Michael Hofmann Winer just won a $150,000 first-place prize for innovation, based on quantum condensed matter physics work he did in collaboration with U-Md. physics professor Victor Galitski and graduate student Justin Wilson - and he hasn't finished high school yet.

Winer is the winner of this year's Intel Science Talent Search. Obviously he did a lot of work but he also credits the math, science and computer science magnet program at Montgomery Blair, as well as teacher James R. Schafer, whom he called “one of the best teachers in the universe.”

Next up, he gets to meet the president, and he says at age 11, he worked briefly on Obama’s campaign. “I’m a great fan of his.” he said. He also says he"likes his textbooks long, his equations short, his bagels well-done, and his meat medium-rare."

So he's certain not to go into microbiology. Those people are nuts about ruining steak.

Maryland physics phenom ‘tried not to faint’ upon winning national award, By Donna St. George, Washington Post