We discussed wave functions, probability, fermions/bosons, did calculations for particle in a box, the Schrödinger model, and went just up to deriving the hydrogen atom. Nothing super fancy, but it was one heck of an experience!

But did you win the Putnam?

For those who don't know, stackghost is referencing this classic moment on HN:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

I wonder how @sanj feels about their moment of fame (they’re still active on HN).

As I've pointed out before, his concession at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35350 was both witty and graceful. It's great that he's still active here! and anyway he's done a ton of things that are a lot more important than that bit.

I hope that’s in the highlights :)

It's really interesting, in the UK I don't think we did (but I later studied Physics at university) - but we did have Further Maths which covered more advanced mathematics.

Also your project is incredible btw, maybe look into robotics too.

> in the UK I don't think we did

Perhaps you didn't go to a high school quite like this one: https://exeter.edu/admissions/financial-aid/tuition-costs/

> High school quantum theory

> Nothing super fancy

Yeah, that's college level stuff, it's pretty fancy for high school, you go to a nice place :)

It's more possible than you'd think! The options are basically:

- Go to a fancy private school like Phillips Exeter

- Really luck out and get into a great public STEM magnet school

- Homeschool and take private classes / have very smart parents

Oh, or:

- Concurrently enroll at a community college (a really great option that I think every country should have)

I tested out of high school and went to community college instead, one of the best decisions of my life.

Can't tell if this is sarcasm.

The community college option is available to anyone who’s willing to spend a couple evenings a week taking classes, so I don’t think it’s really that out of reach. Most countries don’t offer their high school students any opportunity to study material that advanced.

Your first 3 options are mostly “be born to the right parents”. So I couldn’t tell if your remark of “it’s more possible than you’d think!” Was serious or not.

Hell I went to a really selective school. But even then, within that the top students, whom I was not one, got to do some extra stuff that would have greatly interested me and I would have been able to do. But my grades in humanities weren’t good enough to be one of the best.

Community college course options often won't include quantum mechanics.

All I did was provide him the space and time to work on the project ... his parents funded the entire project, but will get reimbursement soon. It's the great minds, and the desire to have meaningful projects that make Exeter such an awesome place. Byran is one of a kind!!!!

This is the right kind of school. Amazing.

Some public schools in very wealthy counties will teach some basic quantum mechanics in honors/AP classes, too. All you have to do is acquire parents that can afford the shittiest neighborhood in those districts!

They did in mine in the Netherlands. Also electronics and programming (this was a long time ago so it was all pretty new); it was a special class to prep for university more than the regular curriculum does, but it was a public school and not even a very good one; just a few really good and switched on teachers (physics, math and chem).

Some do- He thanks Phillips Exeter at the bottom of the project page, which is a very fancy private highschool, probably the best in the US.

I went to a peer school that had at least a couple of math teachers with PhDs—my friends at the time who took their classes were, if I recall, nationally competitive in math olympiads.

Not all high schools but the US has some schools which allow you to take very advanced material / even get a head start on your college credits.

We had a cursory introduction at least about 15 years ago in Germany, it's not that far off.

In the high school in Poland I attended, I lucked into being in a class with a university TA assigned as physics teacher, and he did manage to sneak in QM - more-less the same stuff as 'Hello9999901 listed in their reply.

(He also taught us differentiation in the first semester, and basic integrals in the second, because as he said, you cannot learn physics properly without those tools. This annoyed the heck out of our math teacher; she ended up deciding that, if we're learning this anyway, we might as well learn it properly - and gave us a much heavier intro to calculus in the last months of the last year.)

You don’t study basics of QM in your high schools?

The USA has some great schools. OP goes to Phillips Exeter Academy, which is an exclusive private school that ranks among the best high schools in the country.