Transcript
Interviewer: Lauren, you've made a documentary about a young man called Taylor Wilson. Tell us about him. Er, how did you find out about him?
Lauren Philips: Actually, it was luck. I saw a clip of Taylor Wilson talking and – he inspired me. And his story made me realise that your dreams won't come true unless you make them come true. We have to work out what we really want to do, and we have to do it.
Interviewer: Wow! Tell me more!
Lauren Philips: Well, as a kid he was really into science. By his early teens, Taylor had enough equipment to carry out simple experiments in his parents' garage. One time when he was showing a radioactivity experiment to his family, he nearly blew up the whole house! He was lucky, and no one was hurt, though all the neighbours ran out of their homes because they were worried it was a gas explosion!
Interviewer: Did he get into trouble?
Lauren Philips: No, luckily for him, his parents forgave him. In fact after that, they sent him to a special school for super-intelligent kids. Neither his parents nor his school could teach Taylor much by the time he was in his teens. He was just much too clever.
Interviewer: Uh huh. A lot of very successful adults are the same - they scored in the top one per cent of tests at the age of 12. Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Lady Gaga ... they all scored in the top one per cent.
Lauren Philips: Yes, Taylor scored the same... Anyway, this special school was located next to a university so that school students could use the university's facilities. Soon Taylor spent all his time hanging out at the university's nuclear physics department. And that's when he decided to make a star in a jar.
Interviewer: 'A star in a jar'?
Lauren Philips: Yes. He worked out how he could build his own nuclear fusion reactor. So the 'star' is the burning nuclear reaction and the 'jar' is the reactor - the container for the nuclear reaction.
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
Lauren Philips: And then he announced that he was going to build this nuclear reactor at home!
Interviewer: What?
Lauren Philips: Exactly! The nuclear physics teachers were like, 'Oh, no, that is not a good idea!', but nothing would stop Taylor, so they helped him to move his nuclear reactor to their laboratory at the university. And at the age of 14, Taylor Wilson became the 42nd person on earth to create their own nuclear fusion reaction.
Interviewer: That's incredible.
Lauren Philips: I know! Next, he had an idea for using radiation to find hidden guns or bombs. He helped the US Government to make a bomb-detection machine to use at airports. He was even asked to show it to President Obama!
Interviewer: What is this guy gonna do next?
Lauren Philips: I don't know, but I hope he continues to give lectures like the one I saw. He makes you realise that if you have an idea, you need to act on it now. He's an amazing speaker, and he really gets people excited about science. His lectures have had four million views and there are plans for a Hollywood movie about him!