Xellers

Unfortunately, I don't have a degree yet =(... I'm still stuck in high school (just turned 16, actually), but I'm a little bit ahead in math and science.

My interest in physics started when I took physics B the summer following 8th grade and chemistry as a high school  freshman. I became fascinated with quantum mechanics and my teacher recommended I read Hameka's Introduction to Quantum Theory (where one of my questions came from, can you guess which? ;). Although I didn't manage to get through the whole book, I got far enough to write this program that numerically solves Schrodinger's equation for my programming final project that year (perhaps it would make for a good instructable too?).

The year after that (this past year), I took physics C mechanics and E&M at school (something that I was sadly not allowed to as a freshman) and multivariable calculus and linear algebra through Harvard Extension. It was lots of fun and got me even more interested in physics.

It's a real shame that I only get to spend one or two days a week devoting myself to the classes that I love and am motivated to do well in, while the rest of the time I need to bore myself to death sitting in high school English or "wellness education" classrooms where memorization of lecture notes and readings is given priority over conceptual understanding and problem solving ability. Don't get me wrong, these are useful skills too, and everyone has to take English at some point, but I think I'd rather spend more time pursuing the subjects that interest me and will shape my life in the future rather than those that I have to take just for the sake of completing.

There's also the issue of the atmosphere in high school. When I go to Harvard to take a math class, the professor treats the students as more or less equals with whom he is willing to rationally solve problems with and talk to on more or less an even ground. It's OK if you need to step out of the lecture hall to go to the bathroom once in a while, you're responsible enough not to cause trouble, and you certainly don't need to raise your hand to ask permission and get a "bathroom pass". Similarly, the TA, a Harvard student, regularly corresponded with us, the students, via email and was always friendly, polite, and willing to answer questions. On the other hand, in high school, teachers, and especially office administrators, condescend towards students by default and bark orders like military commanders. When you're in college, you're treated like someone who is worth talking to and worth listening to, but when you're in high school, you're automatically assumed to be some sort of teenage hooligan-troublemaker who needs to be babysat and yelled at. I'll admit that there are some outliers who do fall into that category, but it doesn't justify the general attitude of teachers towards students.

I could go on about this for days, and I've got dozens of stories, so I'll save it for another time =)

My background in EE comes probably from years of devoted tinkering, disassembling, trash picking, and scouring the internet for ideas. I've never taken any sort of formal electrical engineering course (although I'm signed up and very excited for "Analog Circuit Design" at Harvard Extension this coming semester). It started with computers in 7th grade, turned into radios and vacuum tubes in 8th grade, and then shifted to Tesla coils and high voltage towards high school. Unfortunately, my school teachers never really seemed interested in my projects, so I got help here and on 4hv.org. I did manage to demonstrate one of my audio modulated SSTCs and one of my SGTCs at school for my physics final project, which was met with general approval =)

After reading about Fred Niell's projects years ago on his website, it's been my dream to build my own particle accelerator, and I think the work I did for my latest instructable brings me one step closer to this goal.