The ContinuumKnowledge and The Youth Perspective

Congratulations to Maryam Tsegaye on winning the international Breakthrough Junior Challenge prize for her explanation of quantum mechanics!

Maryam is a 17-year-old high school student in Alberta whose video presentation described the complexities of quantum mechanics and its still baffling observer effect with such incredible clarity and effectiveness that anyone including her fellow students can understand.  Watch Maryam’s 3-minute video presentation here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg2rnjZ19PY and enjoy it as much as the judges did when they placed it first among almost 5,600 submissions.

Why do we exchange knowledge and encourage the young to explore its frontiers?  There are many reasons, but the joy of discovery is certainly a prime motivation.  Witness that joy, in contest sponsor Sal Khan and astronaut Scott Kelly as they announce the award, and in Maryam when she receives the news in front of her school friends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3JMup78ha8.

Maryam combines her love of knowledge with a passion for teaching others.  As she explained to the media after the prize announcement, “People are told that science and math are intimidating, and that’s what they tend to believe, but I think if it’s explained properly and it is approached differently, then a lot more kids would be involved in science.  Science just tries to answer everything in our world, everything that we know and things that we don’t know. Why wouldn’t you love science?”

The future holds great potential in the hands of youth like Maryam, and with curiosity like hers who knows what wonders might be uncovered in the quantum realm.