A cool story of 13-year-old Aidan Dwyer, who noticed the patterns in the branches of trees. His curiosity led him to investigate if the shape of the branches helped the tree optimize the amount of light it collected for photosynthesis.
From this he developed an award winning experiment that applied the Fiibonacci sequence — where each number is equal to the sum of its two predecessors — to his design for a solar panel array. His results claim to produce more power than a uniform array of solar cells.
Although his results were questioned by many professionals, GeekDad post this awesome update to their original article:
Yes, we are aware that young Aidan’s conclusions have been contested elsewhere on the Internet, including this article offered by Tuan Nguyen. The focus should probably be on what this group of young people have managed to do with a little curiosity and smarts, not whether the work would either hold up to stress-testing on Nature or revolutionize the world.
As a father of three toddlers, who are still in the early stages of developing their curiosity, it’s a nice reminder to focus on expanding interests and providing the necessary resources for them to learn and grow, rather than the wrong answer.
Source: Teen Taps Into Power of Fibonacci to Harness the Sun | GeekDad | Wired.com
