College Freshman Builds Fusion Reactor

Aiua writes "The Deseret Morning News is reporting that a Utah State University freshman has built a nuclear fusion reactor and compares how the student is similar to Philo T. Farnsworth (the inventor of the television and designer of the plans for a fusion reactor)."

Um....

[Kedisar]

Is his name Dexter by any chance?

Farnsworth?

[Anonymous Coward]

Philo T. Farnsworth? Is he any relation to Hubert Farnsworth, inventor of the smelloscope?

Mr. Wallace please report...

[Anonymous Coward]

to your nearest FBI office where we need to ask you a few questions. You might need to come stay with us in a special facility affectionally known "Camp X-Ray".

fantastic

[geronimo_jerry]

Mr. Fusion! I wonder if he had any help from Doc and Marty?

terrorist

[derrith]

obviously this kid has created the reactor in order to forward his terrorist agenda of underming U.S. society by blowing up SCO

.

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way too much time

[rynthetyn]

That kid obviously has waaaay too much time on his hands. I can't imagine doing that my freshman year.

Utah Fusion

[tinrobot]

Boy, it seems as though Utah has invented yet another way to do fusion... didn't a pair of scientists from Utah already invent fusion once before? What were their names? Pons and Fleischman?

Oh yeah, I forgot... that line of investigation went cold.

Maybe he thought...

[Ro'que]

...Building it would get him older college chicks?

Freshman 15

[casings]

... this puts new meaning into the words Freshman 15, 15 minutes of fame, 15 megawatts of Power, 15 years of trying to top this, 15 attempts at suicide, 15 divorces.

Re:Maybe he thought...

[QEDog]

..Building it would get him older college chicks?

Fusion is hotter than an older college chick.

ehh...

[kaan]

I guess he's supposed to be a smarty (even though the article says he followed someone else's instructions on how to build the reactor), but I sure hope he knows what he's doing so his classmates won't have to deal with growing extra legs and stuff...

Re:way too much time

[peculiarmethod]

there's more pot available in the midwest than there used to be.. given enough creative madness and todays mind altering coctail availability at universities, one would probably invent all manner of things, like time machines, super beer bongs, beer cooler mugs with wifi.. and so on, and so on..

pm

Second Place?

[GSpot]

He got second place in a science competition? It makes me wonder what project won first place. An advanced prototype of a nuclear fission weapon using kitchen grease as fissionable material? How manay days is it until April 1st?

First place?

[iamsure]

"Others thought it was cool, too. Wallace began winning contests -- local, state, national -- culminating in second place in the International Intel Science and Engineering Fair last May in Cleveland. He's now beginning work on a USU physics degree."

What in the name of all that is geeky won FIRST place??

Wow, tough crowd!

[yellowstone]

Wallace [won] second place in the International Intel Science and Engineering Fair last May in Cleveland.

Jeeze. A home-built working fusion reactor is only worth second place? Waddaya gotta do to win first?!

CDs

[Anonymous Coward]

"Craig built a neutron modulator (which slows down the emitted neutrons so they can be detected) out of a few hundred spare CDs. "

I guess we have a new winner for what to do with AOL CDs.

Re:Farnsworth?

[Bobulusman]

Actually, he didn't invent that. He just wondered what would happen if he HAD invented it.

Still, a man can dream. A man can dream....

Finally! A use for those AOL and MSDN CD's!!

[stanwirth]

Craig built a neutron modulator (which slows down the emitted neutrons so they can be detected) out of a few hundred spare CDs.

...and I thought I was going to use them as reflectors for Christmas-tree lights. Now we can use them to power the Christmas-tree lights! Cool!

Re:Wow, tough crowd!

[Bob(TM)]

Write a successful NSF grant proposal to do it.

Re:terrorist

[Walt Dismal]

No, if you look carefully, you'll find that SCO invented the neutron. Honest. Check out the tiny copyright symbol on every neutron: "All your neutron are belong to us - SCO"

The RIAA is currently investigating ...

[fygment]

Craig built a neutron modulator (which slows down the emitted neutrons so they can be detected) out of a few hundred spare CDs.

RIAA: "They wouldn't be CD's with pirated music on them would they ??"

Wallace: "No sir, Mr. RIAA-man. But you can have a look yourself. I keep them over there in that nuclear reactor. Fill your boots."

Wait a minute

[Bruha]

Is that the next generation nintendo?

Re:So... not much, right?

[Little Brother]

The origional poster was probably 12, and doesn't understand the difference between an 18 year old and a 45 year old, they're both "big people".

I'm in rare form tonight, must have forgotten my meds.

