A little boy
has opened up about his ambitions to develop a cure for mortality after he
became the 2nd youngest university graduate at the age of 11.
Laurent
Simons from Ostend, Belgium, is now a bachelor in physics with a degree from
the University of Antwerp after spending just one year of studying, instead of
the usual three.
He graduated
with an 85% score, which is higher than any of the other graduates, and thus
became the 2nd youngest graduate after Michael Kearney, who graduated
anthropology at the University of South Alabama back in 1994, when he was just
10.
What’s even
more interesting is that Laurent could have graduated earlier but Eindhoven
University didn’t allow him to.
He attended
the Dutch university when he was just 9 and received credits he could later
transfer to Antwerp, but he dropped out when officials blocked him from
graduating before his 10th birthday.
However,
Laurent has said that he doesn’t care whether he breaks a record or not.
Instead, he focuses his mind on learning as much as he can.
In an interview with Dutch paper De Telegraaf, he said that his physics degree marked ‘the first puzzle piece in [his] goal of replacing body parts with mechanical parts.’
Explaining that ‘immortality’ is his ‘goal’, Laurent went on to say:
“I want to be able to replace as many body parts as possible with mechanical parts. I’ve mapped out a path to get there. You can see it as a big puzzle. Quantum physics—the study of the smallest particles—is the first piece of the puzzle.
Two things
are important in such a study: acquiring knowledge and applying that knowledge.
To achieve the second, I want to work with the best professors in the world,
look inside their brains and find out how they think.”
The
wonderboy’s father, Alexander, accused Eindhoven University of criticizing his
son for the media attention he had been receiving and added that Laurent should
be proud of his achievements in the same way a child who has exceptional
football skills should be proud.
Laurent’s
family is running an Instagram page that follows his activities, and it has
received widespread support from thousands of people.
The BrusselsTimes reported that a spokesperson from the University of Antwerp said Laurent
also took on some courses from the master’s program while doing his bachelor’s
degree.
Laurent is
set to officially start his master’s degree later this year.