 "All you need to know about Ahmed and his clock")
For Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old Texas high school teen, life took a sudden turn when a simple invention first landed him behind the bars and then an invitation from the US President.
The invention, a simple homemade clock, was mistaken for a hoax bomb by his school authorities. An alarmed teacher at MacArthur High School called the police, which eventually led to a three-day suspension from school, and an arrest by Irving authorities. The close of the investigation was to later set in motion some questions that Ahmed is still struggling to comprehend.
But what followed — television channels flashing his name in prime-time slots, newspapers carrying his pictures on the front page — made Ahmed an overnight sensation, even before he realised.
From tweets to social media posts, the internet was flooded with words of encouragement for this young genius. The controversy garnered more attention when US President Barack Obama invited him to the White House.
However, the opinions within the Mohamed family over religious discrimination were divided. The older generation was quoted as saying they had been treated well in Irving. But the children — four girls and two boys — said they were increasingly seen with suspicion and disdain. One of the sisters, for instance, said she had to leave a new job after her boss tried to force her to remove her hijab while at work.
Here are five things that you need to know about Ahmed Mohamed, the ‘Inventor Kid’:
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1. A ninth-grader, Ahmed is regarded a genius among his friends and peers.
2. He attended the Sam Houston Middle School, where he was named the ‘Inventor Kid’ by his batchmates, for his astounding abilities to make contraptions, unimaginable for someone his age.
3. Ahmed was born to a couple who migrated from Sudan.
4. During a live interview, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, an astrophysics professor at MIT, surprised the 14-year-old by inviting him to a tour of MIT and Harvard University. The young boy, who wants to be an engineer, had previously called MIT his “dream school”.
5. After receiving a coveted offer from the President to visit the White House, the teenage sensation was also invited by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for a tour of his company’s offices.