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By Rachael O'Connor
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A Texas boy has been praised for building a working nuclear fusion machine at just 12 years old.
Seventh-grader Aiden McMillan, from Dallas, is in the running for a Guinness World Record as the youngest person to achieve nuclear fusion after he went above and beyond for a science project.
McMillan studied concepts of nuclear physics before he began creating early prototypes of the machine, and told NBC DFW that he did it simply because he was interested in it—and in his opinion, nuclear fusion "is the energy of the future."
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Nuclear fusion is the process of creating energy that powers stars like the sun. It involves smashing together two atoms with such force that they combine into a single, larger atom, which releases a huge amount of energy.
It does not create radioactive waste and does not release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere like burning fossil fuels does.
McMillan admitted there were some "alarm bells" when it came to safety as he built the nuclear fusion machine at home, with his mother wanting to know everything that could go wrong and how to make sure it didn't go wrong.
But, after starting his research at just eight years old, and working tirelessly for four years, he successfully produced nuclear fusion, and the 12-year-old described the moment as "like the end of a long, long journey."
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McMillan said that he knew he had been successful when his machine began producing neutrons, indicating that fusion was taking place.
According to Ecoticias, McMillan's machine has been verified by neutron measurements, and he has now applied to the Guinness World Records to be recognized as the youngest-ever person to build a working nuclear fusion device.
The record is currently held by Jackson Oswalt, who achieved this in 2018—just hours before turning 13.
Guinness World Records notes that Oswalt built and operated the machine in the playroom of his family home in Memphis, Tennessee, after starting the project aged 11.
As Oswalt's achievement made news headlines around the world, the then-13-year-old was even paid a visit by FBI agents—who made a sweep of his house with a Geiger counter to make sure there was no radiation detected from his experiments.
Thankfully, the Geiger counter—an instrument used to detect and measure ionizing radiation—did not alert to anything.
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