Eleven-year-old Laurent Simons from the Belgian coastal town of Ostend has just received his bachelor¡¯s degree in physics from the University of Antwerp, making him the second-youngest person to graduate in the world.
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He didn¡¯t just get the bachelor¡¯s degree, but he did so summa cum laude, (which means with the highest distinction) that too in just a year, which would otherwise take a normal human being three years.?
In a conversation with the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, he revealed that he didn¡¯t care if he was the youngest to get a bachelor¡¯s degree. For him it was all about acquiring knowledge.?
He completed his high school academics in just 1.5 years and achieved the high-school diploma when he was just 8 years old.?
He got interested in learning about classical mechanics and quantum physics last year and soon enough he wanted to know everything about it. He then put all his other work to the side to focus just on this.?
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Simons says that quantum physics was just the first piece of his puzzle with the end goal of being able to replace body parts with mechanical parts and achieve immortality. He says he has mapped out a path to achieve this, working with the best professors in the world and taking a deep look inside their brains to understand how they think.
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His next goal is to obtain a master¡¯s degree in physics from the University of Antwerp. He would simultaneously be working on his PhD.?
In case you were wondering, why isn¡¯t he the youngest graduate in the world, that¡¯s because the title for the youngest graduate is held by Michael Kearney, who received his degree in anthropology from the University of South Alabama in 1994 at the age of just 10 years.?