List of child prodigies
Encyclopedia
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
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Mathematics
- Akshay VenkateshAkshay VenkateshAkshay Venkatesh is an Indian Australian mathematician. His research interests are in the fields of counting, equidistribution problems in automorphic forms and number theory, in particular representation theory, locally symmetric spaces and ergodic theory...
(born 1981) Won a bronze medal at the International Physics Olympiad at 11 years of age. Won a Bronze medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad at 12. Graduated university at age 15 with a double major in mathematics/physics. Finished his PhD at 20 from Princeton University. Associate Professor at 23. - André-Marie AmpèreAndré-Marie AmpèreAndré-Marie Ampère was a French physicist and mathematician who is generally regarded as one of the main discoverers of electromagnetism. The SI unit of measurement of electric current, the ampere, is named after him....
(1775–1836) wrote a treatise on conic sections at the age of 13 and mastered much of known mathematics by the age of 18. - March Tian BoedihardjoMarch Tian BoedihardjoMarch Tian Boedihardjo is a child prodigy of Chinese Indonesian descent.Born in Hong Kong, with family roots in Anxi, Fujian, Boedihardjo moved to the United Kingdom in 2005, when his older brother Horatio won a place at the University of Oxford...
(born 1998), at 9 became the youngest student to enroll in a Hong Kong university. - Ted Kaczynski (born May 22, 1942), the "Unabomber", was a child prodigy who excelled academically from an early age. Kaczynski was accepted into Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
at the age of 16, where he earned an undergraduate degree, and later earned a PhDPHDPHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in mathematics from the University of MichiganUniversity of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. He became an assistant professor at the University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
at age 25, but resigned two years later. - Erik DemaineErik DemaineErik D. Demaine , is a professor of Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.-Early life:...
(born 1980) Became an assistant professor at MIT at 20 years of age. - Per EnfloPer EnfloPer H. Enflo is a mathematician who has solved fundamental problems in functional analysis. Three of these problems had been open for more than forty years:* The basis problem and the approximation problem and later...
(born 1944) Swedish mathematician, also a piano prodigy - Anne-Marie ImafidonAnne-Marie ImafidonAnne-Marie Imafidon is a British computing, mathematics and language child prodigy. She is one of the youngest to pass two GCSEs in two different subjects while in primary school...
is one of youngest students to graduate from the University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. - Srinivasa RamanujanSrinivasa RamanujanSrīnivāsa Aiyangār Rāmānujan FRS, better known as Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan was a Indian mathematician and autodidact who, with almost no formal training in pure mathematics, made extraordinary contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions...
(1887–1920) - was an Indian mathematician and autodidact who, with almost no formal training in pure mathematics, learned college-level mathematics by age 11, and generated his own theorems in number theoryNumber theoryNumber theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers. Number theorists study prime numbers as well...
and Bernoulli numbers by age 13 (including independently re-discovering Euler's identity). - Arran FernandezArran FernandezArran Fernandez, England, born June 1995, is a home-educated student who broke the age record for gaining a General Certificate of Secondary Education , the English academic qualification usually taken at age 16. Sitting the examinations at the age of five, he was awarded GCSE Mathematics in 2001...
(born 1995), youngest student at University of CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
since 1773. - Evariste GaloisÉvariste GaloisÉvariste Galois was a French mathematician born in Bourg-la-Reine. While still in his teens, he was able to determine a necessary and sufficient condition for a polynomial to be solvable by radicals, thereby solving a long-standing problem...
(1811–1832) was invited to study at the college of Reims at the age of 10. - Carl Friedrich GaussCarl Friedrich GaussJohann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician and scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, electrostatics, astronomy and optics.Sometimes referred to as the Princeps mathematicorum...
(1777–1855) made his first ground-breaking mathematical discoveries while still a teenager. Also could perform complicated arithemetic at age 3. - Francis GaltonFrancis GaltonSir Francis Galton /ˈfrɑːnsɪs ˈgɔːltn̩/ FRS , cousin of Douglas Strutt Galton, half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an English Victorian polymath: anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician...
(1822-1911), statistician - William Rowan HamiltonWilliam Rowan HamiltonSir William Rowan Hamilton was an Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician, who made important contributions to classical mechanics, optics, and algebra. His studies of mechanical and optical systems led him to discover new mathematical concepts and techniques...
, (1805–1865) a mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, read Hebrew at seven years old, and studied Arabic, PersianPersian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, GreekGreek languageGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Syriac, SanskritSanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
and four other continental languages at 12 years old. - Jay Luo (born 1970), received his B.Sc.Bachelor of ScienceA Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
from Boise State UniversityBoise State UniversityBoise State University is a public university located in Boise, Idaho. Originally founded in 1932 as a junior college by the Episcopal Church, the university became an independent institution in 1934, and has been awarding baccalaureate and master degrees since 1965...
with honors in mathematics at the age of 12 to become the youngest university graduate in United States history. - Blaise PascalBlaise PascalBlaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...
(1623–1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher who wrote a treatise on vibrating bodies at nine years old; his first proof, on a wall with a piece of coal, at 11 years old, and a theorem by 16 years old. He is famous for Pascal's theorem and many other contributions in mathematics, philosophy, and physics. - Raúl Chávez SarmientoRaúl Chávez SarmientoRaúl Arturo Chávez Sarmiento is a Peruvian child prodigy in mathematics. At the age of , he won a bronze medal at the 2009 International Mathematical Olympiad, making him the second youngest medalist in IMO history, behind Terence Tao who won bronze in 1986 at the age of 10.He won a silver medal...
