seems incredibleincredibly dangerous.
I can't believe they wouldrecommend somebody to do that.
(02:59):
That's crazy.
David also loved to buildfireworks and model rockets,
which he altered with his owndesigns.
As the experiments at home werebecoming a problem increasingly
dangerous, David was encouragedby his father to join the Boy
Scouts to provide discipline anddistraction from his scientific
endeavors.
He was fascinated by chemistryand also attempted amateur
(03:23):
chemistry stuff, and it talksabout um that and he tried to
collect samples of every elementon the periodic table, including
radioactive ones.
He later received a merit badgein atomic energy and became
fascinated with the idea ofcreating a breeder in his home.
Han diligently amassedradioactive material by
(03:44):
collecting small amounts fromhousehold materials such as a
maricesium from smoke detectors,thorium from camping lanterns,
mantles, radium from old clockshe had obtained from antique
stores, and tritium from gunsites.
His reactor was a bored-outblock of lead and used lithium
(04:05):
from$1,000 worth of purchasedbatteries to purify the thorium
ash using a Bunsen burner.
Han ultimately hoped to create abreeder reactor using low-level
isotopes to transform samples ofthorium and uranium into fissile
isotopes.
His homemade neutron source wasoften incorrectly referred to as
a nuclear reactor, but itemitted measurable levels of
(04:28):
radiation, likely exceeding1,000 times normal background
radiation.
Alarmed by this, David Hahnbegan to dismantle his
experiments, but in a chanceencounter, police discovered his
activities.
I think if I remember correctly,they just like stumbled into the
garage somehow.
They were like looking forsomething or some but somehow
(04:50):
they I can't remember how.
Somehow they ended up there andand went into the garage and
they were like, what is this?
Alarmed by this, David Hahnbegan to dismantle the experien
the experiments, but in a chancepolice encounter they discovered
his activities, which triggereda federal radiological emergency
response team involving the FBIand Nuclear Regulatory
(05:13):
Commission.
Which, geez, that would beembarrassing.
On June 26, 1995, the EPA,having designated Han's mother's
property, a super fun site,hazardous material cleanup site,
dismantled the shed and placedits contents in steel barrels,
which were later buried aslow-level radioactive waste in
(05:35):
Utah.
Unbeknownst to officials, hismother, fearful that she would
lose her house if the fullextent of radiation was known,
had already collected themajority of the radioactive
material David Hahn had hiddenin the house and thrown it away
in the conventional garbage.
Hahn refused medical evaluationfor radiation exposure.
The EPA scientists believeHahn's life was expectancy may
(05:59):
have been shortened due to theexposure to radioactivity,
particularly since he spent longtimes in the small enclosed shed
with relatively large amounts ofradioactive material and only
minimal safety precautions.
But he refused theirrecommendation that he be
examined at the Enrico Ferminuclear generating station.
(06:20):
This was also probably from afear that they would use the
results of such examination tofurther his trouble.
(06:43):
His father and stepmother firstencouraged him to attend Macomb
Community College.
He enrolled in metallurgy.
Eventually he was encouraged tojoin the military.
He enlisted in the Navy andassigned a nuclear power
aircraft carrier, the USSEnterprise, as an undesignated
seaman, pay grade E3.
(07:04):
After a four-year tour, heachieved Interior Communications
Specialist with the rank ofPetty Officer, third class, pay
grade E4.
After his time on the USSEnterprise, Han enlisted in the
Marine Corps and stationed inNorth Carolina.
He eventually received the rankof Lance Corporal and was
honorably discharged on medicalgrounds and returned to
(07:25):
Michigan.
FBI investigation.
On April 23, 2007, the FBIreceived a leading regard a lead
regarding Hahn's allegedpossession of a second neutron
source in his freezer.
Contacted via telephone, Hahninsisted that he was not in
possession of radioactivematerial.
(07:46):
The FBI decided no imminentterrorist threat was present was
present, but decided to attempta personal interview.
