12-year-old boy achieves nuclear fusion in his playroom (2 photos + 1 video)

Teen Becomes Youngest Person to Achieve Nuclear Fusion





Jackson Oswalt of Memphis, Tennessee, wasn't like other 12-year-olds: "One day, I had an epiphany," he said. "I realized that I could be the best at any video game, but in the end, it wouldn't mean anything. In the grand scheme of things, video games didn't matter. So I changed my path. I immediately switched to the closest thing to video games in real life: science."

Jackson’s efforts paid off when, just two hours before his 13th birthday, he became the youngest person to achieve nuclear fusion. But what he didn’t expect was a visit from the FBI.

For those without a STEM brain, nuclear fusion is an incredibly challenging task for a home scientist. The process involves isolating two or more atomic nuclei before combining them under intense pressure and heat to form one or more atomic nuclei and neutrons. The end result is the release or absorption of energy, which is why the technology is often associated with a power source.

Inspired by the story of Taylor Wilson, who built a fusion reactor as a teenager, Jackson was open to the possibility that someone so young could accomplish such a task. He began watching physics videos on YouTube and researching the materials he would need to complete his attempt at creating a power source – at just 11 years old.

Jackson shopped on eBay and found the materials needed for the first step of his plan, a "demonstration fusion reactor" that creates plasma but stops short of fusion. He brought the device to a school science fair after finishing it the night before, and while it wowed the audience, Jackson knew there was more work to do to achieve his final vision.



His renovations included rebuilding the vacuum chamber, purchasing a turbomolecular pump on eBay, repairing the melted tantalum inner lattice, and finding deuterium for fuel.

After these modifications—and about a year of testing—Jackson successfully achieved fusion. His record was verified by Fusor.net, an open-source Fusor research consortium, on February 2, 2018, and confirmed by fusion researcher Richard Hull, who maintains a list of amateur scientists who have achieved fusion at home.

Since Jackson achieved fusion at 1:30 p.m., just two hours before his 3:38 p.m. birthday, he was technically 12 years old and thus also earned a Guinness World Records title for his incredible feat.

But his story didn’t end there, as he was awakened one Saturday by two FBI agents who searched his home with a Geiger counter to ensure that no radiation from Jackson’s experiments had been detected.

“Luckily, I’m still a free man,” the teenager said.