12-year-old boy successfully built a nuclear reactor at home

The 12-year-old Jackson Oswalt, who is in the 8th grade, lives in Tennessee (USA), is the youngest person in the world to successfully build a nuclear reactor in his own room.

The 12-year-old Jackson Oswalt, who is in the 8th grade, lives in Tennessee (USA), is the youngest person in the world to successfully build a nuclear reactor in his own room.

Like many other children, Jackson Oswalt has common interests like playing tennis, running, playing Fortnite games and hanging out with friends. But beyond that, this boy also has a passion for exploring science since childhood.

12-year-old boy successfully built a nuclear reactor at home Picture 112-year-old boy successfully built a nuclear reactor at home Picture 1
Jackson Oswalt and his nuclear reactor model at home. Photo: Motherboard.

In 2018, Jackson Oswalt accidentally read an article about Taylor Wilson (14), a "young scientist" who successfully built a garage garage reactor in Reno, Nevada (USA). . This prompted Jackson Oswalt's great interest and passion for science.

Jackson Oswalt shared that he always wanted to be the youngest person to successfully build a nuclear reactor, although it was a difficult challenge.

Jackson Oswalt began studying nuclear materials to study, learn about the processes at which atoms collided to create energy, how to build nuclear reactors and the tools needed. Despite many difficulties such as creating a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius, something that even scientists do not have much luck with but the boy is determined to overcome.

12-year-old boy successfully built a nuclear reactor at home Picture 212-year-old boy successfully built a nuclear reactor at home Picture 2

This research led Jackson Oswalt to spend a lot of time, effort and money. The amount of money he needs to shop for equipment is up to about $ 10,000. He asked his parents and received support from them.

During the process of testing and correcting errors, Jackson Oswalt must be exposed to 50,000 Volt electricity and radioactive material. This made Jackson Oswalt parents extremely worried about the safety of their son, who sought help from his physics teacher, Christian Brothers University professor and hospital scientists. Research children in Memphis.

12-year-old boy successfully built a nuclear reactor at home Picture 312-year-old boy successfully built a nuclear reactor at home Picture 3
Jackson Oswalt became the owner of the youngest nuclear reactor. Photo: Motherboard.

Prior to his 13th birthday, Jackson synthesized his research results, posted on the Fusor.net forum and waited for verification.

In January 2018, Richard Hull, Fusor.net administrator and retired electronic engineer, confirmed that Jackson actually owned the nuclear reactor. Jackson broke Taylor's record, officially becoming the youngest nuclear physicist at the age of 12.

After this success and with the available equipment, Jackson is hatching a plan to build a reactor using the spherical Tokamak technology with another energy trap.

  1. Homemade 15-year-old AirPods for use for only 4 USD
4.3 ★ | 3 Vote