(born 1997), second youngest medalist in International Mathematical OlympiadInternational Mathematical OlympiadThe International Mathematical Olympiad is an annual six-problem, 42-point mathematical olympiad for pre-collegiate students and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except in 1980...
history, at age 11 (bronze medal). - William James SidisWilliam James SidisWilliam James Sidis was an American child prodigy with exceptional mathematical and linguistic abilities. His IQ was estimated to be between 250 and 300 - one of the highest ever recorded - he entered Harvard early at age 11, and as an adult was conversant in over 40 languages and dialects...
(1898–1944) set a record in 1909 by becoming the youngest person to enroll at Harvard CollegeHarvard CollegeHarvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, at 11 years old. - Terence TaoTerence TaoTerence Chi-Shen Tao FRS is an Australian mathematician working primarily on harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, combinatorics, analytic number theory and representation theory...
(born 1975), youngest medalist in International Mathematical OlympiadInternational Mathematical OlympiadThe International Mathematical Olympiad is an annual six-problem, 42-point mathematical olympiad for pre-collegiate students and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except in 1980...
history, at age 10. - Norbert WienerNorbert WienerNorbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a...
(1894–1964) began graduate studies at age 14 at Harvard and was awarded Phd at 18 for dissertation on mathematical logicMathematical logicMathematical logic is a subfield of mathematics with close connections to foundations of mathematics, theoretical computer science and philosophical logic. The field includes both the mathematical study of logic and the applications of formal logic to other areas of mathematics...
. - Sufiah YusofSufiah YusofSufiah Yusof is a British mathematics prodigy originally from Malaysia. She is now working as a social worker.- Biography :Sufiah Yusof first made headlines in 1997 when she gained entry into St Hilda's College, Oxford to study mathematics at the age of 13.In 2001, she ran away from her student...
(born 1984) a Malaysian girl, gained entry into St. Hilda's CollegeSt Hilda's College, OxfordSt Hilda's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.The college was founded in 1893 as a hall for women, and remained an all-women's college until 2006....
, Oxford University, in 1997, to study mathematics at 13 years old. - Cameron Thompson (born 1997) began studying with the Open UniversityOpen UniversityThe Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
at the age of 11. He gained the Cert.Math(Open) qualification at the age of 13 and hopes to obtain his B.Sc(Hons) at 16. Cameron is the subject of the BBC Documentary "Growing Pains of a Teenage Genius".
Mental calculators
Note: Several mathematicians were mental calculators when they were still children. This section is for child prodigies largely or primarily known for calculating skills.- Zerah ColburnZerah Colburn (math prodigy)Zerah Colburn was a child prodigy of the 19th century who gained fame as a mental calculator.-Biography:He was born in Cabot, Vermont in 1804 and educated at Westminster School in London. He was thought to be mentally retarded until the age of seven. However, after six weeks of schooling his...
(born 1804) He had a major display of his ability at age eight. - Daniel TammetDaniel TammetDaniel Tammet is a British writer. His best selling 2006 memoir, Born On A Blue Day, about his life with high-functioning autism and savant syndrome, was named a "Best Book for Young Adults" in 2008 by the American Library Association.Tammet's second book, Embracing the Wide Sky, was named one of...
(born 1979) is a savant who can perform complex calculations in his head since the age of four. - Shakuntala DeviShakuntala DeviShakuntala Devi is a calculating prodigy who was born on November 4, 1939 in Bangalore, India. Her father worked in a "Brahmin circus" as a trapeze and tightrope performer, and later as a lion tamer and a human cannonball. Her calculating gifts first demonstrated themselves while she was doing...
(born 1939) Her abilities were first recognized at three years old. - Ettore MajoranaEttore MajoranaEttore Majorana was an Italian theoretical physicist who began work on neutrino masses. He disappeared suddenly in mysterious circumstances. He is noted for the eponymous Majorana equation and for Majorana fermions.-Gifted in mathematics:Majorana was born in Catania, Sicily...
(1906-1938) could multiply two 3 digit number in his head in seconds at the age of 4. - John von NeumannJohn von NeumannJohn von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath who made major contributions to a vast number of fields, including set theory, functional analysis, quantum mechanics, ergodic theory, geometry, fluid dynamics, economics and game theory, computer science, numerical analysis,...
(1903–1957) A "mental calculator" by six years old, who could tell jokes in classical Greek. - Priyanshi SomaniPriyanshi SomaniPriyanshi Somani is a mental calculator. She was the youngest participant of the Mental Calculation World Cup 2010 and won the overall title. She is the only participant who has done 100% accuracy in Addition, Multiplication, Square Root till date in all four Mental Calculation World Cups. Somani...
(born 1998) current Mental Calculation World ChampionMental Calculation World Cup-Mental Calculation World Cup 2004:The first Mental Calculation World Cup was held in Annaberg-Buchholz, Germany on 30 October 2004. There were 17 participants from 10 countries.The World Cup involved the following contests :...
. - Truman Henry SaffordTruman Henry SaffordTruman Henry Safford was an American calculating prodigy. In later life he was an observatory director.He was born in Royalton, Vermont, USA on 6 January, 1836. At an early age he attracted public attention by his remarkable calculation powers. At the age of nine, a local priest asked him to...
(1836–1901) could square 18 digit numbers at ten years old; later in life, he became an astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
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Physics
- Mikaela FudoligMikaela FudoligMikaela Irene Fudolig is a Filipina who graduated at 16 years old as a summa cum laude in B.S. Physics with a general weighted average of 1.099 from the University of the Philippines, Diliman and an instructor at the National Institute of Physics at the same university...
