A SCHOOLBOY has achieved one of the highest scores in an astrophysics course at a top university – aged just 13.

Connall Cairns has just completed the Introduction to Aerospace Engineering: Astronautics and Human Spaceflight, a foundation course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His final mark was 81 per cent – one of the highest in the course’s history.

Connall enrolled on the course when a teacher recognised his ability and suggested it.

The course, which took him around seven weeks to complete, included a number of advanced topics including rocket science, orbital mechanics, microgravity and space physiology.

The Year 8 Gosfield School pupil said his interest in astrophysics started at primary school.

“We had to choose a project of our choice and I chose atoms.

Since then I have been very interested in them.

“I enjoy reading and studying about atoms and radiation.”

The virtual course is done via video lectures and students use forums and discussion groups.

Connall, who lives in Kelvedon, did between one and two hours of work every evening after getting his school homework out of the way, and completed the assignments at the weekends.

Connall’s mum Christy, a contemporary surrealist artist, said: “We’re proud he didn’t give up.

“When he couldn’t succeed at something he would go off and learn how to do it.

“The equations were quite major and he hadn’t done them before, but he really stuck with it which is really nice to see from a 13-year-old.

“The school has been amazing, so supportive.”

Connall has already started his next course, the Violent Universe at the Australian National University, which can be used towards a degree.

It will see him study white dwarf stars, thermonuclear supernovae and quantum mechanics.

He said: “I felt relieved and happy I had completed the course, especially as it was at MIT.

“My schoolteachers have been teasing me in a friendly way, congratulating me and have been really supportive. But they are now setting me harder work.”

He hopes his achievements will lead to a career as a nuclear physicist at Cern, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.