A 12-year-old from Dallas has built a nuclear fusion machine and is seeking recognition from Guinness World Records as the youngest person ever to do so.
Aiden McMillan’s device drew attention after he demonstrated it to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, showing how he assembled the machine himself to achieve nuclear fusion.
The achievement places him in line to challenge the Guinness World Record currently held by Jackson Oswalt, who achieved fusion in 2018 hours before turning 13 and was later recognized by Guinness as the youngest person to do so.
How the machine works
Speaking to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, McMillan said he became interested in nuclear fusion after reading about it when he was younger and decided he wanted to try building his own machine.
He also said the project raised concerns at home. “There were some alarm bells with my mom, yes, she was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, take a step back, tell me exactly what could go wrong, and how it could go wrong and make sure it doesn’t go wrong,’” he said.
McMillan spent four years creating the machine.
The device he constructed is based on a fusor, which uses electric fields to heat and confine plasma. While such machines do not generate usable energy, successfully operating one remains a significant engineering challenge.
Guinness World Records has not yet confirmed whether McMillan’s achievement will officially be recognized.