(born 1991), finished college at 16 years old with a degree in physics, summa cum laude and class valedictorian (Class of 2007), at the University of the PhilippinesUniversity of the PhilippinesThe ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...
. She entered the university at 11 years old. Currently, she is studying physics at the same university for the Master's degreeMaster's degreeA master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
. - Christopher Hirata (born 1982) Youngest American (at 13) to win a gold medal in the International Physics Olympiad (1996). Entered Caltech at the age of 14, earned PhD in Physics from PrincetonPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
at age 22. - Abdus SalamAbdus SalamMohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk Mohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk Mohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk (Urdu: محمد عبد السلام, pronounced , (January 29, 1926– November 21, 1996) was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work on the electroweak unification of the...
(1926–1996) At the age of fourteen, Salam scored the highest marks ever recorded for the Matriculation Examination at the Punjab University. A Nobel laureate in Physics for his work in Electro-Weak Theory, Salam holds the distinction of being the first Pakistani and Muslim Nobel Laureate to receive the prize in the Physical Sciences. - Wolfgang PauliWolfgang PauliWolfgang Ernst Pauli was an Austrian theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of quantum physics. In 1945, after being nominated by Albert Einstein, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his "decisive contribution through his discovery of a new law of Nature, the exclusion principle or...
(1900–1958) had an understanding of advanced mathematics by the age of 13 and graduated with a PhD in Physics at the age of 21. - Tathagat Avatar TulsiTathagat Avatar TulsiTathagat Avatar Tulsi is an Indian physicist, best known as a child prodigy. He completed high school at the age of 9, earned a B.Sc. at the age of 10 and a M.Sc. at the age of 12 from Patna Science College . In August 2009, he got his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore at the...
(born 1987) received an undergraduate degree at 10 years old, got a Ph.D.Ph.D.A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
at 21 & was offered a position of assistant professor at IIT BIndian Institute of Technology BombayThe Indian Institute of Technology Bombay , popularly known as IIT Bombay or IITB, is a public research university located in Powai, Mumbai...
at 22.
Astronomy
- Tanishq Mathew AbrahamTanishq Mathew AbrahamTanishq Abraham is an American child genius and a child prodigy. He joined Mensa at 4 years old.In 2010, when his younger sister, Tiara Thankam Abraham , became a member of Mensa at 4 years old, they became the youngest siblings to join the high IQ society Mensa...
(born 2003) is an American child prodigy with Indian (East) ancestry who joined the on-campus college Astronomy class at 7 years old. Not only did he pass the course with an A grade but he was the top student among his college classmates (the youngest in the world). He is also one of the youngest members of American Mensa, joining at 4 years old in 2008. As of 2010, he and his younger sister, Tiara Thankam Abraham are the youngest siblings to both join Mensa at 4 years old
Chemistry
- Ainan Celeste Cawley (born 1999) passed Chemistry O level at 7 years and 1 month (the youngest in the world) and studied Chemistry at tertiary level, at a Polytechnic, from 8 years and 4 months old.
Biology
- Colin Carlson - 13 years old, Carlson studies at the University of Connecticut where he's seeking a bachelor's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and another in environmental studies. He started reading around the age of 2 or 3 and wants a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology and a degree in environmental law for a career in conservation science. He intends to earn the two degrees by age 22.
- Gabriel See, born in 1998, achieved a 720 out of 800 score on the SAT math test at age 8, Performed T-cell receptor research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at age 10, and at age 11 won a silver medal at the international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition on synthetic biology for undergraduate college students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2011 he was named one of the US's top 10 high school inventors by Popular Science magazine. He has been taking upper division courses each semester at the University of Washington since 2010.
Psychology
- Jean PiagetJean PiagetJean Piaget was a French-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology"....
(1896–1980) published a paper on the albino sparrow at 11 years old, and later became a psychologistPsychologistPsychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
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Medicine
- Balamurali AmbatiBalamurali AmbatiBalamurali "Doogie Howser" Ambati is an Indian-American ophthalmologist, educator, and researcher, currently working at the University of Utah. In 1995, he entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's youngest doctor, at the age of seventeen....
graduated from high school at 11 years old, was a college junior by 12 years old, and a doctor at 17 years old. - AvicennaAvicennaAbū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
memorized the Qur'anQur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
at 10 years old and studied medicineMedicineMedicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
at 13 years old. - Sho YanoSho Yanois an American child prodigy with an estimated IQ of 200 . Yano's father, Katsura, is originally from Japan and his mother, Kyung, is originally from South Korea....
started college at nine years old and graduated summa cum laudeLatin honorsLatin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
at 12 years old from Loyola University ChicagoLoyola University ChicagoLoyola University Chicago is a private Jesuit research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1870 under the title St...
. By 12 years old, he attended the Pritzker School of MedicinePritzker School of MedicineThe Pritzker School of Medicine is the M.D. granting unit of the Biological Sciences Division of the University of Chicago. It is located on the University's main campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, and matriculated its first class in 1927...
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Materials engineering
- Alia SaburAlia SaburAlia Sabur is an American materials scientist. She holds the record for being the world's youngest professor.-Early life and education:...
(born 1989) received an undergraduate degree at 14 years old, and became a college professor at 18 years old.
Mechanical engineering
- Karl BenzKarl BenzKarl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz...
started at the scientifically oriented Lyzeum at nine years old, went on to study at the Poly-Technical University under the instruction of Ferdinand RedtenbacherFerdinand RedtenbacherFerdinand Jakob Redtenbacher is regarded as the founder of science-based mechanical engineering.- Life :...
