A Teenager Sends A Stir Through The Scientific Community By Discovering A Lost Mayan Ruin

I remember relishing in the glory of getting the highest grade on an exam one time in algebra, a moment I will relive forever. For a week, I thought I was a golden boy, but I couldn't be any more wrong. A young man in Quebec is putting all others to shame after many are claiming that he discovered a lost Mayan ruins without ever leaving Canada. William Gadoury, a 15-year-old boy from Saint-Jean-de-Matha, Quebec, discovered something interesting after years of being a Mayan history enthusiast. 

You have to see how William came to the conclusion that archaeologists missed one important detail in their quest to find every Mayan ruin. 

SHARE this article on Facebook because this kid is just a damn genius.

Here is William Gadoury, the phenom teen who purportedly discovered lost Mayan ruins.

He is currently meeting with members of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) about his recent findings.

Some say that William has found the remains of a 4,600-year-old city in Mexico. You can see him pointing to it below.

Skeptical? Here's how he did it.

By comparing Mayan star charts with the existing locations of known Mayan ruins, he discovered a place that should have contained ruins.

Up until that point, though, no ruins were ever documented there. 

William noticed that Mayan cities were oddly placed, not near rivers or other more typical locations.

He made the connection that, given the Mayan's expertise in all things astronomy, perhaps the locations of the cities could be predicted by overlaying certain star constellations onto land. William took to Google Earth to look for any discrepancies between Mayan star charts and known ruin locations. He found something extremely interesting....

Eventually, William discovered what appeared to be platforms typical of Mayan temples.

Importantly, the location of the "platforms" lie in cleared parts of the jungle, hinting that the Mayans originally developed the area. 

William then requested use of the RADARSAT-2 satellite, property of the CSA.

Given the incredible amount of research that he presented to the agency, the CSA accepted the offer. The results were stunning.

A similar platform was found by the satellite in the same location. Great news for William!

The only next step to confirm the existence of the platform ruins is to go there in person. As with Google Earth, it's hard to know whether the shape is defined by chance or even by other structures that aren't Mayan. 

Some experts say it's just a cornfield.

Thomas Garrison, a satellite imagery expert, told Business Insider to be cautious of the findings. Further, an archeologist from the University of Texas at Austin, David Stuart, claims that the entire "revelation" of a discovery is an example of junk science, and that, "the ancient Maya didn't plot their ancient cities according to constellations. Seeing such patterns is a Rorschach process, since sites are everywhere, and so are stars."

We will have to see how this one pans out. Regardless, good on William for causing a stir in the scientific community.

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Main image via Chican Itza

Collage image via CBC News | William Gadoury / Google / CSA