Fourteen-year-old Tom McCarthy from Castlebar has become a sort of ‘science celebrity’ overnight after he revealed his plans to build a nuclear fusion reactor during his summer holidays in his parents’ garden shed.
This week, the St Gerald’s student took to the national airwaves and generated plenty of headlines with his plans to raise €11,000 and hopefully help pioneer a method of generating safe, nuclear power.
Yesterday, his family told The Mayo Advertiser that the young scientist is almost half-way towards hitting his target to crowd-fund the €11,000 he needs to construct his ‘Fusor’.
Father Cathal McCarthy said his son has become a “science celebrity” since he outlined his project. And the reaction from the public and local businesses has been “incredible”.
“Everyone has been tremendously supportive,” said Mr McCarthy. “Tom is past the half-way mark in his fundraising now and heading towards €6,000. It’s amazing really how much interest this has generated.”
Mr McCarthy said many Castlebar and Mayo businesses have rowed in behind Tom’s ambitious plans.
“Businesses have just been so supportive and many have made donations. Tom is really hopeful now that he will meet his target.”
Tom has another three weeks to crowd-fund the rest of the money. Crowd-funding involves lots of people making small donations to fund a large project.
Tom is running his crowd-funding exercise on www.indiegogo.com
Mr McCarthy, a sculptor, and Tom’s mother Mairead Ludden, a lecturer, are unfazed by their son’s somewhat unusual plans for the school holidays.
“Maybe alot of people think that a 14-year-old should be out playing soccer for the summer, not in his garden shed building something like this. But that’s his passtime and he is really passionate about maths and physics,” said Mr McCarthy. “It’s better than watching TV or playing video games.”
For more on Tom’s project, visit www.tommccarthyprojects.com