In other news

[commodoresloat]

The Bush Administration announced a military attack on Utah in order to destroy an incipient WMD program....

Sheesh ....

[ProfMoriarty]

They found a broken turbo molecular pump lying forgotten at Deseret Industries.

I'VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER FOR THAT!

Re:Title is misleading

[Loki_1929]

" if you RTFA you'll see that it isn't actually a fusion reactor or reaction at all. What it is is a deuterium ion plasma generator."

Errr, yeah; what kind of stupid bastard mistakes a deu... deuterium ... ion plas*cough*aarghph*cough* for a fusion reactor? Hey Rob, what kind of Mickey Mouse show are you runnin' here?

*darts eyes back and forth*

I think this means something else

[saitoh]

... he will never *ever* get laid. Ever. Period.

Re:Um....

[Geek of Tech]

Somewhere in D.C......
Sir, we've finally found those weapons of mass destruction. They were in a dorm in Utah.

Re:Cool, But No Breeder Reactor

[reiggin]

What's a "Darward Award"? A prize for being a Retard Evolutionist?

Re:Farnsworth?

[kgbspy]

If he pulled the fing-longer-er out, he'd probably begin to wish he hadn't invented the smelloscope...

Re:Maybe he thought...

[michaeltoe]

Yeah, but I thought we were aiming for cold fusion?

Bloom County

[chill]

This reminds me of an old Bloom County strip where Oliver Wendell Jones built a nuclear bomb for his class science project. The teacher asked him where he got the fissionable material and he said he scraped all the glowing stuff off thousands of watch dials...

"Attention students! Fire drill!"

Re:way too much time

[mbottrell]

Wow - times have changed... When I went to uni it was all about:

1. How much pot one could smoke...
2. Many many times you were laid in a semester.

Obviously he not undertaking the same major...

Are there rubbish dumps like this outside America?

[RichardY]

"They found a neutron detector in an Idaho Falls scrap metal yard. Craig built a neutron modulator (which slows down the emitted neutrons so they can be detected) out of a few hundred spare CDs. They found a broken turbo molecular pump lying forgotten at Deseret Industries." Did they find this stuff next to the broken particle accelerators? Or maybe under the old cray supercomputers?

Re:Required materials

[gfody]

also, things get easier with the more cocain you snort. snort enough cocain and you'll think you can build just about anything.

conflicting posts

[TWX]

Some posts are saying that he'll never get laid, while others are commenting something about a 'breeder'. C'mon folks! Which is it?

Re:Mr. Fusion

[drinkypoo]

I said undamaged ;)

Re:Just a question..

[zerocool^]

Son, it all starts when a man loves a woman...

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Re:In other news

[dwillden]

That would not be a good Idea, even though they've been destroying them for several years, Utah is still home to a large stockpile of Chemical Weapons. We can and will retaliate. Oh plus Hill Field does critical maintenance on the Nations ICBM's and the B2 bombers. Bring it on. As I said we can retaliate, and not just with some wussy science project.

OT: rearranging

[AllenChristopher]

Good point. I think you've made an excellent foniillcoiunhiiicpcliaicatfin.

Re:The Intel Science Fair

[DZign]

So what's the answer ?? Is Eating Blueberry Pie Bad for You?

LIAR!!!

[DrMorpheus]

(sound of uncontrolled sobbing)

Re:Um....

[hey]

I see he's smart enough to know when to use duct tape [umich.edu].

Wesley? Is that you?

[FrostedWheat]

Craig built a neutron modulator

Looks like Mr.Crusher has some competition!

Re:terrorist

[TeknoHog]

Nevertheless, SCO cannot demand any money from the customers that use neutrons -- after all, they are free of charge.

Only Second Place?!

[Cereal Box]

Others thought it was cool, too. Wallace began winning contests -- local, state, national -- culminating in second place in the International Intel Science and Engineering Fair last May in Cleveland. He's now beginning work on a USU physics degree.

Wow, building a nuclear fusion reactor only gets you second place in Intel's science contest? What did the kid who got first place do, find a cure for cancer?

Re:Farnsworth?

[TopShelf]

But the true ass-numbing potential of TV was realized with the development of the remote control. Anybody know who came up with that?

Words he will never hear...

[gosand]

Fusion is hotter than an older college chick.

Words this kid will never hear: "Baby, you make me hotter than a Poisser plasma reaction."

Big deal...

[Anonymous Coward]

MacGyver's been doing this for years.

High school fusion....

[SirTreveyan]

The only fusion I was worried about in high school involved a blonde with C cups.