Tyrone Marhguy, the Ghanaian academic standout and former Achimota School student currently studying Computer Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, has successfully built a working 8-bit Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) from scratch in his university dormitory.
The ambitious project, completed after more than 250 hours of design and verification, features approximately 3,488 transistors and is capable of performing 19 arithmetic and logic operations. The system reportedly passed over 1.2 million test vectors, demonstrating high reliability.
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According to details published on the project site, Marhguy designed fundamental logic gates including NAND, NOR, XOR, and inverters directly from the MOSFET transistor level before progressing to schematics, PCB layout, and system assembly in a process that spanned roughly 10 weeks.
The young innovator is no stranger to national attention. Marhguy first made headlines in Ghana after challenging Achimota School’s decision to deny him admission because of his dreadlocks, a symbol of his Rastafarian faith. In May 2021, the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court ruled in his favour, describing the denial as a violation of his fundamental rights to education and dignity.
Following the legal victory, he went on to excel academically, scoring eight A1s in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and later securing a full scholarship valued at about $1.4 million to pursue Computer Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.
Marhguy’s latest engineering feat marks what he describes as the completion of Phase One of the project, with the next stages expected to focus on optimization, PCB assembly, soldering, and debugging as he continues to deepen his understanding of computer architecture.
His journey from a landmark courtroom victory to international academic recognition and now advanced hardware design continues to position him as one of Ghana’s promising young talents in science and technology.