, and, on September 30, 1860, at an age of just 15, he passed the entrance exam for mechanical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, which he subsequently attended. Benz was graduated July 9, 1864 at age nineteen. Karl Benz later became the pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-BenzMercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
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Acting/directing
Note: This section is mostly limited to child actors or directors who were respected enough to be nominated or to win awards while in competition with adults, or who were declared prodigies. It also includes a few actors, from eras predating film, who were declared theatrical prodigies. This section must be limited this way because being even an award-winning child actor is not prodigious. (For child actors who won juvenile competition, see Academy Juvenile AwardAcademy Juvenile Award
The Academy Juvenile Award, also known as the Juvenile Oscar, was a Special Honorary Academy Award bestowed at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to specifically recognize juvenile performers under the age of eighteen for their "outstanding...
. These names do not necessarily equate with being competitive with adults and therefore do not necessarily count as prodigies.)
- William Henry West BettyWilliam Henry West BettyWilliam Henry West Betty was a British child actor.-Biography:Betty was born at Shrewsbury. His first appearance on the stage at was at Belfast before he was twelve years old, as Osman in Aaron Hill's Zara, an English version of Voltaire's Zaïre...
was a sensation as a boy doing VoltaireVoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
and Shakespeare roles. - Jackie CooperJackie CooperJackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination...
was the youngest nominee for the Best Actor OscarAcademy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
at age nine years old. - Quinn CummingsQuinn CummingsQuinn Cummings is an American inventor, businesswoman, television and film actress, and author best known for her Oscar-nominated role in Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl and her humorous memoir "Notes From The Underwire" She is currently working on a second book, "The Year of Learning Dangerously",...
was an Oscar and Golden Globe AwardGolden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
nominee at 10 years old. She is now a businesswoman and blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger. - Brandon De WildeBrandon De WildeAndre Brandon deWilde was an American theatre and film actor. He was born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn. Debuting on Broadway at the age of 7, De Wilde became a national phenomenon by the time he completed his 492 performances for The Member of the Wedding and was considered a child...
at seven years old, was the first child actor to win the Donaldson Award; his talent was praised by John GielgudJohn GielgudSir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
in the following year. He was also a nominee for the Best Supporting Actor OscarAcademy Award for Best Supporting ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
at 11 years old, in ShaneShaneShane is a 1953 American Western film from Paramount. It was produced and directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by A.B. Guthrie Jr., based on the 1949 novel of the same name by Jack Schaefer. Its Oscar-winning cinematography was by Loyal Griggs...
and starred in his own sitcom television series on ABCABC TelevisionABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
at the same time. - Jodelle FerlandJodelle FerlandJodelle Micah Ferland is a Canadian actress, best known for her portrayal of Sharon and Alessa in the 2006 horror film Silent Hill, Mary Jensen in the 2004 miniseries Kingdom Hospital and her portrayal of Bree Tanner in the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.-Life and career:Ferland was born in Nanaimo,...
received a daytime Emmy nomination at four years old and, at 12 years old, was nominated at the 27th Genie Awards27th Genie AwardsThe 27th Genie Awards were held on February 13, 2007 to honour films released in 2006. The ceremony was located at the Carlu theatre in Toronto....
for lead actress. - Justin HenryJustin HenryJustin Henry is a former child actor, who since 2000 has been a new media business professional. He appeared in the 1979 film Kramer vs. Kramer, his first role, in a performance that earned him a nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the youngest actor to ever be nominated in any...
was the youngest nominee for the Best Supporting Actor OscarAcademy Award for Best Supporting ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
at eight years old, in Kramer vs. KramerKramer vs. KramerKramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 American drama film adapted by Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman, and directed by Benton. The film tells the story of a married couple's divorce and its impact on everyone involved, including the couple's young son... - Patty McCormackPatty McCormackPatty McCormack is an American actress with a career in theater, films and television.She achieved success as a child actress, and received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Bad Seed...
was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress OscarAcademy Award for Best Supporting ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
at 11 years old, in an era when child actors could still be nominated for the Juvenile Award. - Frankie MichaelsFrankie MichaelsFrankie Michaels is an American actor of stage and film. He holds the record for being the youngest person to win a Tony Award at age ten for his performance in the Broadway musical Mame in 1966.-External links:...
, at 11 years old, received praise and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a MusicalTony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a MusicalThis is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. The award has been presented since 1947...
for his role in Mame. - Tatum O'NealTatum O'NealTatum Beatrice O'Neal is an American actress best known for her film work as a child actress in the 1970s. She is the youngest to win a competitive Academy Award, at the age of 10, which she won for her performance as Addie Loggins in Paper Moon opposite her father Ryan O'Neal...
won the Best Supporting Actress OscarAcademy Award for Best Supporting ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
at 10 years old, for her 1973 role in Paper MoonPaper Moon (film)Paper Moon is a 1973 American comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was adapted from the novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown, and the film was shot in black-and-white. The film is set during the Great Depression in the U.S. states of Kansas and...
, making her the youngest person ever to win a regularly awarded Oscar. - Haley Joel OsmentHaley Joel OsmentHaley Joel Osment is an American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the 1990s, including a small part in Forrest Gump playing Tom Hanks' title character’s son, Osment rose to fame with his performance as Cole Sear in M...
was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar at 11 years old. - Anna PaquinAnna PaquinAnna Helene Paquin is a Canadian-born New Zealand actress. Paquin's first critically successful film was The Piano, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1994 at the age of 11 – the second youngest winner in history...
won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at 11 years old. - Ricky Schroder won a Golden Globe AwardGolden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
at nine years old, youngest winner ever. - Kishan ShrikanthKishan ShrikanthKishan Shrikanth किशन श्रीकांत Kishan Shrikanth किशन श्रीकांत Kishan Shrikanth किशन श्रीकांत (born January 6, 1996, professionally known as Kishan SS or Master Kishan, is an Indian-language actor & director from India. He is the "Youngest Director of a professionally made feature length film" as...
