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List of child prodigies

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Main article: Child prodigy
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John von Neumann as a child

In psychology research literature, the term child prodigy is defined as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain to the level of an adult expert professional.[1][2][3]

Mathematics and science

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Mathematics

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  • Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher who wrote a treatise on vibrating bodies at the age of nine; he wrote his first proof, on a wall with a piece of coal, at the age of 11 years, and a theorem by the age of 16 years. He is famous for Pascal's theorem and many other contributions in mathematics, philosophy, and physics.[4]
  • John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) was a British philosopher and economist. At the age of eight, Mill began studying Latin, the works of Euclid, and algebra. At about the age of twelve, Mill began a thorough study of the scholastic logic. In the following year he was introduced to political economy and studied Adam Smith and David Ricardo.
  • Norbert Wiener (1894–1964) was an American philosopher and mathematician. He graduated from Ayer High School at 11 years of age. He was awarded a BA in mathematics in 1909 at the age of 14.[5]
  • William James Sidis (1898–1944) was a mathematics and language prodigy. Sidis was able to read the New York Times as an 18-month-old. He taught himself eight languages by age eight and invented his own. He was admitted into Harvard University at age 11, and in the same year attracted national attention for lecturing on 4-dimensional bodies to the Harvard Mathematical Club.[6]
  • John von Neumann (1903–1957) was a "mental calculator" by the age of six years, who could tell jokes in classical Greek.[7][8] Von Neumann went on to make numerous contributions to mathematics, economics, physics, and computer science. (Note: Several mathematicians were mental calculators when they were still children. Mental calculation is not to be confused with mathematics. This section is for child prodigies largely or primarily known for calculating skills.)
  • Lev Landau (1908–1968) was a Soviet physicist who mastered calculus by age 13. He graduated from the Baku Gymnasium aged only 13 as well. Landau is today best known for his work in superconductivity and a series of textbooks he co-authored with Evgeny Lifshitz.
  • Terence Tao (1975–) A child prodigy,[9] Tao exhibited extraordinary mathematical abilities from an early age, attending university-level mathematics courses at the age of 9. He is one of only three children in the history of the Johns Hopkins Study of Exceptional Talent program to have achieved a score of 700 or greater on the SAT math section while just eight years old; Tao scored a 760.[10] Julian Stanley, Director of the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth, stated that Tao had the greatest mathematical reasoning ability he had found in years of intensive searching.[11]
  • Erik Demaine (1981–) is a Canadian-American professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a former child prodigy. From the age of 7, he was identified as a child prodigy and spent time traveling across North America with his father.[12]

Medicine

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  • Sho Yano (1990–) is an American physician. Yano is a former child prodigy. He entered Loyola University at age 9 and graduated summa cum laude just three years later. At 13, he went on to the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine.[13]

Humanities

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Scholarship

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  • Jean-Philippe Baratier (1721–1740) by the age of nine knew French, German, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew and at the age of eleven published a scholarly translation of a medieval work. He was admitted as a foreign member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and received a master of arts degree at the age of 14.[14]
  • Christian Heinrich Heineken (1721–1725), known as the "infant scholar of Lübeck", was able to read the Pentateuch at the age of one, and read the Old and New Testaments in Latin between the ages of two and three. He recited the history of Denmark in front of the Danish king in Copenhagen at the age of three.[15]
  • Karl Witte (1800–1883) at the age of nine knew—in addition to his native German—French, Italian, Latin, English, and Greek, and read classic works in those languages. In the same year, he was matriculated at the University of Leipzig. He earned a doctorate at age 13 and became a Doctor of Law at the age of 16, when he joined the teaching staff of the University of Berlin.. He later became a notable scholar of Dante.[16]

The arts

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Music

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Main article: List of child music prodigies

Literature

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  • William Cullen Bryant published his first poem at the age of 10; at the age of 13 years, he published a book of political satire poems.[17]
  • Minou Drouet caught the notice of French critics at the age of eight, leading to speculation that her mother was the true author of her poetry. She later proved herself to be the author.[18]

Visual arts

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  • Edmund Thomas Clint (1976–1983) was an Indian child prodigy.[19] He is known for having drawn over 25,000 paintings, though he lived to be just six years and 11 months old.[20]

Games

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Chess

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See Chess prodigy for details of child prodigies at chess.

