Big brains win big fame

If the hosts were impressed by the young scientist's aspirations, that was just the beginning, because they soon found out that he has also had a daredevil streak in him and was ready to walk the talk if he believed in something.

The proof of his courage came when Chen and his first-round rival, a 15-year-old genius in chemistry, were given the first test, which was: Which kind of tank - one that has 2 percent sugar melted in the water or the same amount of water with the same percentage of salt - is safe for people to be immersed in if the water is charged with a 1.1-million-volt electric current?

Chen chose the salty water, and he tested his conclusion personally.

As his rival was not an adult, she was allowed to have the host, Zechman, take her place to test sugar water.

For the test, Chen wore a special hat and with his arms wrapped with tin foil. He got into a bath filled with water and 20 kilograms of salt.

While the audience was on the edge of their seats, the young man was relaxed, and even stretched out his fingers to touch the high-tension arc carrying the high-voltage current, which could be fatal if he was wrong.

"His calmness formed a sharp contrast to Zechman, who was very nervous," recalls director Zhang.

Chen, who was born in Fushun, Liaoning province, demonstrated an interest in science from the age of 3 as he preferred to look at science-themed picture books instead of watching TV.

Later, he was part of a project to recruit child geniuses for the Northeast Yucai School in Shenyang. A former champion in China's national physics contest for middle school students in 2015, Chen, who joined Tsinghua at 16, writes sci-fi novels as a hobby.

Chen is not the only star created by the show.