CAO YUAN, a 25-year-old Chinese scientist who has been called a “young genius,” once again shocked the world with a paper published in the scientific journal, Nature, on April 7.

The paper, co-authored by Cao, is titled “Entropic Evidence for a Pomeranchuk Effect in Magic-angle Grapheme.” His last two papers in Nature were published in February and March. The scientist grew up in Shenzhen, and, so far, has published seven papers in the journal, a report of Shenzhen Evening News said.

Despite his young age, Cao has been praised for his knowledge and achievements in the scientific field.

He topped Nature’s list of 10 people who mattered in 2018 after his two papers on strange behavior in atom-thick layers of carbon were published. He was only 22 years old at that time.

Nature published two of Cao’s papers on grapheme in a row in May 2020. Immediately after the papers were published, there was a huge response in the entire physics community. At that time, some reports claimed that “Cao Yuan solved the problem that has plagued the world for 107 years.”

Cao was admitted to the junior class of the University of Science and Technology of China at the age of 14. After graduation, he went to the United States to pursue a doctoral degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He has always been a genius in the eyes of others and was uniquely gifted, even as a child. His family moved from Chengdu to Shenzhen when Cao was 3 years old and he later studied at Shenzhen Yaohua Experimental School.

Interested in electronic products, Cao often sneaked out to Huaqiangbei Commercial Street in Shenzhen to buy a lot of electronic components so he could study their circuits. His school also offered a lab for him to conduct his experiments in and arranged six specialized teachers for him. Cao also had a small lab at his home. It took the boy only two years to finish his middle and high school education.

Nature introduced him in an article as “an outstanding scientist who has pioneered a whole new field of research.” Some reports say he “may become the youngest Nobel Prize winner.”

Faced with all these praises, Cao himself is very modest. In an interview, he emphasized how everyone on the project team, not just him, is incredibly intelligent.(Han Ximin)