Too many times these day’s kids are in the news because of tragedies or bad behavior. It’s always nice to find a story about one doing something impressive –and Justin Beckerman fits that description. He’s built a working homemade submarine from scratch.The high school junior from New Jersey used his smarts to build a one-man, lake-prowling sea monster capable of diving 30 feet.
Justin’s submarine has gotten attention. He's made appearances on CNN, Huffington Post, Fox affiliate stations and ABC News.
It wasn’t his first attempt at making a submarine, but it is his most successful. Previous versions were made from plastic and duct tape. They could submerge, but only 2 feet.
He named his latest invention: the Nautilus, in honor of the Navy’s first nuclear-powered sub. Only later did Justin, who is just 18, learn it’s also the name of the submarine from Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.”
So far, Justin’s voyages have taken him to the depths of Lake Hopatcong (about an hour’s drive from New York City), but they haven’t yielded any sea monsters. He has, however, seen the side of the dock, rocks and a lot of seaweed.
“I tried to attract fish by putting bread in the water, but I think the fish were too scared of the submarine,” he said.
Justin hopes to eventually be an engineer. While he hasn’t had any Navy recruiters drop by his lab, he said he’d be open to hearing a sales pitch.
“I would certainly listen to them and see what they wanted to do,” said Justin, whose ambitions also include robots and airplanes.
Live Long and Prosper....
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