TED2012
Taylor Wilson: Yup, I built a nuclear fusion reactor
Taylor Wilson: Sí, construín un reactor de fusión nuclear.
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Taylor Wilson cre que a fusión nuclear é a solución que o futuro enerxético necesita e que os rapaces poden cambiar o mundo. E él sabe bastante sobre estas dúas cousas: cando tiña 14 anos construíu un reactor de fusión que funcionaba no garaxe dos seus pais. Agora, con 17 anos, súbese ó escenario de TED para contar a versión resumida da súa historia.
Taylor Wilson - Nuclear scientist
At 14, Taylor Wilson became the youngest person to achieve fusion -- with a reactor born in his garage. Now he wants to save our seaports from nuclear terror. Full bio
At 14, Taylor Wilson became the youngest person to achieve fusion -- with a reactor born in his garage. Now he wants to save our seaports from nuclear terror. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
So my name is Taylor Wilson.
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Chámome Taylor Wilson.
00:17
I am 17 years old
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Teño 17 anos
00:19
and I am a nuclear physicist,
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e son físico nuclear,
00:21
which may be a little hard to believe, but I am.
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pode que non o creades, pero é verdade.
00:24
And I would like to make the case
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Vou presentar un caso
00:27
that nuclear fusion
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no que o tema principal
00:29
will be that point,
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será a fusión nuclear,
00:31
that the bridge that T. Boone Pickens talked about
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o tema do que falou
00:33
will get us to.
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T. Boone Pickens
00:35
So nuclear fusion is our energy future.
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A fusión nuclear é a enerxía do futuro.
00:38
And the second point,
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Por outra banda,
00:40
making the case that kids can really change the world.
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tamén falarei de que os rapaces poden cambiar o mundo.
00:42
So you may ask --
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Así que podedes preguntarvos...
00:44
(Applause)
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(aplausos)
00:48
You may ask me,
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Podedes preguntarme,
00:50
well how do you know what our energy future is?
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¿como podes saber cal será a enerxía do futuro?
00:52
Well I built a fusion reactor
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Eu construín un reactor de fusión
00:54
when I was 14 years old.
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cando tiña 14 anos.
00:56
That is the inside of my nuclear fusion reactor.
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Isto é o interior do meu reactor
00:59
I started building this project
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Comecei con este proxecto
01:01
when I was about 12 or 13 years old.
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cando tiña 12 ou 13 anos.
01:04
I decided I wanted to make a star.
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Decidín que quería facer unha estrela.
01:06
Now most of you are probably saying,
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A maioría de vos probablemente pensedes,
01:08
well there's no such thing as nuclear fusion.
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non existen as fusións nucleares.
01:11
I don't see any nuclear power plants with fusion energy.
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Nunca vin una central nuclear con enerxía de fusión.
01:14
Well it doesn't break even.
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Non ten beneficios nin perdas.
01:16
It doesn't produce more energy out than I put in,
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Non produce máis enerxía da que se introduce,
01:18
but it still does some pretty cool stuff.
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pero aínda así fai cousas bastante chulas.
01:21
And I assembled this in my garage,
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Así que construín isto no meu garaxe,
01:23
and it now lives in the physics department
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que agora está no departamento de física
01:25
of the University of Nevada, Reno.
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da Universidade de Nevada, en Reno.
01:27
And it slams together deuterium,
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Golpea átomos de deuterio,
01:29
which is just hydrogen with an extra neutron in it.
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que son átomos de hidróxeno cun neutrón de máis.
01:32
So this is similar to the reaction
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Así que é unha reacción similar
01:35
of the proton chain that's going on inside the Sun.
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á cadea de protóns, que ten lugar dentro do sol.
01:37
And I'm slamming it together so hard
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Golpeo eses átomos con tanta forza
01:40
that that hydrogen fuses together,
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que o hidróxeno se fusiona,
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and in the process it has some byproducts,
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creando uns subprodutos no proceso
01:44
and I utilize those byproducts.
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que emprego despois.
01:47
So this previous year,
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O ano pasado,
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I won the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
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gañei o premio da Intel ISEF.
[un certame científico]
[un certame científico]
01:54
I developed a detector that replaces the current detectors
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Elaborei un detector que substitue ós que teñen agora
01:56
that Homeland Security has.
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no Departamento de Seguridade Nacional dos EEUU.
01:58
For hundreds of dollars,
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Por menos de 1000 dólares,
02:00
I've developed a system that exceeds the sensitivity
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construín un sistema máis sensible que o seu,
02:03
of detectors that are hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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que custa centos de miles de dólares.
02:06
I built this in my garage.
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No meu garaxe.
02:08
(Applause)
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(aplausos)
02:10
And I've developed a system
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E elaborei un sistema
02:12
to produce medical isotopes.
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que produce isótopos médicos.
02:14
Instead of requiring multi-million-dollar facilities
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En lugar de necesitar instalacións de millóns de dólares,
02:16
I've developed a device that, on a very small scale,
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construín un mecanismo que, a pequena escala,
02:19
can produce these isotopes.
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pode producir estes isótopos.
02:21
So that's my fusion reactor in the background there.
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Isto de aquí é o meu reactor de fusión.
02:26
That is me at the control panel
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E ése son eu controlando
02:28
of my fusion reactor.
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o reactor de fusión.
02:30
Oh, by the way, I make yellowcake in my garage,
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O, e tamén produzo óxido de uranio no meu garaxe,
02:33
so my nuclear program is as advanced as the Iranians.
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así que o meu programa nuclear é tan avanzado coma o iraní.
02:36
So maybe I don't want to admit to that.
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Quizais non debería admitir iso.
02:39
This is me at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland,
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Este son eu no CERN, en Xenebra, en Suiza.
02:42
which is the preeminent particle physics laboratory in the world.
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O laboratorio de física de partículas máis sobresaínte do mundo.
02:46
And this is me with President Obama,
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E este son eu co presidente Obama,
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showing him my Homeland Security research.
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cando lle mostrei o meu traballo para o Deparatamento de Seguridade.
02:51
(Applause)
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(aplausos)
02:56
So in about seven years
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Así que en sete anos
02:58
of doing nuclear research,
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de investigación nuclear,
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I started out with a dream
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comecei co soño
03:02
to make a "star in a jar," a star in my garage,
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de facer unha estrela no meu garaxe,
03:04
and I ended up meeting the president
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e rematei coñecendo ó presidente
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and developing things that I think can change the world,
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e fabricando cousas que penso que poden cambiar o mundo.
03:09
and I think other kids can too.
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E penso que outros rapaces tamén poden.
03:11
So thank you very much.
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Así que moitas grazas.
03:13
(Applause)
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(aplausos)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Taylor Wilson - Nuclear scientistAt 14, Taylor Wilson became the youngest person to achieve fusion -- with a reactor born in his garage. Now he wants to save our seaports from nuclear terror.
Why you should listen
Physics wunderkind Taylor Wilson astounded the science world when, at age 14, he became the youngest person in history to produce fusion. The University of Nevada-Reno offered a home for his early experiments when Wilson’s worried parents realized he had every intention of building his reactor in the garage.
Wilson now intends to fight nuclear terror in the nation's ports, with a homemade radiation detector priced an order of magnitude lower than most current devices. In 2012, Wilson's dreams received a boost when he became a recipient of the $100,000 Thiel Prize. Wilson now intends revolutionize the way we produce energy, fight cancer, and combat terrorism using nuclear technology.
Taylor Wilson | Speaker | TED.com