- Directed Care of FootpathCare Of FootpathC/o Footpath is the first film produced by the Kiran Movie Makers of Bangalore, India. It was directed by the world’s youngest film director, Guinness Record Holder Kishan Shrikanth....
at age nine. - Shirley TempleShirley TempleShirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
, at five years old, showed talent as an actress and tap dancerTap danceTap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sound of one's tap shoes hitting the floor as a percussive instrument. As such, it is also commonly considered to be a form of music. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses more on the...
. When she was seven years old, she received a special Academy Award. She was described as a prodigy by Time (magazine)Time (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
in 1936. - Ernest TruexErnest TruexErnest Truex was an American actor of stage and film.-Career:...
(1889–1973) performed Shakespeare at six years old.
Literature
- Harold BloomHarold BloomHarold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
- American literary critic and Sterling ProfessorSterling ProfessorA Sterling Professorship is the highest academic rank at Yale University, awarded to a tenured faculty member considered one of the best in his or her field...
of Humanities at YaleYALERapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
. Bloom claims that as a child he went to the Melrose branch of the New York Public LibraryNew York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
and borrowed the works of Hart CraneHart Crane-Career:Throughout the early 1920s, small but well-respected literary magazines published some of Crane’s lyrics, gaining him, among the avant-garde, a respect that White Buildings , his first volume, ratified and strengthened...
, T. S. EliotT. S. EliotThomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
, AudenAudenAuden is a surname, and may refer to:* George Augustus Auden , English physician* John Bicknell Auden , English geologist and explorer* W. H. Auden , Anglo-American poet...
, William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, and Shakespeare. He claims that: "I memorized almost instinctively all of [William Blake's] long poems. I went from Blake to Milton and from Milton to Shakespeare...I read my way through the Melrose library.I am probably the largest monster of reading I have ever known. I can read at a shocking rate and I can remember nearly everything." In the 1940s, at the Fordham library, Bloom would "ransack" the large and complex dictionaries and concordances. M. H. AbramsM. H. AbramsMeyer Howard Abrams is an American literary critic, known for works on Romanticism, in particular his book The Mirror and the Lamp. Under Abrams' editorship, the Norton Anthology of English Literature became the standard text for undergraduate survey courses across the U.S...
, Bloom's advisor at Cornell, describes him during his undergraduate years as "[A] formidable person. He was a prodigy, beyond anything I'd ever seen -- and there was never anyone since who came close." - William Cullen BryantWilliam Cullen BryantWilliam Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post.-Youth and education:...
was published at 10 years old; at 13 years old, he published a book of political-satire poems . - Thomas ChattertonThomas ChattertonThomas Chatterton was an English poet and forger of pseudo-medieval poetry. He died of arsenic poisoning, either from a suicide attempt or self-medication for a venereal disease.-Childhood:...
started as a poet at 11 years old. He began writing the poems that would make him famous at 12 years old. - Lucretia Maria DavidsonLucretia Maria DavidsonLucretia Maria Davidson was an American poet of the early 19th century.-Biography:She was born in Plattsburgh, New York, on September 27, 1808. Her father, Oliver Davidson, was a physician, and her mother, Margaret Miller, was an author...
, by 11 years old, had written some poems of note; before her death at 16 years old, she received praise as a writer. - Marjorie FlemingMarjorie FlemingMarjorie Fleming was a child writer and poet, born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. She died of meningitis at the age of 8. Her complete written work is held by the National Library of Scotland...
was a published poet before her death at eight years old. - Barbara Newhall FollettBarbara Newhall FollettBarbara Newhall Follett was an American child prodigy novelist. Her first novel,The House Without Windows, was published in 1927 when she was thirteen years old...
began working on a novel at 8 and was published by age 12. - H. P. LovecraftH. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
recited poetry at two years old and wrote long poems at five years old. - Christopher MarloweChristopher MarloweChristopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
: as a child, attracted the attention of Matthew ParkerMatthew ParkerMatthew Parker was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder of Anglican theological thought....
. He is the eponymous Marlowe of the Marlovian theoryMarlovian theoryThe Marlovian theory with regard to the Shakespeare authorship question is a fringe theory that holds that the Elizabethan poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe did not die in Deptford on 30 May 1593, as the historical records state, but rather that his death was faked, and that he was the main...
of Shakespearean authorship. - Alexander PopeAlexander PopeAlexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
: was a child prodigy as a poet, with gifts all but universally acknowledged. He is the third most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson. - Henriett Seth F.: Henriett had a long history of visual art, poetry and writing in her childhood; beginning at age nine and at age thirteen, http://player.vimeo.com/video/15770556, but she gave up creative music career altogether at the age of 13.. Henriett universal effect of all that was what we now call autism and savant syndrome
- Lope de VegaLope de VegaFélix Arturo Lope de Vega y Carpio was a Spanish playwright and poet. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Century Baroque literature...
wrote his first play at 12 years old. He could also read Latin proficiently at the age of five years old.
Visual arts
- Albrecht DürerAlbrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
- Jacques Henri LartigueJacques Henri LartigueJacques Henri Lartigue was a French photographer and painter.Born in Courbevoie to a wealthy family, he is most famous for his stunning photos of automobile races, planes and fashionable Parisian women from the turn of the century.He started taking photos when he was 7, his subject matter being...
