Abitur with eight - now Laurent (12) wants to study in Munich
Created: 01/12/2022Updated: 01/13/2022, 1:34 PM
“Wunderknabe” Laurent (12) completed a trial course in Munich and now wants to continue his physics studies there.
© picture alliance / dpa / Max Planck Society |
Thorsten Naeser
The Belgian-Dutch “boy wonder” Laurent (12) completed a trial course in Munich and now wants to continue his physics studies there.
Amsterdam - Laurent has just completed a two-month internship.
“That was really great,” said the highly intelligent boy from the German Press Agency in Amsterdam.
Laurent was a guest at the Physics Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilian University and the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in the Garching Research Center near Munich.
Many scientists were surprised by the unusual visit, a spokesman said.
"Suddenly an eleven-year-old stands in front of you and wants to know everything about your work."
But Laurent, who is now twelve years old, is not just any boy.
He is highly talented and graduated from high school at the age of eight.
He first studied electrical engineering at a fast pace in Eindhoven.
And last summer he did his bachelor's degree in physics “with distinction”.
Together with the international research team of the Attoworld Group at the Munich University, Laurent worked on one of the most powerful lasers in the world in a groundbreaking project.
There, the smallest traces should be found that tissue tumors leave in the bloodstream.
"The point is that the machine can detect colon cancer in blood samples at the earliest stage," says Laurent patiently explaining the very complicated procedure to laypeople.
And that comes very close to his goal: "I want to save lives".
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The contact wasn't a problem at all, because English is spoken at the university.
“Everyone was super friendly,” says Laurent.
There is only one thing he needs to learn better.
“I had German at school, but that's not enough.” Dpa