At 12, a Memphis boy achieved nuclear fusion in his home's playroom laboratory. Soon after this act of genius, two FBI agents arrived at his house

A 12-year-old boy was carrying out an experiment in his home laboratory in Memphis, Tennessee, when his unusual project eventually led to an unexpected visit from the FBI. Jackson Oswalt had spent months turning his family's old playroom into a laboratory, where he was trying to do something that most people would not expect a child his age to even attempt — achieve nuclear fusion.

The experiment eventually worked. Just hours before his 13th birthday on January 19, 2018, Oswalt successfully achieved fusion and detected the neutrons produced by the reaction. His achievement was later recognised by Guinness World Records, making him the youngest person to achieve nuclear fusion.

But the record came with one strange episode that Oswalt probably did not expect. After his experiment attracted attention, two FBI agents showed up at his home and checked the house for radiation.

It started with a TED Talk

Oswalt's interest in nuclear fusion began when he was around 11. While researching nuclear science, he came across a TED Talk by Taylor Wilson, who had achieved nuclear fusion at the age of 14 in 2008.

The achievement made Oswalt think that age did not necessarily have to stop him from trying something similar.

“Seeing this opened my mind to the possibility that somebody so young could do something so crazy. And so at 11 years old, I decided I was going to do the same,” Oswalt wrote in an account of his project.

He began studying how fusion worked and what would be needed to build a fusor, a device that can create the conditions needed to produce nuclear fusion.

He turned a playroom into a laboratory

The project was not completed quickly. Oswalt spent about a year collecting parts, rebuilding components and testing the machine.

His parents helped fund the project, which reportedly cost between $8,000 and $10,000. Many of the parts were bought through eBay, while others had to be modified to fit his design.

He first built a demonstration fusor, but it was not capable of sustaining fusion. The central grid could overheat and melt if the setup was operated for too long, so Oswalt continued making changes.

“But this was far from a working fusion reactor. If I ran this setup for more than a few minutes, the “grid” in the centre would melt and destroy itself. Clearly there was work to be done. I rebuilt the vacuum chamber, got a turbomolecular pump from eBay, sourced some Deuterium for fuel (somewhat legally) and rebuilt the inner grid from Tantalum,” he wrote on X.


According to Fox News, Oswalt relied heavily on trial and error as he assembled the system. He also used the Open Source Fusor Research Consortium, an online community for amateur fusor researchers, to understand the equipment and compare his results.

The experiment finally produced fusion

After months of work, Oswalt eventually managed to get the result he had been chasing.

“After a handful of stressful tests just days before my 13th birthday, I successfully achieved fusion and detected these neutrons as proof!”

The experiment involved using deuterium, a form of hydrogen, inside the fusor. Under the right conditions, the atoms were brought together and fusion occurred, producing neutrons that could be detected.

Richard Hull, a retired electronics engineer and a verifier with the Open Source Fusor Research Consortium, reviewed Oswalt's work. Hull had also verified Taylor Wilson's earlier achievement.

“You have to jump through the right hoops, and we have to believe you and see what you’ve done,” Hull said, according to Fox News.

The result eventually earned Oswalt a Guinness World Records title as the youngest person to achieve nuclear fusion.

Then two FBI agents arrived

The record brought Oswalt considerable attention, but it also resulted in a visit that was much less expected.

One Saturday, two FBI agents arrived at the family home. They were not there to arrest anyone. Instead, they checked the property with a Geiger counter to make sure the nuclear experiments had not left dangerous radiation behind.

The agents found no radiation problem, and Oswalt was able to continue his experiments.

“I also got some less fun attention: one Saturday I was woken up by two FBI agents, who made a quick sweep around my house with a geiger counter to make sure all was good. Fortunately, I remained a free man.”

The unusual visit became one of the most memorable details of a story that had already attracted plenty of attention.

Fusion is still far from household power

Oswalt's achievement was significant, but it did not mean he had built a reactor capable of powering a house. Nuclear fusion requires enormous amounts of energy and extremely difficult conditions, and scientists have spent decades trying to develop practical fusion power.

Dr Jingbiao Cui, then a professor and chair of the physics department at the University of Memphis, pointed out that creating fusion is very different from developing a reactor that can produce useful electricity.

“We are still far away from making a working nuclear fusion reactor to produce electricity so you can think about how challenging it is to make a fusion reactor,” Cui said, according to Fox News.

For Oswalt, the experiment was mainly about seeing whether he could actually accomplish something that seemed far beyond the reach of someone his age. He later visited scientific facilities and startups and continued exploring his interest in nuclear science and engineering.