“Good afternoon, can I ask for five 100kOhm resistors, two 440 UF capacitors and a 2 by 16 LCD display.” – I asked. “Aren’t you too young for this kind of thing?” the salesman at the Radio Shack store replied. He smiled, knowing about my frequent visits and persistent questions.
I grew up in a small town in Ukraine called Simferopol, knowing one simple truth: if you strive to learn something, there are almost no restrictions that cannot be overcome. Despite the frequent shortage of resources available in the Western world, I tried to support my intellectual curiosity with various projects, always having the unwavering support of my family. I have three brothers and sisters who have always supported me in my endeavors. My younger sister plays with my so-called “inventions” with great pleasure, and my brother is passionate about my explanations of the differences between BJT and FET transistors. We have always been a close-knit family: the challenges of living in a new, unfamiliar region and moving to a new country have only strengthened our relations. They supported me when something didn’t work out, calculations didn’t converge, or there was a small fire after I mixed up the polarity on a high-voltage transformer. My dream of transforming the human experience by solving complex problems has its deep foundations in my personal peculiarity – curiosity – and, of course, in the support of my family.