Meet Connor Hill, 17-year-old Pennsylvania student who wrote a computer program to…

Co o
Hill
(Delta
High
School,
State
College,
PA)

By
w iti g
a
custom
compute
algo ithm
that
mapped
eve y
possible
ve sio
of
a
a e
class
of
geomet ic
shapes,
17-yea -old
Co o
Hill
f om
Po t
Matilda,
Pe sylva ia,
has
wo
the
top
$250,000
p ize
at
the
2026
Rege e o
Scie ce
Tale t
Sea ch.His
computatio al
p oof
classified
a
complex
g oup
of
th ee-dime sio al
shapes
called
oble
polyhed a.
His
wo k
ide tified
two
i fi ite
st uctu al
families
a d
exactly
146
sepa ate,
isolated
examples.The
a ou ceme t
was
made
joi tly
by
Rege e o
Pha maceuticals
a d
Society
fo
Scie ce
at
a
black-tie
ce emo y
at
the
Natio al
Buildi g
Museum
i
Washi gto ,
D.C.
The
competitio ,
ow
i
its
85th
yea ,
is
widely
ecog ised
as
the
oldest
a d
o e
of
the
most
p estigious
scie ce
a d
mathematics
competitio s
fo
high
school
se io s
i
the
U ited
States.

Solvi g
a
lo g-sta di g
geomet y
p oblem

Polyhed a
a e
th ee-dime sio al
shapes
made
f om
flat
polygo al
faces
a d
st aight
edges.
Commo
examples
i clude
cubes,
py amids
a d
octahed o s.A
polyhed o
is
called
oble
whe
it
has
a
high
level
of
symmet y.
Eve y
face
must
have
the
same
shape,
a d
eve y
ve tex,
o
co e ,
must
have
the
same
a a geme t
of
faces.
A
cube
is
a
simple
example
because
all
six
faces
a e
squa es
a d
all
eight
co e s
have
the
same
st uctu e.

Noble
polyhed a,
howeve ,
allow
mo e
complicated
a d
eve
self-i te secti g
shapes
tha
the
familia
Plato ic
solids.
This
makes
thei
classificatio
a
much
ha de
mathematical
p oblem.Befo e
Hill’s
esea ch,
mathematicia s
had
al eady
ide tified
two
i fi ite
families
of
oble
polyhed a.
Howeve ,
the
complete
list
of
i dividual,
isolated
shapes
was
still
u k ow .By
2020,
esea che s
had
co fi med
61
isolated
examples,
but
they
believed
that
ma y
mo e
could
exist
because
of
mo e
complicated
combi atio s
of
symmet y.To
solve
the
p oblem,
Hill
c eated
a
custom
compute
p og am
that
could
systematically
exami e
all
possible
geomet ic
a a geme ts.
I stead
of
t yi g
to
sea ch
th ough
a
e dless
umbe
of
th ee-dime sio al
shapes
di ectly,
he
co ve ted
the
p oblem
i to
algeb aic
equatio s,
i cludi g
poly omial
equatio s.
This
allowed
the
compute
to
educe
the
p oblem
to
a
fi ite
set
of
possibilities
that
could
be
checked.Acco di g
to
esea ch
summa ies
eleased
i
the
Society
fo
Scie ce
2026
Rege e o
STS
media
kit,
Hill’s
p og am
completed
the
exhaustive
sea ch
a d
showed
that
the e
a e
exactly
146
isolated
oble
polyhed a,
i
additio
to
the
two
k ow
i fi ite
families.