During an interview at an FBIoffice on May 16, 2007,
investigators questionedquestions touched on a variety
of topics, such as flyers thatHan had distributed promoting
(08:07):
his book and upcoming film,theft of tires and rims from a
vehicle prior to his Navyservice, a diagnosis of paranoid
schizophrenia, and a few lesssignificant topics.
It sounds like they're trying toblackmail him.
FBI agents then interviewed anindividual whose identity was
not released, who stated thatHan was using cocaine heavily,
(08:28):
was not taking his prescribedmedication, was paranoid about
people that he claimed had theability to shock his genitals
with their mind, I guess like apsychic attack or something, and
had possibly been visited byprostitutes.
The individual also stated thathe believed Hahn was still
trying to build a reactor andwas collecting radium.
He stated that he did notbelieve Hahn had any intentions
(08:49):
of hurting anyone, but wasconcerned about his mental
state.
Larceny of smoke detectors.
On August first, 2007, Hahn wascharged with larceny in Clinton
Township, Michigan, forallegedly removing a number of
smoke detectors from the hallsof his apartment building.
His intention was to obtain amarasucium from them.
(09:13):
In his mugshot, his face wascovered in sores, which
investigators believe could havebeen ex from exposure to
radioactive materials.
Or, you know, if this guy'sdoing drugs and he may also have
sores from that, too.
I mean that's kind of a jump,but whatever.
During a circuit court hearing,Han pleaded guilty to attempting
(09:35):
attempted larceny of a building.
The court's online docket saidprosecutors recommended that he
be sentenced to time, served,and enter an inpatient treatment
facility.
Under terms of the plea, theoriginal charge of larceny of a
building would be dismissed.
Scheduled for October 4th, hewas sentenced to 90 days in jail
for attempted larceny.
Court records said that hissentence would be delayed six
(09:57):
months while Hahn underwentmedical treatment in the
psychiatric unit of MacombCounty Jail.
On September 27, 2016, at theage of 39, Hahn died in his
hometown of Shelby CharterTownship, Michigan.
His death was ruled anaccidental result of
intoxication from the combinedeffects of alcohol, fentanyl,
(10:18):
and definephydramine.
Whatever.
The medical examiner's reportindicated a blood alcohol
concentration of point zero orpoint four zero four milligrams.
Um so yeah, then it says thatthere was like a bunch of shows
(10:43):
and books and stuff written uhwith him as in mind.
So now we'll move on.
That's like the original one.
It's kind of an infamous storybecause he kind of had a bad
reaction, but it's you know, uhhe was like a genius.
I think it also kind of showsthe link between uh sometimes
some of these child prodigiesalso suffer from mental illness.
(11:06):
Uh it sounds like he was, youknow, fit into that category.
But not all of them do.
So let's move on to TaylorWilson, and this is from
Helena.org.
Taylor Wilson is a 24-year-oldinventor, scientist, and
entrepreneur at the time of thiswriting.
(11:27):
At age 14 in his home, state ofArkansas, Taylor became the
youngest person in history toproduce nuclear fusion.
He hadn't slowed down since.
Wilson is currently working inmedicine, nuclear security,
chemistry, and nuclear fission.
His in his reactor in hisparents' garage, he was able to
(11:48):
reach a temperature of 40 timesas hot as the sun.
Immediately, Taylor was all overthe press.
Numerous stories were writtenabout his breakthrough,
including popular sciencearticle The Boy Who Played with
Fusion, which subsequentlybecame a book.
After a bidding war inHollywood, Fox Studios slash
Chernin bought the story'srights to adapt into a future
(12:10):
film with Jeff Nichols, hiswriting and directing.
I don't know anything aboutthat.
I mean, I may we somebody needsto Google that.
I'm not very good with popculture, but I've never heard of
that movie.
Especially not Jeff Nichols.
Or is it Jeff Nicholson or JeffNichols?
