This 18-Year-Old Just Won $400,000 For Making a YouTube Video

November 12, 2015

An 18-year-old high schooler explained Einstein’s theory of relativity so well in a YouTube video, he won $400,000.

Ryan Chester submitted his video for the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, an annual contest for kids 13 to 18 to share their love for math and science with the world. The challenge was funded by Mark Zuckerberg’s Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the Milner Global Foundation

Chester, using his parents home, minivan and some crude drawings, was able to explain the two main postulates of Einstein’s theory: first, the laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference, and second, the speed of light in a vacuum has the same value c in all inertial frames of reference. While it sounds complicated, Chester’s video is anything but. It even makes learning science a little fun.

The teen’s video beat around 1,000 other submissions to win the $400,000 prize. According to Motherboard, $250,000 will be used for Chester’s scholarships, $50,000 will go to his teacher, adn $100,000 will go to his school to fund a science lab.

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