Nigerian Physicist Breaks Guinness World Record For Longest Mathematics Lesson

A Nigerian Physicist, Reken Maikama, on Saturday broke the Guinness World Records (GWR) on Mathematics lesson tagged ACA-Tong for lecturing for 21 hours.

Recall on Friday, THE WHISTLER reported that the 25-year-old Taraba State indigene, began doing maths lessons on Tuesday at the Lab Department, Lecture Hall, Taraba State Polytechnic, Jalingo, Taraba.

Maikama told THE WHISTLER on Saturday, that he recorded 21 hours 7 minutes but was unable to reach the 30 hours he set for himself.

According to him, the experience was stressful to him which nearly made him give up at some point.

He said: “Initially I wanted to cancel it and put a new date because I was down with Malaria that made me lose appetite for food.

“I didn’t eat food for like two days throughout the lecturing hours. I was only taking water and beverages, that was why I wasn’t able to reach my initial goal of 30 hours.

“I am so proud of myself for doing this in a depressed state. I recorded 21 hours 7 minutes in total and rested for 1 hr 30 minutes.”

The young man noted that despite this, no one has ever set any record for the longest maths lesson in Guinness World Records but him. He explained that he would be the first to win.

However, he also pointed out that an Indian man, Suresh Babu, born on 31st May 1961, had won on 14th September 2018, for International World Records but not for Guinness World Records.

“So for Guinness World Records I am the first to set the record. He (the Indian) did it for 12 hours and it was an International world record, but I still broke his record,” Maikama said.

Maikama also said before embarking on setting the record, he had reached out to three record books; Guinness World Records, International World Record and Worldwide Record.

He said Guinness World Records responded to him by accepting his application. They also gave him a reference number which he shared with THE WHISTLER.

However, after completing his 21 hours record, the Physicist said he is yet to reach out to GWR to announce to them that he has completed his records.

He said: “I’m still taking rest and gathering all the necessary evidence to send to the organisation. We have to upload all the evidence first.”

The young Physicist who is also a Mathematician said he has also won some competitions previously, saying he won the 2014 Cowbell Mathematics Competition, Ministry of Education Science Competition and the Olympiad Mathematics and Physics Competition and lots more.

He said setting this GWR is something he can do and redo “anytime, anyday, just to bring it home.”

“My dream is to be the first Nigerian to step foot on the moon, Win a Nobel prize in Physics and also be the first man to achieve a long abandoned science project by Leonardo Davinci of building the first perpetual motion machine! I like exploring new things,” the young Physicist said.