I guess Jeff Nichols.
I was thinking somebody else.
(12:33):
Taylor has won numerous awards,including first place at Intel
International Science andEngineering Fair, and the Intel
Young Scientist Award.
His project countering nuclearterrorism, novel active and
passive techniques for detectingnuclear threats, caught the
attention of the US governmentand military.
(12:53):
He went on to develop severalgroundbreaking nuclear
technologies with applicationsin security, medicine, and
energy.
He is also the founder ofseveral companies which
commercializes these inventions.
One of his earliest inventionswas a radiation detector, which
typically costs hundreds ofthousands of dollars.
Taylor's detector costs onlyhundreds of dollars and is used
(13:14):
in ports and containers aroundthe world.
It's interesting.
Here, get this, get ready forthis, guys.
When I first saw this, thisabsolutely blew my mind.
In 2012, Taylor was awarded aPeter Teal Fellowship where he
(13:37):
received a$100,000 grant toforego college and focus on his
inventions.
He has spoken about atechnology, science, and nuclear
security around the world,including twice at TED Talks,
NATO, Presidential Libraries,the United Nations, Google,
SpaceX, and many more.
He's been featured on 60 Minutesand was included on an energy
(14:00):
segment on Vice on HBO alongsideElon Musk.
So they put this guy up alongwith Elon Musk.
The Peter Thiel Fellowship.
Wow.
Peter Thiel is the billionairewho has manufactured JD Vance.
(14:20):
And he also sponsored JD Vancein a similar way.
And he's the one that wants tobuild these techno cities in
Greenland.
Uh that remember Trump wassaying we were gonna invade
Greenland.
Peter Thiel wants to buildtechno cities in Greenland that
are ethno futurist ethno citiesthat are uh inhabited by test
(14:50):
tube, white nationalist, hyperintelligent babies.
That's the vision.
That's what Peter Thiel, and Iknow this sounds so out there
and and sci-fi, but this isactually a real thing.
I need to make an episode allabout that, and I've been
meaning to, but I've just beentrying to figure out how and to
tie in a whole bunch ofdifferent stuff into that
(15:10):
because this is really big.
Like even here, I just stumbledupon this randomly.
In 2012, he was awarded thePeter Thiel Fellowship.
That's how long ago Peter Thielhas been working on this stuff.
Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.
Remember in the previousepisodes when I was talking
about how it seems like withFusion only the big tech uh
(15:31):
Broligarc type figures are theonly people that have access to
this.
And you see here, Peter Thielcame and swallowed him up.
He's like, No, don't go tocollege, you're mine now, and
you're gonna do all this stufffor us.
And uh the kid is is just a kid.
He doesn't know nobody knew whoPeter Thiel was back then.
(15:54):
At least I didn't.
I mean, I'm sure there were somepeople, but at least Peter
Thiel's starting to be exposednow, but he's one of the people
behind Palantir that's trying tomake stable coin, working with
the CIA, that's involved with JDVance, that wants to do all this
ethnic cleansing, and wants touh go into like fiefdoms and
(16:17):
smaller city states, going backto city-states and tech like
that are highly specialized andtechnological that can withstand
climate change.
It's just very out there stuff,but it's but they're racist type
people, and these are the peoplewho are in charge of all of our
big tech.
And also probably the peoplethat are uh looking at all of
(16:43):
this ET technology or or thislike behind the scenes
technology as well.
They're starting to get thisstuff, and that's the plan.
But this when I stumbled uponthis Peter Thiel thing, dude,
that blew my mind.
Absolutely crazy.
If you don't know about thisguy, you need to know more about
him.
(17:03):
Uh absolutely bizarre.
Just you can't make this stuffup.
But uh, so let's keep onreading.
Currently, Taylor is building asmall nuclear fission reactor
that has the potential tofundamentally disrupt the energy
landscape.
