High School Student Discovers 1.5 Million Space Objects
High school student Matteo Paz used a custom AI framework to analyze NASA's decommissioned NEOWISE archive, identifying 1.5 million previously unreported celestial objects from 200 billion infrared records in about six weeks. His findings were published in The Astronomical Journal, led to a Caltech research assistantship, and prompted NASA director Jared Isaacman to offer a job and fighter-jet ride; JWST follow-ups are planned.
Key Points
- 1Identified 1.5 million previously unreported celestial objects using NEOWISE infrared archive and AI
- 2Demonstrated AI's efficiency by processing 200 billion infrared records in six weeks, revealing subtle signals
- 3Enabled immediate follow-up: results published in Astronomical Journal and used to target JWST observations
Scoring Rationale
Peer-reviewed, AI-enabled discovery with rapid community uptake; limitation is primary relevance to astronomy rather than cross-industry change.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
Practice interview problems based on real data
1,625 SQL & Python problems across 15 industry datasets — the exact type of data you work with.
Try 250 free problems
