Willis Dysart
Encyclopedia
Willis Nelson Dysart is an American mental calculator
. Born in the U.S. state of Georgia
in 1924, his talent for arithmetic emerged at the age of three after his mother taught him to count. He quit school in the third grade
(age 9) and pursued a career as a lightning calculator.
In 1938 Robert Ripley
featured Dysart in his ‘Believe It Or Not’ newspaper column
and introduced what would become Dysart’s stage name
- ‘Willie the Wizard’.
In 1940 Dysart was recruited by a local radio station to tally votes in the US presidential election
. Dysart would very quickly (much more quickly than rival radio station
s aided by calculating machine
s) give "the exact standing of any candidate on the board, including his current total, the percentage of votes counted at that point and the probable outcome of the contest on the basis of existing information". Not content with that, Dysart would provide a little entertainment by, for instance, asking for the birth dates of the candidates and immediately giving the years, months, hours, minutes and seconds they had lived to that moment
Dysart has given many live demonstrations of his skill at a range of venues. He has also appeared on numerous television shows, including I’ve Got a Secret, You Asked For It
, The Art Linkletter
Show and The Joe Pyne
Show, which made him famous in the United States. He has also been the subject of psychological studies.
Although excelling at all kinds of arithmetic, Dysart’s most startling demonstrations have been in addition and multiplication. Multiplying a pair of three-digit numbers is for Dysart a trivial task, which is why he breaks larger numbers into groups of three digits before multiplying them (many of the multiplications reported to have been made by Dysart involve six or nine-digit numbers). In this respect Dysart is unique among the documented calculators, among whom several–most notably Dutchman Wim Klein
–multiplied large numbers by breaking them up into groups of two-digit numbers but never three-digit numbers. It takes Dysart less than 10 seconds to multiply a pair of nine-digit numbers.
Dysart currently resides in Long Beach, California
.
Mental calculator
Mental calculators are people with a prodigious ability in some area of mental calculation, such as multiplying large numbers or factoring large numbers...
. Born in the U.S. state of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
in 1924, his talent for arithmetic emerged at the age of three after his mother taught him to count. He quit school in the third grade
Third grade
In the United States, third grade is a year of primary education. It is the third school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 8 – 9 years old, depending on when their birthday occurs....
(age 9) and pursued a career as a lightning calculator.
In 1938 Robert Ripley
Robert Ripley
Robert LeRoy Ripley was an American cartoonist, entrepreneur and amateur anthropologist, who created the world famous Ripley's Believe It or Not! newspaper panel series, radio show, and television show which feature odd 'facts' from around the world.Subjects covered in Ripley's cartoons and text...
featured Dysart in his ‘Believe It Or Not’ newspaper column
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
and introduced what would become Dysart’s stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
- ‘Willie the Wizard’.
In 1940 Dysart was recruited by a local radio station to tally votes in the US presidential election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
. Dysart would very quickly (much more quickly than rival radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
s aided by calculating machine
Calculating machine
A calculating machine is a machine designed to come up with calculations or, in other words, computations. One noted machine was the Victorian British scientist Charles Babbage's Difference Engine , designed in the 1840s but never completed in the inventor's lifetime...
s) give "the exact standing of any candidate on the board, including his current total, the percentage of votes counted at that point and the probable outcome of the contest on the basis of existing information". Not content with that, Dysart would provide a little entertainment by, for instance, asking for the birth dates of the candidates and immediately giving the years, months, hours, minutes and seconds they had lived to that moment
Dysart has given many live demonstrations of his skill at a range of venues. He has also appeared on numerous television shows, including I’ve Got a Secret, You Asked For It
You Asked For It
You Asked for It is a popular human-interest show created and hosted by Art Baker. Initially titled The Art Baker Show, the program originally aired on American television between 1950 and 1959...
, The Art Linkletter
Art Linkletter
Arthur Gordon "Art" Linkletter was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, on NBC radio-TV for 19 years...
Show and The Joe Pyne
Joe Pyne
Joe Pyne was an American radio and television talk show host, who pioneered the confrontational style in which the host advocates a viewpoint and argues with guests and audience members...
Show, which made him famous in the United States. He has also been the subject of psychological studies.
Although excelling at all kinds of arithmetic, Dysart’s most startling demonstrations have been in addition and multiplication. Multiplying a pair of three-digit numbers is for Dysart a trivial task, which is why he breaks larger numbers into groups of three digits before multiplying them (many of the multiplications reported to have been made by Dysart involve six or nine-digit numbers). In this respect Dysart is unique among the documented calculators, among whom several–most notably Dutchman Wim Klein
Willem Klein
Willem Klein , also known as Wim Klein or under his stage names Pascal and Willy Wortel, was a Dutch mathematician, famous for being able to carry out very complicated calculations in his head very fast. On 27 August 1976, he calculated the 73rd root of a 500-digit number in 2 minutes and 43 seconds...
–multiplied large numbers by breaking them up into groups of two-digit numbers but never three-digit numbers. It takes Dysart less than 10 seconds to multiply a pair of nine-digit numbers.
Dysart currently resides in Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
.