With a passion for the historyof science and technology,
Taylor's mission is to inspire anew generation of scientists and
(17:25):
engineers to dream big and usetechnology to make the world a
better better place.
And this is like an old, oldarticle.
It's like a 10-year-old article,at least.
Absolutely insane.
Imagine if we actually wouldhave had a world that did that,
and instead they just trappedthis kid, I bet.
And like I'm sure he does a lot,and they they also gave him a
(17:47):
lot of money to where he can dostuff, but ideologically,
they've he's working for them.
He's working for the dark side,and he doesn't even know it, I
don't think.
Or may have some clue.
I'm not sure.
This is 2013, so let's listen toa little bit of this guy, and I
have to speed it up to try toavoid copyright.
(18:12):
So let's uh listen to this for alittle bit.
It's gonna be pretty short.
SPEAKER_00 (18:18):
Oh, well, you launched this thing and it's
radioactive in the space, andwhat about accidents?
Uh but we launched plutoniumbatteries all the time.
Everybody was really excitedabout curiosity, and that had
this big plutonium battery onboard that has plutonium-238,
which actually has a higherspecific activity than the
low-enriched uranium fuel ofthese molten salt reactors,
which means that the effectswould be negligible because you
launch it cold.
And when it gets into space iswhere you actually activate this
(18:39):
reactor.
So I'm really excited.
I think that I've designed thisreactor here that can be an
innovative source of energy,provide power for all kinds of
neat scientific applications,and I'm really prepared to do
this.
Um I graduated high school inMay and I graduated high school
in May and I decided that I wasgonna start up a company to
(19:01):
commercialize these technologiesthat I've developed, these
revolutionary detectors forscanning cargo containers in
these systems to produce medicalisotopes.
Um, but I want to do this, andI've slowly been building up a
team of some of the mostincredible people I've ever had
the chance to work with, and I'mreally prepared to make this a
reality.
And I think, I think thatlooking at the technology, this
will be cheaper than cheaperthan or the same price as
(19:21):
natural gas.
And you don't have to refuel itfor 30 years, which is an
advantage for the developingworld.
And um, I'll just I'll just sayone more maybe philosophical
thing to end with, which isweird for a scientist, but um I
think there's something reallypoetic about using nuclear power
to propel us to the stars.
Um, because the stars are giantfusion reactors.
They're giant nuclear cauldronsin the sky.
The energy that I'm able to talkto you today, while it was
(19:41):
converted to chemical energy inmy food, originally came from a
nuclear reaction.
And so there's something poeticabout, in my opinion, perfecting
nuclear fuse fission and usingit as a future source of
innovative energy.
So thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (19:54):
So here he's talking about small nuclear fission
reactors, which is what my lastepisode was kind of about as
well, the SMRs.
So this is a kid talking abouttwelve years ago SMRs.
And he had figured it out juston his own.
And did you hear him when hesaid this is a perfect
opportunity for developingnations?
(20:14):
Oh, you sweet summer child.
You think that Peter Thiel, theguy who gave you all this money,
is gonna let you develop thirdworld I mean I would like that.
I would love that, but that'sobviously has it happened?
Has it happened?
It's been twelve years sincethis kid had this dream and got
(20:38):
that money and has it happened.
What that shows right there thatPeter Thiel is a black hole of
energy and money and that likeand technology and that people
like him are hoarding thisstuff, and that kids like this
want to give it out.
He wanted to get it out, he justsaid it, and it still hasn't
happened.
Absolutely insane.
(20:59):
Instead, they had him working onuh like national security stuff.
Okay, and so here we have uhthat was Taylor Wilson, right?
So here we have Jamie Edwards,who has like almost no um
information out there about him,hardly, like, other than this
(21:22):
video, which is 11 years old.
So this is a let two years afterthe one we just watched.
How I built a nuclear reactor atthe age of 13.
SPEAKER_01 (21:31):
Nuclear power.
I guess this is what most peoplethink of when it comes to
nuclear power.
