ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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.

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.

More profile about the speaker
Taylor Wilson | Speaker | TED.com
TED2012

Taylor Wilson: Yup, I built a nuclear fusion reactor

Taylor Wilson: 没错,我制造了一个核聚变发生器

Filmed:
3,637,296 views

Taylor Wilson 相信核聚变使我们能源发展的未来,而且小孩也可以改变世界.他对这两方面事情都有所了解:当他14的时候,他在他父母车库里创建了一个核聚变发生器.现在他17了,他在TED上用短时间内讲述了他的故事
- 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

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
So my name名称 is Taylor泰勒 Wilson威尔逊.
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我叫泰勒 威尔逊,
00:17
I am 17 years年份 old
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今年17岁,
00:19
and I am a nuclear physicist物理学家,
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我是一名核物理学家,
00:21
which哪一个 may可能 be a little hard to believe, but I am.
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可能你们很难相信,但我确实是。
00:24
And I would like to make the case案件
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我想说
00:27
that nuclear fusion聚变
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核聚变
00:29
will be that point,
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就是那个
00:31
that the bridge that T. Boone布恩 Pickens皮肯斯 talked about
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布恩 皮肯斯(他的TED演讲里)谈到
00:33
will get us to.
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能引领我们前进的桥。
00:35
So nuclear fusion聚变 is our energy能源 future未来.
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核聚变就是未来的能源。
00:38
And the second第二 point,
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第二点就是
00:40
making制造 the case案件 that kids孩子 can really change更改 the world世界.
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孩子能改变世界。
00:42
So you may可能 ask --
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你可能会问
00:44
(Applause掌声)
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(掌声)
00:48
You may可能 ask me,
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你可能会问我,
00:50
well how do you know what our energy能源 future未来 is?
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你怎么知道未来的能源是什么?
00:52
Well I built内置 a fusion聚变 reactor反应堆
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我14岁的时候造了一个核聚变反应堆,
00:54
when I was 14 years年份 old.
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我14岁的时候造了一个核聚变反应堆,
00:56
That is the inside of my nuclear fusion聚变 reactor反应堆.
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这是里面的构造。
00:59
I started开始 building建造 this project项目
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我开始这项工程时,
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when I was about 12 or 13 years年份 old.
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那是我12,13岁的时候。
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I decided决定 I wanted to make a star.
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我决定我要造个星星出来。
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Now most of you are probably大概 saying,
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你们可能会说,
01:08
well there's no such这样 thing as nuclear fusion聚变.
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现在没有实用的核聚变
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I don't see any nuclear power功率 plants植物 with fusion聚变 energy能源.
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我没看到过有核发电站采用核聚变。
01:14
Well it doesn't break打破 even.
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确实是这样。
01:16
It doesn't produce生产 more energy能源 out than I put in,
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它并没有产生多于我放进去的能量,
01:18
but it still does some pretty漂亮 cool stuff东东.
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但是确实产生了一些有趣的事情。
01:21
And I assembled组装 this in my garage车库,
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我在我的车库里组装起来,
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and it now lives生活 in the physics物理 department
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现在它在内华达大学雷诺分校
01:25
of the University大学 of Nevada内华达, Reno里诺.
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的物理系。
01:27
And it slams抨击 together一起 deuterium,
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结合起来我们就得到了氘,
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which哪一个 is just hydrogen with an extra额外 neutron中子 in it.
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氘其实就是氢和多余的一个中子在里面
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So this is similar类似 to the reaction反应
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因此这个跟在太阳里面的质子链
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of the proton质子 chain that's going on inside the Sun太阳.
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那个反应很像
01:37
And I'm slamming猛击 it together一起 so hard
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而且我在很用力地把他们结合在一起
01:40
that that hydrogen fuses熔断器 together一起,
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当氢原子结合在一起的时候
01:42
and in the process处理 it has some byproducts副产品,
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会有一些附属品产生
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and I utilize利用 those byproducts副产品.
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而我就利用了这些附属品
01:47
So this previous以前 year,
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因此上一年
01:50
I won韩元 the Intel英特尔 International国际 Science科学 and Engineering工程 Fair公平.
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我赢下了国际科学以及工程大会活动的第一名
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I developed发达 a detector探测器 that replaces取代 the current当前 detectors探测器
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我创造一个取代目前国家安全局
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that Homeland家园 Security安全 has.
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使用的探测器
01:58
For hundreds数以百计 of dollars美元,
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花了几千美金
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I've developed发达 a system系统 that exceeds超过 the sensitivity灵敏度
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我创建了一个比花了几十万美金还敏感的
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of detectors探测器 that are hundreds数以百计 of thousands数千 of dollars美元.
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的探测器
02:06
I built内置 this in my garage车库.
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我在我的车库建造出来的这个东西
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(Applause掌声)
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(掌声)
02:10
And I've developed发达 a system系统
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而且我创建了一个系统
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to produce生产 medical isotopes同位素.
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去生产医用的同位素
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Instead代替 of requiring要求 multi-million-dollar耗资数百万美元 facilities设备
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与其要求上百万美金的设备
02:16
I've developed发达 a device设备 that, on a very small scale规模,
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我自己在很小规模上创建一个
02:19
can produce生产 these isotopes同位素.
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可以生产这些同位素的设备
02:21
So that's my fusion聚变 reactor反应堆 in the background背景 there.
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你们现在在这个背景上看到就是我们核聚变发生器
02:26
That is me at the control控制 panel面板
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我在这个发生器的
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of my fusion聚变 reactor反应堆.
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控制板旁边
02:30
Oh, by the way, I make yellowcake黄饼 in my garage车库,
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对了,我在我的车库做黄色蛋糕呢
02:33
so my nuclear program程序 is as advanced高级 as the Iranians伊朗人.
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因此我们核系统跟伊朗人一样先进
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So maybe I don't want to admit承认 to that.
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因此我不太想承认
02:39
This is me at CERNCERN in Geneva日内瓦, Switzerland瑞士,
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这是我在CERN,是在瑞士的日内瓦
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which哪一个 is the preeminent超群 particle粒子 physics物理 laboratory实验室 in the world世界.
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CERN是世界上最杰出的量子物理实验室
02:46
And this is me with President主席 Obama奥巴马,
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这是我和总统奥巴马
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showing展示 him my Homeland家园 Security安全 research研究.
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给他展现我的国土安全的研究
02:51
(Applause掌声)
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(鼓掌)
02:56
So in about seven years年份
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因此呢在这做核试验
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of doing nuclear research研究,
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的十年时间
03:00
I started开始 out with a dream梦想
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我有了一个梦想
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to make a "star in a jar," a star in my garage车库,
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我想创建一个“在瓶子中的星星”,一个在我车库里的星星
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and I ended结束 up meeting会议 the president主席
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因此我最后和总统见面了
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and developing发展 things that I think can change更改 the world世界,
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然后创建一些可以改变世界的东西
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and I think other kids孩子 can too.
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而且我希望其他人也可以这样做
03:11
So thank you very much.
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非常感谢
03:13
(Applause掌声)
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(鼓掌)
Translated by Yuguo Zhang
Reviewed by Lee Li

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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.

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.

More profile about the speaker
Taylor Wilson | Speaker | TED.com