The Boy Who Played with Fusion

September 14, 2015
In this insightful work, Popular Science editor Clynes goes beyond the fascinating story of fusion prodigy Taylor Wilson to offer cogent thoughts on our nation's education of gifted children, as well as sketching nuclear engineering's history and present status. In 2008 at age 14, Wilson became by far the youngest person in the world ever to achieve nuclear fusion. Clynes takes readers back to Taylor's early interest in rocketry and then all the way to his present as a young adult who wants "to grow a business that allows to create really useful things," like "a specialized particle accelerator that could revolutionize the production of diagnostic pharmaceuticals" or his "counterterrorism detection devices." Clynes helpfully matches passages on discoveries in chemistry, physics, and engineering to Taylor's own learning curve over the course of the book. He uses Taylor's story to illuminate examples of parenting and teaching of gifted children as well as to discuss more broadly the American education system's less-than-optimal treatment of the gifted. Amid this analytical content, the details of Taylor's life, achievements, and collaborators steal the show.

May 1, 2015

When Taylor Wilson was 14 years old, he became the world's 32nd person to achieve nuclear fusion. He had shown creative genius early, constructing rockets in his backyard, much like Homer Hickam in Rocket Boys, before progressing to experiments with radioactive elements and particle acceleration. Today, after having produced innovations in medical isotopes and nuclear weapons detection, Wilson is regarded as an up-and-coming Steve Jobs or Bill Gates for the energy industry. In this book, Clynes (editor, Popular Science) asks how society can foster young talent such as Wilson's. Weaving the scientist's story with an examination of pedagogy in the United States, Clynes shows how parental encouragement, an individualized school curriculum, open access to information, and a culture of mentorship and hands-on experimentation all facilitate youthful prodigy. Ultimately Clynes concludes that society must do more to nurture young talent if we wish to address pressing problems such as climate change. Clynes makes a compelling case for pedagogical change but only scratches the surface in discussing the cost of individualized education, classist barriers to educational resources, the potentially stifling effect of academia, and the disruptive influence of childhood fame. VERDICT Recommended for educators and readers of biography and popular science.--Talea Anderson, College Place, WA

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