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.
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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.
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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.’
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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.”
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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 Brussels Times 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.
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