Well, for me, this is what Ithink of.
Or more specifically, this.
But before I tell you aboutthat, let me tell you how all
this started.
Even as a young kid, I wasalways asking questions.
Questions to my mom, my dad,teachers, but eventually they
weren't able to answer myquestions anymore.
So I turned to the internet tofind some answers.
(21:51):
It was on the internet that Icame across this guy, Taylor
Wilson, who'd created nuclearfusion at 14.
That was like wow, fusion in thebackground.
I had to find out more.
So once station online, I cameacross fusion.net.
A group of amateur scientistswho were building these plants
with fusers.
It was that worked out that itwas actually possible for me to
build one of these.
I figured it cost around£2,000.
(22:12):
That's my problem.
I didn't have£2,000.
And I was gonna have to writethe money myself.
So I started writing to somelocal nuclear labs, big
engineering companies,universities, but you know what,
for some reason they didn't wantto give£2,000 to a 13-year-old
trying to build a nuclearreactor.
No idea why.
So instead of asking a schoolscience teacher if you could
help me with my project.
She suggested we tried a headteacher.
Dr.
(22:32):
Dragon's Dentile Peter, Mr.
Hogan, and managed to persuadeinto power 2,000 pounds.
So I'm with the school creditcard if I turned to eBay.
I bought plants from all overthe world, police applies from
the USA, resisted from HongKong, and vacuum pumped from
Lithuania.
I built this.
My teacher manager.
So however, I couldn't geteverything from eBay.
The tension conditions were alittle restricted.
(22:54):
Even the specialist gas appliedthings in turn.
They wanted to know why exactlya 13-year-old schoolboy from
Lancashire wanted 10 liters ofdeuterium gas.
Anyway, this is the neutrondetector.
It's a key part of the reactor.
I used it to tell me if thereaction has actually happened
or not.
However, they're not easy to gethold of.
I have to call everyone on youto find someone who might know
someone who might just happen toknow someone else who actually
has one of these.
(23:14):
In the end, a local universitylet me this one.
High voltage power supply wasone of the most expensive parts.
But when it arrived from theUSA, it didn't work.
Even to this day, I haven'tfigured out why.
But luckily, a local Switch gearcompany not only let me the kids
to use it, they also taught mehow to use it safely.
There's so much about safety.
Apparently, there's some concernabout letting a 13-year-old lose
with a nuclear reactor inschool.
Not sure why.
One of the conditions was thatto be able to two meters away
(23:34):
from the reactor while he was inoperation.
Slight problem.
So but thanks to the schoolstate department and some
complex engineering, we madethese.
There's also the problem that mytwist reactor while he was in
operation.
So we made a high-tech chickenwhite cage and put it on the
reactor so I couldn't touch it.
(23:55):
There's also the problem abouthigh-inity neutron radiation
coming out the reactor.
This is my solution.
My twisted fish type.
Minus the fish you called.
We filled them with the boronsolution type as a moderator and
absorber of the neutrons.
And finally, just in case Imanaged to electrocute myself,
we made this.
It is indeed a book made of allbike energy cubes in case I
managed to electrocute myselfand needed rescuing.
(24:18):
So the big dead comes.
I might mention a littlesomething to Mr.
Hogan about the possibilities ofPia from school.
I was only thinking the localpaper, but press from all over
the place turned up.
So I had everything set up, thecameras were ready, my hook was
at the ready, and then weswitched on the reactor.
The first thing I did was pumpdown the chamber and apply the
high voltage.
(24:38):
That's when I achieved this.
Plasma.
A key step in producing fusion.
I played with this for a whileuntil I was confident I was
getting the balance rightbetween power and vacuum.
And then all I had to do was upthe voltage and added a tiny bit
of justium gaps.
I achieved this.
A reading on the neutrondetector.
I'd done it.
It was amazing.
All my hard work had paid off.
