The art of invention: What do Brenden Sener, 12, Archimedes, and a death ray have in common?

May 2026, Popular Mechanics magazine — “It might be surprising to learn that then-12-year-old Brenden Sener of London, Ontario was enthralled by Ancient Greek concepts. It makes more sense once you find out which legend grabbed him,” writes journalist Tim Newcomb in an article this month in Popular Mechanics. “Experts have credited the mathematician Archimedes with a weapon that could concentrate sunlight onto enemy ships: the death ray. And Sener wanted to know whether that story could hold up in the classroom.”

Sener has since earned multiple medals for his attempt to bring the ancient device to life. In his view, he has shown that “the principle behind the Archimedes Death Ray is certainly possible,” according to his 2024 paper published in the Canadian Science Fair Journal.

But that’s the key word: principle. Sener’s experiment tested whether mirrors could concentrate heat—not whether ancient Syracuse fielded a working solar weapon.

There’s no archaeological evidence proves that the death ray—also known as a heat ray—was ever used. The famous version of the story depends on later accounts, not a clean contemporary record from the Roman siege of Syracuse. In the legend, the weapon used large mirrors—or sometimes polished shields—to focus sunlight onto Roman ships.

In his experiment, Sener crafted a miniature version of the concept. He used a heat lamp and four concave mirrors, each pointed to hit a mark on a piece of cardboard. Presented at the 2023 Matthews Hall Annual Science Fair, he found that as he added mirrors, he increased the temperature at the target location.

He believes his experiments show that a larger-scale version—such as the one described in an account of the battle of Syracuse from 214 to 212 BC, which is alleged to have helped set approaching Roman ships on fire—were conceivable. Ancient efforts may have either used mirrors or highly polished shields.

“The historical descriptions of the use of the death ray in ancient Syracuse is plausible,” Sener said, “however no archeological evidence of the Archimedes death ray has been found besides what is recorded in the books of ancient philosophers.”

In an interview with CNN, Sener said he first grew fascinated with the inventions of Archimedes during a family vacation to Greece. His first project featured the Archimedes screw that helped move water, but moving water doesn’t have the same intrigue as moving the Sun’s energy.

“Archimedes was so ahead of his time with his inventions,” Sener told CNN. “And it really did revolutionize technology at that time because Archimedes was thinking about stuff that no one actually had before.”

According to CNN, Cliff Ho—a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories who presented on the death ray about a decade ago—commended Sener for his scientific work. He also believes that the death ray was possible, if unlikely to have been constructed or used.

Sener isn’t the first to explore the Archimedes concept. As he notes in his paper, the MythBusters series from Discovery Channel tested scenarios three different times and failed to catch a boat on fire on each attempt.

Moving ships and clouds limiting the heat of the Sun would surely foil an attempt. CNN highlighted a 2005 attempt by students to recreate the ray at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—an attempt that was successful in burning a boat once, but was unsuccessful on a retry.

Since Sener published his 2024 paper, Youth Science Canada lists him on Team Canada 2025 for MILSET ESI, while later fair records and school updates point to award-winning work on kidney-stone research.

Article by Tim Newcomb, a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics. His favorite interviews have included sit-downs with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and Tinker Hatfield in Portland.