12-year-old Genius

Someone very nice encouraged me to have an optimistic weekend....this is a start.

A 12-year-old from Beaverton, OR has invented a solar cell much more effective than current technology.

Despite his age, William Yuan has already studied nuclear fusion and nanotechnology, and he is on his way to solving the energy crisis.

It all started with Legos - after he learned nanotechnology to make robots take off. The seventh grader then got an idea inspired by the sun.

"Solar it seems underused, and there are only a few problems with it," Yuan said.

Encouraged by his Meadow Park Middle School science teacher, the 12-year-old developed a 3D solar cell.

"Regular solar cells are only 2D and only allow light interaction once," he said.

And his cell can absorb both visible and UV light...

...If he is right, solar panels with his 3D cells would provide 500 times more light absorption than commercially-available solar cells and nine times more than cutting-edge 3D solar cells.

This is an absolutely remarkable discovery. Congratulations to William, and to his science teacher. Let's hope this becomes a huge story on two levels...the success of William's discovery, and the success of his science teacher in encouraging the discovery.