But now, as a young scientist, Inow need to go back to the
(25:00):
experiment and bit again.
Because as you all know, inscience, we need to repeat our
experiments and duplicate ourresults.
And that's my current focus.
But none of this would havehappened if it wasn't for a
science teacher who believed inthe dreams of her pupils, and a
head teacher that was willing totake a risk to give me the
opportunity.
So to any young scientist outthere, no matter how young,
nothing is ever too big for youto try.
All you need is curiosity,determination, and an open mind.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (25:23):
So he got inspired by the last guy we just watched.
So this is like a chain ofinspiration, which is pretty
fascinating.
Here we have The Guardian, whichis a 10-year-old article.
Uh Jamie Edwards made historywhen he built a working nuclear
fusion reactor at home.
Uh this was pretty hard to find.
I had to I I I don't know why Ihad to dig so hard to find this.
(25:49):
He said that the moment came onMarch 5th last year when Jamie
Edwards, then 13, flicked theswitch and waited with a bated
breath.
Seeing the purple glow was thebest part.
As the neutron detectorconfirmed it, Edward knew he'd
been he'd become the world'syoungest fusioneer.
What I've done, it's the exactsame process that happens on the
(26:10):
sun.
Basically by creating a vacuumin a chamber, filling it with
deuterium, a heavy isotope ofhydrogen, and then running an
extremely high voltage throughit, Edward was able to encourage
two hydro two hydrogen atoms tosmash together into each other
and fuse to create helium.
It's the process that keepsstars from going.
(26:31):
And this is the same thing wella s not the same thing, but a
similar process as what the uhQuantum Fusion Corporation
article said that they weredoing was a similar type of
thing.
Only I think they said they wereusing low voltage, which was the
most bizarre part.
It's this process that keeps thestars going, says Edward.
(26:53):
So I've recreated the sameprocess and a box about the size
of a jar.
You could call it a star in ajar.
Sitting with Edwards, a pupil atPennyworth Priori Academy and
Preston, you'd be hard pressedto guess at his achievements.
Under the surface though,there's just a hint.
He's become accustomed to hismedia appearances, as well he
(27:14):
might.
At the age of 14, now he'salready an old hand at CERN,
given TED Talks, and appeared atthe David Letterman show.
And that's all within the lastyear.
With ambitions to become anengineer or nuclear physicist,
there seems to be little thatcan hold him back.
When he's younger, he'd trollcar boot sales and charity shops
(27:35):
for uranium glass.
It's just green glass, but ifyou put a UV light on it, it
will glow bright alien green.
And it's sort of radioactivebecause it's the uranium that
gives it its color.
He saved up to buy a Geigercounter from the US.
But it was watching videos onYouTube that eventually led him
to giving a pitch to hisheadmaster for the funding to
(27:57):
build a nuclear fusion reactorin his laboratory.
After securing 2000 Euro, hescoured eBay for parts to piece
together, and with a little helpfrom local universities and
labs, he finally completed itsix months later.
His headmaster was concernedabout safety.
There was a chance that I couldbe electrocuted by high voltage
(28:19):
power, and then probably thechance of the vacuum chamber
imploding because of the forceson it.
But quite a minimal aspect to itwas the radiation.
And yeah, so that's we'vealready heard all of that.
Uh except for I was thinkingthat maybe I could make a
handheld laser cutter, so I'vebeen looking into really
(28:40):
high-powered lasers, which is uhanother method of fusion that
I've talked about, uh the likean ion laser uh fusion.
That's what they were sayingthat they could uh just start
and stop the reaction with alaser.
So like instantly stopping thefusion reaction.
Just in case, I mean, I don'tknow if anything could happen,
(29:02):
but I don't think so.
But they could stop itinstantly.
Which is interesting.
And here we go.
Article was published a yearago.
This is on Newsforkids.net.
Sixteen-year-old student buildsnuclear fusion reactor September
4th, 2004, Cambridge, England.
