Callum Ullman-Smith proves young genius still exists with his study of
Palmate newts.
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| Photo; Callum Ullman-Smith with best friend Smudge, playing on an x-box 360 in his family home. |
In recent times it has
been believed that the young were getting dumber, taken over by advanced
technology and consumed by the internet, there was little hope left. However
Callum Ullman-Smith has shown that he is just as smart, if not smarter than the
average adult.
At the age of 12 Callum
Ullman-Smith is now a renowned name in the scientific world, following his talk
about his study of the Palmate Newt to the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Symposium
in Edinburgh, on Sunday the 19th of October.
Callum started
monitoring the unusual Palmate Newt population he personally discovered at the
age of seven. Now, he has been on the BBC news, and has been covered by
newspapers and online sites across the nation, and some globally, including the
New York based online news site The Dodo.
“I feel like I’ve done something important”
Amazingly, for a near
teenage boy this virtual fame has not gone to his head, he said: “I feel fine
about it [fame], is was actually quite good fun.
“I feel known. I feel
like I’ve done something important. I don’t exactly feel famous as such.
“I would like to be
kind of famous. I don’t really want to be a super star, I just want to be
known.”
Callum is now most
defiantly ‘known’, although did not expect this fame, he said: “It was normal
for us I just thought it would continue with us studying them. I never thought
this would happen”
His achievements have
also definitely not gone unnoticed within his local community and with his
friends, when asked how they reacted to his new found fame he said: “Well they
kind of just smile and say ‘well done’, ‘you’ve done so amazing’ and my mates
just go on about it, like ‘He was on the news!’, ‘he was on telly!’, and
congratulating me and my achievement all the time.” And rightly so, Callum and
his mother Janet Ullman, who has supported him throughout the development of
his research, have achieved and discovered a great amount about the Palmate
newt and the newt in general through their commitment to this project, which
they thought they would never get anything out of.
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| Photo; Callum Ullman-Smith searching for Palmate Newts in costal pools. |
As a team Callum and
Janet have worked exceedingly hard on this project, managing to juggle Callum’s
schooling and social life as well and Janet’s job heading up the Highland
Seashore Biodiversity Project, which takes up most of her free time. Callum
said: “We go out once a month, every month, well we try. So we see what changes
there are in the pools every month.
“We do all the work and
everything like that and we always have time to play with my mates and play
games and stuff.”
“I suppose it’s easy because I
enjoy it”
Janet said: “I enjoy it
when he [Callum] is happy, so it’s all rather enjoyable.
“There’s times when
it’s a month where it’s pouring down with rain and we can’t get out, so the
weather is frustrating.
“I suppose it’s easy
because I enjoy it.”
Unlike the normal
stereotype Callum has not been ‘dumbed down’ through his love of gaming,
confessing that his favourite game is: “Minecraft – I like the animals and
seeing how they work in the game and then I like construction”. Callum has
defied a lot of the rules and stipulations modern society has created for the
young, by proving that having a love of technology, games and messing around with
‘mates’ does not immediately mean the creation of an idiot.
However Callum is not
quite happy with his accomplishments yet, where many adults before him have
reached his stage of fame in the scientific world and stopped there Callum has
decided the sky is the only limit, he said “I would like to write books about
prehistoric and European animals. And I want to continue studying until I have
more answers than questions. I hope to one day work with bigger animals, like
Rhinos, but the Palmate Newt shall always be my favourite.”
Callum Ullman-Smith is
a true child success story in modern Britain, something we are seeing too
little of in recent times. Callum’s achievements have proved that we should
have more faith in the young and their own skills and abilities to learn, and
mothers like Janet Ullman should be applauded for allowing her child to take a
curiosity and hobby and turn it into something as amazing as these scientific
discoveries.
Read more about this
story at;
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