Taylor Wilson is an American nuclear scientist who was noted in 2008 for being the youngest person in the world (at age 14) to build a working nuclear fusion reactor. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Energy offered federal funding to Wilson concerning research Wilson has conducted in building inexpensive Cherenkov radiation detectors

Cherenkov detector

A Cherenkov detector is a particle detector using the mass-dependent threshold energy of Cherenkov radiation. This allows a discrimination between a lighter particle and a heavier particle ....

; Wilson has declined on an interim basis due to pending patent issues. Traditional Cherenkov detectors usually cost hundreds of thousands of dollars (USD), while Wilson invented a working detector that cost a few hundred dollars. In May 2011, Wilson entered his radiation detector in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the largest pre-college scientific research event in the world, and is owned and administered by the Society for Science & the Public a 501 non-profit organization based in Washington, DC...

 against a field of 1,500 competitors and won a $50,000 award. The project was entitled “Countering Nuclear Terrorism: Novel Active and Passive Techniques for Detecting Nuclear Threats” and won the First Place Award in the Physics and Astronomy Category, Best of Category Award, and the Intel Young Scientist Award. Wilson stated he hopes to test and rapidly field the devices to U.S. ports for counterterrorism purposes.

According to Wilson, he is currently attending the University of Nevada, Reno

University of Nevada, Reno

The University of Nevada, Reno , is a teaching and research university established in 1874 and located in Reno, Nevada, USA...

 and the Davidson Academy of Nevada

Davidson Academy of Nevada

For the Davidson Academy in Tennessee, go to Davidson Academy.The Davidson Academy of Nevada is a public school located in Reno, Nevada. The school, founded by Jan and Bob Davidson, is for profoundly gifted secondary students, and is the first public school of this kind in the United States...

. He lives in Reno, Nevada.