(29:22):
Cesar Min Sorini, which I'mpretty sure I've already read
about this kid before on the uhpodcast, but it's worth
mentioning again.
Recently graduated from theSixth Form School, which is
equivalent to high school inEngland with excellent grades,
but he was probably more excitedabout the success he had a
previous year, building aworking nuclear fusion reactor
(29:44):
at the age of sixteen.
Cesar grew up in Italy, but he'sbeen going to school at Cardiff
Sixth Form College in Cambridge,England for the past two years.
His focus was on math,chemistry, and physics.
And it shows him.
Working on a computer.
Caesar's mother is an architectand his father is an electronic
(30:07):
engineer.
As a child, Caesar becameinterested in electronics.
He loved to experiment.
He learned to program computersand devices like the Arduino
Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
He also worked with the 3Dprinter.
At Cardiff, Caesar was allowedto choose an extra area of
study.
After seeing a video aboutsomeone building a fusion
(30:29):
reactor, then notice how this isall just from people watching
videos on YouTube.
Caesar decided he wanted tobuild one too.
The school wasn't so excitedabout the idea, but Cesar worked
to persuade his teachers.
Finally, after a complete safetyreview with an extra advisor
offering to help him out, theschool agreed.
(30:52):
And this is a picture of likedifferent parts of it.
Here, let me zoom it in foranybody watching.
Because it's probably reallytiny.
CSAR was a strong student, buthis regular classes weren't
teaching him how to build afusion reactor.
To learn this, he spentcountless hours doing research,
looking up information on theinternet, and watching videos.
(31:13):
We're living in an age whereeverything is available just by
searching.
When he faced a problem, hewould read, watch 10 or 15
videos, and then go to tacklethe problem.
He also joined a website wherehe got advice from scientists
with more experience.
Step by step, working long hourswith his physics teacher and
advisor, Cesar built thereactor.
(31:34):
Last June, at the very end ofschool year, the reactor was
finished.
And this is him smiling with itall done.
Looks pretty well done.
One important step to building afusion reactor is to achieve
plasma.
That's when atoms are so excitedand heated up that they gain or
lose electrons, creating aglowing gas called plasma.
(31:54):
But Cesar still couldn't get thereactor to achieve plasma.
A small a special piece of metalthat was supposed to fit
perfectly in the device didn'tfit well.
The seal kept leaking.
Finally, Cesar and othersdecided to try filing down the
piece of metal by hand.
That failed four times.
The team was almost ready togive up, but the next time the
(32:17):
seal held and the reactorworked, creating plasma.
Caesar would barely believe hiseyes.
It worked, he cried excitedly.
And I guess this is a pictureseen the picture of plasma seen
through the viewport on Caesar'sfusion reactor.
(32:37):
It's just like a circular pieceof metal with like nuts on it
and a purple glow in the middle.
Which is interesting.
Over a year has passed sincethen.
Caesar continued to improve thereactor.
He's built complicated devicesto control the pressure and to
(32:59):
better see and understand what'sgoing on inside the reactor.
He's one of the youngeststudents to have built such an
advanced fusion reactor, but forCaesar it wasn't just about the
reactor, it was also aboutlearning by doing things and
making connections with otherpeople doing similar things.
College is the next step.
For Caesar, perhaps in England,perhaps in Italy, no matter
(33:20):
where he goes, he'll probablycontinue to change people's
ideas about how much youngpeople can achieve.
One problem Caesar faced wasmoney.
The school approved his project,but they only gave him 25% of
the money needed.
Caesar says not having enoughmoney meant he had to be very
creative, and as a result, hewound up learning much more.
Which you kind of hear that inother cases as well.
(33:46):
That you have to be more craftyand creative when you're uh more
poor and have less resources,and you end up being smarter as
a result of it.
Twelve-year-old boy who achievednuclear fusion in his playroom
got a visit from the FBI,published twenty-eighth,
January, twenty twenty-five.
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