6 Amazing Achievements by College Students
If you think you could achieve greatness in college, check out the careers that could be waiting for you here!
College is a glorious period in a young person’s life. Never before and never again will an adult have so much fun and freedom as when they are in college. Lifelong friendships are formed, you become the person you will be in your adult life and maybe, you might actually learn something.
Check out these amazing achievements and inventions that either begun, or were conceived in college:
The most obvious entrant on this list, the story of the beginning of Facebook has achieved almost mythical status. Harvard student Mark Zuckerburg, along with his roommates and computer science classmates invented Facebook in their dorm room. The social networking site was originally intended to be exclusively for Harvard students but soon grew exponentially.
Facebook has now become one of the most popular websites in the world with over 200 million active users; added to its social networking function it has become a games base, political platform, a source for genealogy research and much, much more. At 25, Mark Zuckerburg is worth $2 billion and resides as the CEO of Facebook.
Emily Cummins, a British student at Leeds University invented a homemade solar energy freezer. Cummins is currently studying sustainability and management at the University and her new invention could be hugely beneficial as it would allow the transport of materials and drugs, which need to be temperature controlled, in poor or developing countries.
She was awarded Female Innovator of the Year for 2007 from the British Female Inventors and Innovators Network. Added to this, Cummins received a £12,000 sponsorship from the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts.
The Invisibility Cloak
Number 28 on Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2008, this invention is the work of a group of scientists at University of California, Berkeley. The research group, which includes graduate students, has invented a 3D material that gives the appearance of invisibility by manipulating light. The material consists of two layers, the second of which neither reflects nor absorbs light, but bends it backwards.
While not yet large, or developed enough to be dubbed an Invisibility Cloak, experts say they are one step closer.
Nuclear Fission Reactor
Detracting from the commonly held belief that science is best conducted in expensive laboratories, high school graduate Craig Wallace assembled a working nuclear fission reactor in his garage, using pieces of junk that he cobbled together. Inspired by Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television, Wallace and his father took upon themselves this extreme science project. The invention, which took 2 years to complete, is a perfectly working nuclear fission reactor albeit on a very small scale.
Wallace came second in the International Intel Science and Engineering Fair, and is beginning a degree in Physics at USU.
The origins of Microsoft exclusively belong to Bill Gates. Interested in computers from an early age, Gates began his illustrious career from Harvard University. At Harvard Gates not only conceived the notion for Microsoft, but formed relationships with peers who would go on to play pivotal roles in the Microsoft Corporation. During his second year at Harvard the MITS Altair 800 was released, which prompted Gates and a friend to start their own computer company.
After his partner, Paul Allen was hired by MITS, Gates too accepted a position. The duo formed a partnership and called their company “Micro-soft.” Gates decided to take a leave of absence from Harvard to pursue this career. Microsoft became independent from MITS in 1976 and entered into a partnership with IBM. Microsoft became a huge global computer conglomerate and to date, Bill Gates is one of the wealthiest men in the world.
Michael Dell’s first foray into computers occurred at age 15, when he disassembled an Apple computer and reassembled it, just to see if he could. While attending the University of Texas at Austin, Michael Dell started a computer company called PCs Unlimited from his dorm room.
Dell’s fledging company soon began to experience considerable growth. Aided with a loan from his grandparents, Dell began to expand his company. After leaving college at age 19 PCs Unlimited became Dell Computer Corporation and Dell Inc. Dell became one of the largest providers to computers and computer software and Michael Dell serves as the CEO of the company. His net work is estimated to be around $12.3 billion.
These stories should serve as inspiration to college students.
Filed in: College Preparation.
