Kensington
Three stars and a whole galaxy to Yancey Thomas, a brilliant teen from Kensington who co-authored an astrophysics study that was published this month in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The recent high-school grad worked alongside astrophysicist Nathan Leigh to study the “chaotic four-body problem” — a gravitational quandary that seeks to predict the movement of four particles when only their initial positions and velocities are known. Talk about your big bang!
Yancey and fellow students Harsha Muddu and Diana Solano-Oropeza worked with Leigh as part of the American Museum of Natural History’s Science Research Mentoring Program through last year’s semester, an initiative where students conduct research under the mentorship of museum scientists.
And their abilities are out of this world, Leigh said.
“Throughout the project, I was continually impressed by the students’ ability to grasp concepts that were far, far beyond their grade level,” said Dr. Leigh.
It’s way, way beyond Standing O too!
Yancey is currently a freshman at Brandeis University where he plans on pursuing a degree in physics.
American Museum of Natural History Address [Central Park West and W. 79th Street, www.amnh.org, (212) 769–5100].
