Have you all watched Young Sheldon aka the junior version of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory? If you have, then you will totally relate to the kid we are going to introduce. If you haven’t, then we would recommend you add it to your watch list right away.
Reyansh Das from Kolkata has startled the entire world by authoring a whole book on Astrophysics just at the age of 10. The book titled ‘The Universe: The Past, The Present And The Future’ talks about the importance of science and astrophysics. The topics discussed in the book include a star that could be older than the universe, the Big Bang theory, a theory that says there are many universes, which of light or space is the fastest thing in the universe, time dilation, possible multiverse theories, differences between Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton, the future of the universe, the life cycle of stars, the solar system, stellar remnants, the curvature, end, and composition of our universe, Dark matter and dark energy, spacetime and much more.
Research Scholar Nandita Raha commented that Reyansh’s idea about space and his book content was crystal clear and very good. Physicists, too, are amazed by the book. So far there have been rave reviews from readers on Amazon.
Life Beyond Numbers got in touch with Reyansh and his mother Sohini Routh to learn more about the wonder child.
Reyansh has always loved the stars, galaxies, and what’s beyond the universe and it began pretty early when he was just 5-year-old.
“I would look at the night sky and ask myself- what are those dots of light? How did they form? And why am I here?”
Reyansh shared.
To quench his curiosity, Reyansh started reading different astronomical books and watched several space videos. His mom Sohini adds that he started playing with the tab initially and then gradually drifted towards astronomy and astrophysics. And he was so prompt at picking up, his ideas were beyond comprehension.
“He started playing with his tab when he was 5 years old and started gaining interest in space. At that age, he started talking about physics theories. As we did not have much understanding of physics, we took him to physics experts and they told us that whatever he was explaining was right,” said Sohini.
Sohini works at an NGO in the city and has been raising Reyansh single-handedly. She finds it quite blissful and says that Reyansh always makes her see the positive sides of life. Additionally, Sohini’s brother Saptarshi Routh guides him. They together provide all the support they possibly can.
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“The craving for knowledge comes from within and from a very nascent stage, Reyansh started his explorations on his own. At times I get really intrigued but then he generally feeds his queries on his own and I encourage him on that. Also, he discusses a lot of stuff with my brother,” she added.
We asked Reyansh if he found it difficult to decode the space jargon and he said that he liked space so much that he has adapted to it. And that’s exactly why the book came into the picture. In 2019, when Reyansh was 7 years old, he made his mind to compile all the knowledge he gained over the last years.
“I wrote this book to spread the knowledge I have. A lot of necessary space technologies (Moon bases, Mars bases and much more) are impossible to do for one single individual and even ten individuals unless the people working are extremely skilled and even then, they take decades to complete and the chances of mistakes are high, especially if only one person is working on the project. They require immense co-operation, several tens of people and many computers to be done in a reasonable time. This co-operation is only possible if everyone knows the importance of these technologies and, more importantly, if everyone knows about space, mathematics and science. We need to spread to different planets and create new technologies to keep our civilization running. Otherwise, we would be destroyed by global warming or floods,”
he added.
At a time when the whole world was locked down, Reyansh too remained homebound. But honestly, for someone who understands so many complex theories at such tender age, he deserves a way better curriculum.
To this, he said, ”I miss the school quite a bit. I loved my time there before the pandemic. Overall the curriculum is okay but I wish there was less homework because here in class 5 sometimes I get overwhelmed by homework. However, the topics are really perfect. There’s nothing about them that’s really wrong.”
The boy with a beautiful mind is now all set to write his second book, which will be on mathematics.
Speaking of his future endeavors he said, “There are a couple of professions that I like but my favorite one so far is being an astronaut because then I can explore space myself even more and who knows I might even find a new planet. I want to start human colonies on Mars and the Moon. But the government won’t really do that so I guess I will take matters into my own hand when I grow up.”
We truly hope to see you in space, Reyansh. Godspeed!