May 2026 — The art of invention: What do Brenden Sener (at 12), Archimedes, and a death ray have in common?

From 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.”

Tim notes that Sener, now 13, has earned multiple medals for his attempt to bring the ancient device to life, as described in his 2024 paper published in the Canadian Science Fair Journal.

Brenden’s experiment tested whether mirrors could concentrate heat—not whether ancient Syracuse fielded a working solar weapon. And there’s no archaeological evidence that proves that the death ray—also known as a heat ray—was ever used. The famous version of the story relies on later accounts, not on a clean contemporary record of the Roman siege of Syracuse. In the legend, the weapon used large mirrors—or sometimes polished shields—to focus sunlight onto Roman ships.