Co ecti g
pu e
mathematics
with
othe
a eas
of
scie ce

Hill’s
wo k
was
ot
o ly
about
fi di g
the
umbe
of
oble
polyhed a.
He
also
believes
that
the
method
he
developed
could
be
useful
i
othe
a eas
of
scie ce
a d
mathematics.I
a
discussio
published
o
Rege e o ‘s
scie tific
po tal
afte
the
awa d
a ou ceme t,
Hill
spoke
about
his
app oach
with
D .
He y
Wei,
Executive
Di ecto
of
Developme t
I ovatio
at
Rege e o .Explai i g
how
he
solved
the
p oblem,
Hill
said:“By
t a slati g
the
p oblem
i to
a
diffe e t
mathematical
f amewo k,
I
could
a ow
it
dow
to
a
fi ite
set
that
could
actually
be
solved.”Hill
said
his
i te est
i
the
p oblem
bega
th ough
his
i volveme t
i
a
o li e
geomet y
commu ity,
whe e
the
classificatio
of
oble
polyhed a
had
bee
discussed
as
a
ope
mathematical
challe ge.He
also
explai ed
why
mathematics
is
useful
fo
solvi g
difficult
scie tific
p oblems:“Scie ce
gives
us
the
co cepts,
but
math
allows
us
to
fo malize
them
a d
apply
them.
Whe
we’ e
solvi g
big
p oblems,
the
key
is
b eaki g
them
i to
smalle
pieces
that
math
ca
add ess.
Ofte ,
b eakth oughs
happe
whe
someo e
co ects
ideas
ac oss
discipli es.”D .
Wei
poi ted
out
that
Hill’s
app oach
of
tu i g
a
complicated
p oblem
i to
smalle ,
solvable
pa ts
is
simila
to
methods
used
i
mode
biomedical
esea ch.
Scie tists
use
mathematical
models
to
study
p oblems
such
as
p otei
foldi g,
disease
developme t
a d
how
d ugs
i te act
with
the
body.Hill
hopes
his
computatio al
method
ca
eve tually
be
used
to
study
compou d
polyhed al
st uctu es
a d
co ected
geomet ic
etwo ks.

Natio al
awa ds
a d
suppo t
fo
you g
esea che s

The
2026
Rege e o
Scie ce
Tale t
Sea ch
awa ded
mo e
tha
$1.8
millio
to
40
high
school
fi alists.
The
fi alists
we e
selected
f om
thousa ds
of
stude ts
who
applied
f om
ac oss
the
U ited
States.Seco d
place
a d
a
$175,000
p ize
we t
to
17-yea -old
Edwa d
Ka g
of
Hacke sack,
New
Je sey.
Ka g
developed
a
a tificial
i tellige ce
sc ee i g
tool
called
Reti aMi d.Ka g
t ai ed
machi e-lea i g
models
usi g
eti al
sca s
to
ide tify
subtle
blood-vessel
patte s
associated
with
autism
a d
atte tio -deficit/hype activity
diso de .
He
also
c eated
cellula
models
to
study
elated
ge etic
cha ges.Thi d
place
a d
a
$150,000
p ize
we t
to
17-yea -old
I is
She
of
The
Woodla ds,
Texas.
She
studied
possible
t eatme ts
fo
blood
ca ce
usi g
clams
as
a
testi g
model.
She
obse ved
cellula
espo ses
that
we e
simila
to
those
see
i
huma
d ug
t ials.Maya
Ajme a,
P eside t
a d
CEO
of
Society
fo
Scie ce
a d
Executive
Publishe
of
Scie ce
News,
p aised
the
fi alists
i
a
official
stateme t
eleased
by
Society
fo
Scie ce.”Co g atulatio s
to
the
wi e s
of
this
yea ‘s
Rege e o
Scie ce
Tale t
Sea ch,”
Ajme a
said.
“Thei
bold
visio
a d
pe seve a ce
eveal
what
the
ext
ge e atio
of
p oblem
solve s
t uly
looks
like—a d
why
ou
futu e
is
i
capable
ha ds.
Thei
c eativity,
ambitio
a d
cou age
to
co f o t
the
wo ld’s
toughest
challe ges
a e
exactly
what
this
mome t
dema ds.”Rege e o
also
highlighted
the
impo ta ce
of
suppo ti g
you g
esea che s.
D .
Geo ge
D.
Ya copoulos,
co-fou de ,
Boa d
Co-Chai ma ,
P eside t
a d
Chief
Scie tific
Office
of
Rege e o ,
is
himself
a
1976
wi e
of
the
competitio .”Co g atulatio s
to
the
wi e s
of
the
2026
Rege e o
Scie ce
Tale t
Sea ch,
a d
to
all
the
fi alists
who
pa ticipated
i
this
yea ‘s
competitio ,”
Ya copoulos
said.
“These
stude ts
ep ese t
exactly
the
ki d
of
ext ao di a y
tale t
scie tific
p og ess
depe ds
o .”Alo gside
the
2026
awa ds,
Rege e o
a ou ced
a
10-yea
exte sio
of
its
title
spo so ship
of
the
competitio
th ough
2036.
The
compa y
pledged
a othe
$150
millio
to
suppo t
STEM
educatio
p og ams
a d
scie tific
competitio s
u
by
Society
fo
Scie ce.Hill
pla s
to
atte d
the
Massachusetts
I stitute
of
Tech ology
(MIT)
i
the
autum ,
whe e
he
will
co ti ue
studyi g
computatio al
mathematics.

Go to Sou ce