, French photographer whose childhood work was recognized as exceptional when he was sixty nine years old. - Jan LievensJan LievensJan Lievens was a Dutch painter, usually associated with Rembrandt, working in a similar style.-Biography:According to Arnold Houbraken, Jan was the son of Lieven Hendriksze, a tapestry worker , and was trained by Joris Verschoten. He was sent to Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam at about the age of 10...
was a painter who was apprenticed at eight years old and an independent artist at 12 years old. - John Everett MillaisJohn Everett MillaisSir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
was a painter who entered the Royal Academy at 11 years old. - Alexandra NechitaAlexandra NechitaAlexandra Nechita is a Romanian-born American cubist painter and muralist.- Biography :She was born in Vaslui, three months after her father, Niki Nechita, escaped from Communist Romania. She and her mother, Viorica Nechita, had to wait for two years before being allowed to join him in the United...
is a painter who had a solo exhibit at eight years old. - Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
- Pablo PicassoPablo PicassoPablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
painted Picador at eight years old. See List of Picasso artworks 1889-1900. - Kieron WilliamsonKieron WilliamsonKieron Williamson is a watercolour artist from Holt, Norfolk in England. His paintings and ability by the age of six have caused considerable interest in the UK media and are notable for his advanced use of perspective and shading....
, an eight-year-old watercolor artist from NorfolkNorfolkNorfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, England whose second exhibition sold out in 14 minutes, raising £18,200 for 16 paintings. - Wang YaniWang YaniWang Yani is a Chinese artist who began painting at the age of two-and-a-half. Her work was exhibited in China when she was four, appeared on a postage stamp when she was eight, and she had a solo exhibition at a museum in London when she was fourteen, and soon after, at the Arthur M...
had her paintings appear on postage stamps at six years old and in worldwide museum exhibits at 12 years old. - Zhu DaZhu DaBada Shanren , born as Zhu Da , was a Chinese painter of shuimohua and a calligrapher. He was of noble lineage, being a descendant of the Ming dynasty prince Zhu Quan. Art historians have named him as a leading painter of the period....
became a poet by seven years old. He later became a painter. - Akiane KramarikAkiane KramarikAkiane Kramarik is an American poet and artistic prodigy.-Biography:Akiane Kramarik was born in Mount Morris, Illinois to a Lithuanian mother and an American father. She is homeschooled.She is primarily a self-taught painter...
born in 1994, sold paintings worth $3M USD at age 7 - Marla OlmsteadMarla OlmsteadMarla Olmstead is a painter of abstract art. By the age of 4 she had attracted international media attention. Abstract artworks purportedly painted by her have been as large as five feet square and have sold for tens of thousands of US dollars...
born in 2000, sold paintings worth over $20,000 at age 6 and had international recognition. - Aelita AndreAelita AndreAelita Andre is an Australian abstract artist known for her Surrealist painting style and her young age. She began to paint when aged nine months, and her work was displayed publicly in a group exhibition shortly after she turned two...
born in 2007, sold paintings worth over $30,000 at age 4 and had international recognition. - Henriett Seth F.: Henriett had a long history of visual art, poetry and writing in her childhood; beginning at age nine and at age thirteen, http://player.vimeo.com/video/15770556, but she gave up creative music career altogether at the age of 13.. Henriett universal effect of all that was what we now call autism and savant syndrome
Academics
- Michael KearneyMichael KearneyMichael Kevin Kearney is a former child prodigy known for setting several world records and teaching college at the age of 17.-Early life:...
earned the first of several degrees at 10 years old. He became a college teacher by 17 years old. - Gregory R. Smith entered college at 10 years old and was first nominated for the Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
at 12 years old. - Colin MaclaurinColin MaclaurinColin Maclaurin was a Scottish mathematician who made important contributions to geometry and algebra. The Maclaurin series, a special case of the Taylor series, are named after him....
went to study divinity in University of Glasgow at the age of 11 and remained until he was 19 years, 7 months old in the year 1717 when he was elected professor of mathematics, where for nearly three hundred years he held the record as the world's youngest professor. - Alexander FaludyAlexander FaludyAlexander Faludy , an English student, is a former child prodigy who in 1998 became the youngest undergraduate at the University of Cambridge since 1773.-Life:...
in 1998 became the youngest undergraduate at the University of CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
since 1773. - Pierre BouguerPierre BouguerPierre Bouguer was a French mathematician, geophysicist, geodesist, and astronomer. He is also known as "the father of naval architecture"....
(1698–1758) was appointed professor of hydrography in 1713 at the age of 15. - Kim Ung-YongKim Ung-YongKim Ung-Yong is a Korean former child prodigy. Kim was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ"; the book estimated the boy's score at about 210....
(born March 8, 1962) graduated with a Ph.D. in physics at the age of 15.
Humane Letters: Leadership, Teaching, Evangelism
- Aman Rehman made more than 1000 animated movies, beginning at three years old., and, at 8, he became the youngest college-lecturer in the world.
- Cao ChunCao ChunCao Chun was a cavalry general serving under the warlord Cao Cao during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He commanded the elite mounted force – the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry – in several campaigns against Yuan Tan, Tadun and Liu Bei.-Biography:Cao Chun was a younger...
(Born 196, died 208) was the son of the famous Chinese warlord Cao CaoCao CaoCao Cao was a warlord and the penultimate chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously titled...
became the youngest person to ever fight for an army higher than the rank of majorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
. - Mohammad Hossein TabatabaiMohammad Hossein TabatabaiMohammed Hussain Tabatabai is notable for being able to recite the entire Koran and interpret its meaning at age seven. At that age, he planned to become a religious leader....
