When news came out that a 15-year-old schoolboy from Keele, England startled scientists of his new planet discovery about the same size as Jupiter, many knew it was a teenage breakthrough earlier than Albert Einstein's.
Keele University recently reported the new planet discovery by Tom Wagg, now aged 17, happened when he was doing internship at the university. He reportedly spotted the planet about the same size as Jupiter, by finding a "tiny dip" in the light of one star as a planet passed in front. It was only after two years of scientific observations when experts have confirmed it is indeed a planet.
"I'm hugely excited to have found a new planet, and I'm very impressed that we can find them so far away," Wagg said whose planet discovery was called "hot Jupiter."
At around Wagg's age, Einstein was still scientifically curious and wondering.
The world-renowned scientist had his share of teenager discoveries though, but not like the planet discovery of Wagg. His online biography said Einstein discovered a book of geometry at the age of 12, and was able to write his first scientific paper at the age of 16.
It was only in 1915, around when he was 36 years old, when he completed the general theory of relativity, which he deemed as his masterpiece.
Wagg is a student at Newcastle-under-Lyme School and has always been interested in science. According to Keele's news release, he asked for internship a week after learning that the university established a research group that would study extra-solar planets.
His new planet discovery was reportedly made by looking at data collected by the Wide Angle Search for Planets project that surveys the night skies and monitors stars to look for transits caused by planets wandering in front of their host star. It appeared as though he made the project's vision come alive.
This schoolboy is not the only teenager who seemed to have startled the founder of the relativity theory. In 2006, 17-year-old high school student Thiago Olson reportedly created a home-made nuclear fusion reactor at the basement of his parents' Oakland Township home.
According to website Oddee.com, which published information on 10 amazing teenagers, the project has taken Olson more than two years and 1,000 hours to build to machine that creates nuclear fusion.
Moreover, 18-year-old Nepali teenager Milan Karki allegedly built a type of solar panel made out of human hair which Karki believed could provide the world with cheap electricity, the website reported. The solar panel reportedly produced nine volts of energy. But the website also noted that scientists believed his invention was a "hoax."
At the age of 16, the time when many teenagers are still learning the art of car driving, Ohio resident Deitrich Ludwig reportedly became the youngest person to build a 2000 Chevrolet S-10 electric truck. According to Oddee.com, the truck was built by replacing the gas-emitting engine with an emission-free electric drive train.
From the schoolboy's planet discovery to the record-breaking electric truck builder, this list will go one as more and more teenagers are given better opportunities today. If Einstein were to live today, he would have gone further with his knowledge and discoveries.
