Jack Weis sent more than 2.300 job applications.
He is 30 years old, was born in Salt Lake City, and earned a PhD in chemical engineering from Princeton in 2024. His research on ice formation and interactions between molecules was cited that same year by the Nobel Committee as an example of how machine learning can be applied to science. That doesn’t mean he won the prize, but it does mean his work made it into texts explaining one of the year’s major scientific breakthroughs.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, he has been unable to find stable employment since then. He applied for positions in pharmaceutical research, fellowships at national laboratories, software engineering, and consulting. He also applied for food preparation jobs. According to BusinessToday, most of his applications went unanswered, with the occasional rejection notice.
A version reported by inkl adds that he lives in the basement of his parents’ house. The figure of 2.300 is a self-reported number reported by the WSJ.