(Born 1991) memorized all the Holy Quran at the age of 5. He was awarded a doctoral degree from Coventry University, England, in 1997. Making him the world youngest PHD doctorate holder.
Law/philosophy
- Jeremy BenthamJeremy BenthamJeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...
studied Latin at three years old and entered The Queen's College, OxfordThe Queen's College, OxfordThe Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture...
, at 12 years old. - Hugo GrotiusHugo GrotiusHugo Grotius , also known as Huig de Groot, Hugo Grocio or Hugo de Groot, was a jurist in the Dutch Republic. With Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili he laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law...
: entered the University of Leiden to study under Joseph Scaliger at age 11. At age 15 he was acclaimed by King Henry IV of France as the 'miracle of Holland'. - Saul KripkeSaul KripkeSaul Aaron Kripke is an American philosopher and logician. He is a professor emeritus at Princeton and teaches as a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center...
was invited to apply for a teaching post at Harvard while still in high school. - John Stuart MillJohn Stuart MillJohn Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
knew several dead languages by eight years old and studied scholastic philosophy at 12 years old. - Kathleen HoltzKathleen HoltzKathleen Holtz is a lawyer in California who passed the California State Bar Examination in 2007 to become the state's youngest lawyer at the age of 18....
began university studies at 10 years old, entered UCLA law school at 15 years old, and passed the California bar exam at 18 years old. - Stephen A. Baccus began studying law at 14 years old, graduated University of Miami law school at 16 years old, and passed Miami bar exam at 17 years old. He fought minimum-age requirements for bar-exam applicants in both New York and Miami.
Linguistics/translation
- Asad Ullah Qayyum, at seven years old, was able to deliver speeches in 12 languages.
- John BarratierJohn BarratierJohn Barratier was an 18th century child prodigy. The following note describing him appears in a letter to the British Royal Society November 28, 1769:...
could speak German, Latin, French and Dutch at the age of 4; knew six languages at the age of 11. - George BooleGeorge BooleGeorge Boole was an English mathematician and philosopher.As the inventor of Boolean logic—the basis of modern digital computer logic—Boole is regarded in hindsight as a founder of the field of computer science. Boole said,...
(1815–1864) could speak English, Latin, Greek, German, Italian, and French by his early teens. - Jean-François ChampollionJean-François ChampollionJean-François Champollion was a French classical scholar, philologist and orientalist, decipherer of the Egyptian hieroglyphs....
knew several dead languages by the time he was 10 years old and read an important paper at the GrenobleGrenobleGrenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
Academy at 16 years old. - Edmond-Charles GenêtEdmond-Charles GenêtEdmond-Charles Genêt , also known as Citizen Genêt, was a French ambassador to the United States during the French Revolution.-Early life:Genêt was born in Versailles in 1763...
(1763-1834) could read French, English, Italian, Latin, Swedish, and German by the age of 12. - Nathan Leopold (1904–1971) started speaking at the age of four months; he reportedly had an IQ of 210.
- Giovanni Pico della MirandolaGiovanni Pico della MirandolaCount Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was an Italian Renaissance philosopher. He is famed for the events of 1486, when at the age of 23, he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, natural philosophy and magic against all comers, for which he wrote the famous Oration on the Dignity of...
(1463–1494) could speak 22 languages at the age of 18. - Dorothea von Rodde-SchlözerDorothea von Rodde-SchlözerDorothea von Rodde-Schlözer , , was a talented German scholar and the first woman to receive a doctor of philosophy degree in Germany.-Life:...
(1770–1825) had mastered 9 languages by the age of 16; French, English, Dutch, Swedish, Italian, Latin, Spanish, Hebrew and Greek among other achievements. - Thomas Young (scientist)Thomas Young (scientist)Thomas Young was an English polymath. He is famous for having partly deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics before Jean-François Champollion eventually expanded on his work...
, more notable as a physicist, was a polyglotMultilingualismMultilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
at a young age, who worked on translating Demotic Egyptian. - Wendy Vo could speak eleven languages fluenty by the time she was 8 years old. She also composed 44 songs and is the youngest member of American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
- William WottonWilliam WottonWilliam Wotton was an English scholar, chiefly remembered for his remarkable abilities in learning languages and for his involvement in the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns. In Wales he is remembered as the collector and first translator of the ancient Welsh laws.-Early years:William Wotton...
could read passages in English, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew at the age of five. Graduated from Cambridge aged thirteen having acquired Arabic, Syriac, Chaldee, French, Spanish and Italian, together with a good working knowledge of logic, philosophy, mathematics, geography, chronology, and history.
Sports
- Fu MingxiaFu MingxiaFu Mingxia . She is a top female diver, multiple Olympic gold medalist and world champion. She is about 1.58m tall .-Early life and career:...
(伏明霞) is a diver and was an Olympic gold medalist at 13 years old. - Jet LiJet LiThe fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce...
(real name: Li Lianjie (李连杰)) is a Chinese martial artistChinese martial artsChinese martial arts, also referred to by the Mandarin Chinese term wushu and popularly as kung fu , are a number of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common traits, identified as "families" , "sects" or...
, who has won several gold medals in wushuWushu (sport)The sport of wushu is both an exhibition and a full-contact sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts. It was created in the People's Republic of China after 1949, in an attempt to nationalize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts...
at the All China GamesNational Games of the People's Republic of ChinaThe National Games of the People's Republic of China , sometimes known as the All China Games , is the premier sports event in China at national level. It is usually held once every four years, most recently in October 2009, when the 11th National Games of the People's Republic of China took place...
at the age of 12. - Sachin TendulkarSachin TendulkarSachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...