Go

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Other

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Some children become famous and are called a prodigy although it is questionable whether they have produced meaningful output to the level of an adult expert professional.[23]

  • Arden Hayes (born 2008) who as a five-year old appeared in newspapers and television shows because of his ability to memorize information about certain topics.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Feldman, David H.; Morelock, M. J. (2011). "Prodigies". In Runco, Mark A.; Pritzker, Steven R. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Creativity. Encyclopedia of Creativity (Second Edition). Academic Press. pp. 261–265. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-375038-9.00182-5. ISBN 978-0-12-375038-9. For the purposes of this and future research, a prodigy was defined as a child younger than 10 years of age who has reached the level of a highly trained professional in a demanding area of endeavor.
  2. ^ Rose, Lacey (2 March 2007). "Whiz Kids". Forbes. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2015. At the moment, the most widely accepted definition is a child, typically under the age of 10, who has mastered a challenging skill at the level of an adult professional.
  3. ^ Feldman, David Henry (Fall 1993). "Child prodigies: A distinctive form of giftedness" (PDF). Gifted Child Quarterly. 27 (4): 188–193. doi:10.1177/001698629303700408. ISSN 0016-9862. S2CID 144180264. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  4. ^ William Durant; Ariel Durant (1963). The Age of Louis XIV: A History of European Civilization in the Period of Pascal, Molière, Cromwell, Milton, Peter the Great, Newton, and Spinoza: 1648–1715. Simon and Schuster. p. 56.
  5. ^ Tweney, Dylan. "Nov. 26, 1894: Cybernetics Pioneer Norbert Wiener Born". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  6. ^ Wallace, Amy (1986). The Prodigy. New York: E.P. Dutton.
  7. ^ "Von_Neumann summary". st-and.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 31 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  8. ^ "The History of Computing". gmu.edu. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  9. ^ Clements, M. A. (Ken) (1984), "Terence Tao", Educational Studies in Mathematics, 15 (3): 213–238, doi:10.1007/BF00312075, JSTOR 3482178, S2CID 189827772.
  10. ^ "Radical Acceleration in Australia: Terence Tao". 22 June 2016. Archived from the original on 22 June 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  11. ^ "Radical Acceleration in Australia: Terence Tao". 22 June 2016. Archived from the original on 22 June 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  12. ^ "TIME.com: Why Origami Is Critical to New Drugs – Sep. 12, 2005 – Page 1". 8 September 2005. Archived from the original on 8 September 2005. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  13. ^ "Boy prodigy now a doctor and a young man – Chicago Tribune". galleries.apps.chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  14. ^ Formey, Jean-Henri-Samuel (1743). The Life of John Philip Baratier,: The Prodigy of this Age for Genius and Learning; Created, at Fourteen Years Old, Master of Arts, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Berlin. London: J. Robinson, at the Golden Lion, in Ludgate-street.
  15. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Heinecken, Christian Heinrich" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 215–216.
  16. ^ Bruce, H. Addington (1914). "Editor's Introduction". The Education Of Karl Witte. By Witte, K.H.G. Translated by Weiner, Leo. New York: Thomas Y. Cromwell Co. His study of foreign languages began with French, which his father taught him in a novel way, fully described in the chapter on his education in the languages. So successful was this special method that within a year Karl was reading French with ease. Meanwhile he had begun the study of Italian, and from Italian passed to Latin. English came next, then the study of Greek, a language concerning which the boy's curiosity was whetted by tales from Homer and Xenophon told to him by his father... In all five languages the boy made such progress that by the time he was nine, according to his father's statement, he had read Homer, Plutarch, Virgil, Cicero, Ossian, Fénelon, Florian, and Metastasio, besides Schiller and other German writers.
  17. ^ "On William Cullen Bryant". vcu.edu. Archived from the original on 18 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  18. ^ "Kitten on the Keys". Time Magazine. 28 January 1957. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009.
  19. ^ "The unfading colours of child prodigy". The Hindu. 18 August 2006. Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  20. ^ ""The Hindu : She spells hope and happiness"". 5 April 2024. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2003.
  21. ^ "Japanese girl to be youngest Go professional". BBC News. 6 January 2019. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  22. ^ "Youngest professional Go player aged 10 marks debut with loss". Mainichi Daily News. 23 April 2019.
  23. ^ "Is Your Child REALLY a Genius?". Pittsburgh Parent. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  24. ^ Lelyveld, Nita (4 May 2013). "This presidential database loves running and Legos". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
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