(Photo: Dallas Morning News)Ī photo of Mohamed standing in handcuffs while wearing a t-shirt with the US space agency NASA’s logo was retweeted thousands of times in a matter of hours and “ #IStandWithAhmed” became the top trending hashtag on Twitter. Ahmed Mohamed was taken in handcuffs to juvenile detention after taking a homemade clock to school. Mohamed had hoped to impress teachers by bringing a clock to his Texas school, but was instead reported by suspicious staff who called the police. It isn’t always an easy world to be curious and excited, but at least in the end it seems that the public has genuine support for true passion.The Muslim teenager who was detained when his teacher mistook his homemade clock for a bomb visited the White House on Monday, after a receiving a very public invite from President Barack Obama.Īhmed Mohamed, 14, joined a group of students, teachers, scientists, astronauts and celebrities - including the “Myth Busters” and Bill Nye - for White House Astronomy Night. The passage of time is perhaps the most constant force in the universe and it is interesting to see young curious minds as well as enthusiasts such as mechanical watch lovers rallying around the exact same concepts even though their tactics for doing so vary. There is something truly innate among even the most educated and curious about “having time” on your side. A simple clock, while perhaps ordinary and common, is still something we find to fascinating. What we feel is most relevant about this story is the simply curious nature of viewing and measuring time. Last but definitely not least, as mentioned above, Ahmed also received a personal tweet from the President of the United States, as Barack Obama invited him to the White House. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. The scientist, who works in the university’s top-ranked Department of Physics and the California-based Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, told Ahmed that he was exactly the “kind of student we want at places like MIT and Harvard.”Ĭool clock, Ahmed. Keep building.” and Google Science Fair noting “Hey Ahmed- we’re saving a seat for you at this weekend’s Google Science Fair…want to come? Bring your clock! #IStandwithAhmed.”Īhmed has called the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) his “dream school,” and, in a quite amazing turn of events during an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Wednesday, the 14-year-old was introduced to a surprise guest: MIT astrophysicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. Invitations from the likes of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying “Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I’d love to meet you. Of course the situation looks very poorly for the police and school system authorities given that public sentiment will inevitably continue to draw allusions to racial profiling and a now deeply ingrained fear of terrorism and the threat of terrorism. With that said details seem to confirm that the teachers could tell that it was not at all a real bomb and later only accused the 14 year old of bringing a “hoax” bomb to class even though there does not seem to be evidence that Ahmed made gestures or statements to that effect.Īs noted, although no charges will be filed, social media networks are still abuzz with supportive posts, messages, and tweets with thousands collected at the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed – coming equally from the sympathetic masses, as well as industry- and world leaders. Unfortunately, according to many critics of the situation, none of his teachers were even remotely competent enough to see a creative 14-year old child through the culture of fear and apprehension that has struck many of the educational institutions around America. On a personal note, when I was fourteen, I was really good at taking things apart, but never could put them back together even remotely as successfully (or at all) as Ahmed managed to do here – and so it is no wonder he was proud of his creation and wanted to present it to his teachers. I think we can all agree that Ahmed should be proud of his project. There’s a transformer for stepping down the line voltage, a 9-volt connector for power-outage battery backup, plus the control board with buttons to set the clock – and last but not least, the main board that connects all the pieces together, attached to the display by a wide ribbon cable. The electronics appear to be the re-arranged guts of a standard digital alarm clock, linked to a big, seven-segment display.
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