- Batsman (cricketCricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
). Made debut at the age of 16. In his early matches he hit Abdul QadirAbdul Qadir (cricketer)Abdul Qadir Khan is a former Pakistani international cricketer, later commentator and was recently the Chief Selector of Pakistan Cricket Board. He resigned from the post because of his differences with the top brass of Pakistan cricket board...
, a prominent leg spinner of the time for 4 sixes in an over, hit a century at Perth, world's fastest pitch. Representing India for 21st year in International cricket. Close to 100 international centuries, only one to get 200* in ODI. - Michelle WieMichelle WieMichelle Sung Wie is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. At age 10, she became the youngest player to qualify for a USGA amateur championship. Wie would also become the youngest winner of the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links and the youngest to qualify for a LPGA Tour event...
qualified for the USGA Women's Amateur Public Links at 10 years old and won the same event at 13 years old, making her the youngest person both to qualify for and win a USGA adult national championship. - Wayne GretzkyWayne GretzkyWayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
was skating with 10-year-olds at six years old. By 10 years old, he scored 378 goals and 139 assists, in just 85 games, with the Nadrofsky Steelers. - Tiger WoodsTiger WoodsEldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
was a child prodigy, introduced to golf before the age of two, by his athletic father Earl. In 1984 at the age of eight, he won the 9–10 boys' event, the youngest age group available, at the Junior World Golf Championships. He first broke 80 at age eight. He went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991. - Sir Donald Bradman-Batsman (cricketCricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
). Made Domestic debut for Australia at 19 and Test Debut at 20. At age 12 in 1920 he scored his first century for the Bowral Intermediate High School. Aged 17, he started playing regularly for Bowral in 1925 and collects 234 and 300 finishing with 1318 runs.
Games
- Bobby FischerBobby FischerRobert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
won the United States Chess Championship at 14 years old and achieved the title of Grandmaster, during the World-Championship-qualifications cycle, at 15 years old. Held title of World Chess Champion from 1972-1975. - Fabiano CaruanaFabiano CaruanaFabiano Luigi Caruana is Grandmaster and chess prodigy with dual citizenship of Italy and the United States.On 15 July 2007 Caruana became a Grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 20 days – the youngest Grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United States.In the November 2011...
, a chess prodigy discovered at five years old, became the youngest-ever American and Italian Grandmaster (Dual citizenship), in 2007, at 14 years old. - José Raúl CapablancaJosé Raúl CapablancaJosé Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...
was one of the best chess players of all time. - Cho HunhyunCho HunhyunCho Hunhyun is a Korean 9-dan professional Go player. Considered one of the greatest players of all-time, Cho reached professional level in Korea in 1962. Since then, Cho has amassed 150 professional titles, more than any player in the world. He once held all nine Korea titles simultaneously in 1980...
was a professional go playerGo playersThis page gives an overview of well-known players of the game of Go throughout the ages. The page has been divided into sections based on the era in which the Go players played and the country in which they played. As this was not necessarily their country of birth, a flag of that country precedes...
at nine years old. - Willie MosconiWillie MosconiWilliam Joseph Mosconi , best known as Willie Mosconi, was an American professional pool player from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Between the years of 1941 and 1957, he won the World Straight Pool Championship an unmatched fifteen times. For most of the 20th century, his name was essentially...
, nicknamed "Mr. Pocket Billiards", played against professionals at six years old. - Ronnie O'SullivanRonnie O'SullivanRonald Antonio "Ronnie" O'Sullivan , is an English professional snooker player known for his rapid playing style and nicknamed "The Rocket". He has been World Champion on three occasions , and is second on the all-time prize-money list, with career earnings of over £6 million, behind only Stephen...
, a snookerSnookerSnooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
player, scored his first century break at 10 years old, his first maximum at 15 years old, and was the youngest-ever winner of a ranking event at 17 years old.
Legendary
This list consists of historic children, who have become representatives of the "prodigy" phenomenon, inspiring literature, but whose actual accomplishments have not been firmly established due to the poor sourcing or records of their eras.Gaon of Vilna was an historically significant rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
who was called a prodigy in youth and who is said to have had a variety of skills by 11 years old.
- Christian Friedrich HeineckenChristian Friedrich HeineckenChristian Friedrich Heinecken , also known as "the Infant of Lübeck", was a legendary German child prodigy. By three, he was well-versed in mathematics, history and geography, and could speak German, French, and Latin....
(1721–1725) was a prodigy, who could speak from an early day on and by the time of his death was well-versed in mathematics, history and geography, and could speak Latin and French in addition to his native tongue. - Okita SōjiOkita Soji, was the captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi, a special police force in Kyoto during the late shogunate period. He was one of the best swordsmen of the Shinsengumi, along with Saito Hajime and Nagakura Shinpachi....
(1842 or 1844–1868) was kenjutsuKenjutsu, meaning "the method, or technique, of the sword." This is opposed to kendo, which means the way of the sword. Kenjutsu is the umbrella term for all traditional schools of Japanese swordsmanship, in particular those that predate the Meiji Restoration...
-(swordsmanshipSwordsmanshipSwordsmanship refers to the skills of a swordsman, a person versed in the art of the sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to any martial art involving the use of a sword...
) prodigy, who defeated a kenjutsu master by 12 years old, became a master of kenjutsu and a school head (Jukutou) by 18 years old. He died from tuberculosisTuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in his mid-twenties.