India, Nov. 20 -- Ernest Opoku knew he wanted to become a scientist when he was a little boy. But his school in Dadease, a small town in Ghana, offered no elective science courses - so Opoku created one for himself.
Even though they had neither a dedicated science classroom nor a lab, Opoku convinced his principal to bring in someone to teach him and five other friends he had convinced to join him. With just a chalkboard and some imagination, they learned about chemical interactions through the formulas and diagrams they drew together.
"I grew up in a town where it was difficult to find a scientist," he says.
Today, Opoku has become one himself, recently earning a PhD in quantum chemistry from Auburn University. This year, he joins MIT a...