Jack Andraka, Maryland’s boy wonder, on mean scientists, homecoming and tricorders

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Fri Dec 6, 2013, 02:49 PM - Edit history (1)

Jack Andraka, Maryland’s boy wonder, on mean scientists, homecoming and tricorders
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/jack-andraka-marylands-boy-wonder-on-mean-scientists-homecoming-and-tricorders/2013/12/02/e15606be-4173-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html

(Edited to fix link. It was my fault.)

By Ariana Eunjung Cha, Published: December 2

While on summer break in 2011 at age 15, Jack Andraka made a breakthrough in cancer detection that had eluded pharmaceutical companies and legions of PhDs.

Using information he found on Google and Wikipedia (which he calls “a teenager’s best friend”), Andraka, who lives in Anne Arundel County, came up with an idea for a diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer that he says is 168 times faster, 400 times more sensitive and 26,000 times more economical than the medical standard.
....

You came out to your family and friends when you were 13. Was it a hard decision?

I was really afraid of coming out as gay because there are no gay scientists. At all. It is somewhat terrifying. I was at all these science fairs and I’m like, ‘Where are the gays?’ I couldn’t see any role models. Well, there’s, like, Alan Turing [the computer scientist], but he’s dead. After I got the Intel prize, a lot of other gay teenagers messaged me on Facebook telling me how inspiring it was and so it’s been really great. . . . But I still have yet to find another gay scientist.

[MNBrewer]

1. We don't exist

I guess?

[xfundy]

2. My guilty confession.

I watched this, very glad for the kid, but thinking, "damn, why do you have to act so nelly? So stereotypical?"

I am ashamed for thinking this way; my reaction was based on my own experience as a gay man, having to constantly be self-aware of my voice, body, movements, the way I moved my hands, the way I walked, just fucking every way I presented myself to the world, so I could try to "pass."

This kid accomplished something countless professionals and highly educated people couldn't figure out, primarily because he was too "ignorant" to "understand" and relent to some "everybody knows" concept or other.

People who are "different" are usually the only ones who truly make an impact in the world, and to judge them based on our own fears and prejudices does nothing to further progress. Millions will potentially benefit from this "nelly" kid's insights and inventions. He's a true hero.