Dallas 7th grader builds nuclear fusion machine with goal of setting Guinness World Record

Teen boy working on a circuit board
Teen boy working on a circuit board Photo credit Getty Images

Most of us picked up a hobby during Covid, maybe a futile attempt to learn how to bake sourdough bread.

For then 8-year-old Aiden McMillan, his hobby was studying nuclear physics.

Six years later, the now 7th grader has turned that hobby into a passion, and now McMillan is eyeing a goal of becoming the youngest person ever to achieve nuclear fusion.

Is anybody from Guinness listening?

He successfully achieved nuclear fusion at the age of 12, telling NBC DFW the project was driven purely by curiosity and interest, not by personal gain.

"It doesn't make me jump higher. It doesn't make me write faster. It doesn't do anything for me, and to be honest, it's really just a project of interest, but in the grand scheme of things, like fusion as a whole, in my opinion, is the energy of the future," he said.

Maybe it wasn’t for personal gain, but McMillan’s work helped inspire the city of Dallas to create Launchpad, a nonprofit makerspace for students to help support ambitious projects, such mas McMillan’s nuclear fusion machine.

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Featured Image Photo Credit: Getty Images