I think we shall be making a tradition of this one. On the first of December, we will be going out to the Mall for a day when we can drool over the stuff they sell. Because we can't actually afford too many things sold there, it will be at least good to check out what the world thinks is a good price for some junk. Anyways, today's list will either make you proud of the human race, or make you cry because these kids are soooo much more talented than you are...
Here are the best child prodigies from the start of time till now...
1. Neumann János (John von Neumann)
John von Neumann (December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was an Austria-Hungary-born American mathematician who made contributions to quantum physics, functional analysis, set theory, topology, economics, computer science, numerical analysis, hydrodynamics (of explosions), statistics and many other mathematical fields as one of history’s outstanding mathematicians. His father was Neumann Miksa (Max Neumann), a lawyer who worked in a bank. His mother was Kann Margit (Margaret Kann). John was an extraordinary prodigy. At the age of only six, he was able to divide two 8-digit numbers in his head. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics (with minors in experimental physics and chemistry) from the University of Budapest at the age of 23.
2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) Mozart’s father Leopold Mozart (1719–1787) was deputy Kapellmeister to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg, and a minor composer. He was also an experienced teacher; in the year of Mozart’s birth he published a successful violin textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule. When Mozart’s sister Nannerl was seven, Leopold began giving her keyboard lessons. The three-year old Mozart looked on, evidently with fascination: his sister later recorded that at this age “he often spent much time at the clavier [keyboard], picking out thirds, … and his pleasure showed it sounded good [to him].” Nannerl continued: “in the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier. … he could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. … At the age of five he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down.” Among them were the Andante (K. 1a) and Allegro in C (K. 1b). In the course of his lifetime, Mozart wrote over 600 compositions includes works widely acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. Mozart is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers and many of his works are part of the standard concert repertoire.3. Kim Ung-Yong
This Korean super-genius was born in 1962 and might just be the smartest guy alive today (he's recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as having the highest IQ of anyone on the planet). By the age of four he was already able to read in Japanese, Korean, German, and English. At his fifth birthday, he solved complicated differential and integral calculus problems. Later, on Japanese television, he demonstrated his proficiency in Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, German, English, Japanese, and Korean. Kim was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ"; the book estimated the boy's score at over 210.Kim was a guest student of physics at Hanyang University from the age of 3 until he was 6. At the age of 7 he was invited to America by NASA. He finished his university studies, eventually getting a Ph.D. in physics at Colorado State University before he was 15. In 1974, during his university studies, he began his research work at NASA and continued this work until his return to Korea in 1978 where he decided to switch from physics to civil engineering and eventually received a doctorate in that field. Kim was offered the chance to study at the most prestigious universities in Korea, but instead chose to attend a provincial university. As of 2007 he also serves as adjunct faculty at Chungbuk National University.
4. Akrit Jaswall
Akrit Jaswal is a young Indian who has been called "the world's smartest boy" and it's easy to see why. His IQ is 146 and is considered the smartest person his age in India—a country of more than a billion people.Akrit came to public attention when in 2000 he performed his first medical procedure at his family home. He was seven. His patient — a local girl who could not afford a doctor — was eight. Her hand had been burnt in a fire, causing her fingers to close into a tight fist that wouldn't open. Akrit had no formal medical training and no experience of surgery, yet he managed to free her fingers and she was able to use her hand again.
He focused his phenomenal intelligence on medicine and at the age of twelve he claimed to be on the verge of discovering a cure for cancer. He is now studying for a science degree at Chandigarh College and is the youngest student ever accepted by an Indian University.
5. Jean- Francois Champollion
Champollion was a child prodigy who took a great interest in oriental languages. He studied in Grenoble and Paris, then returned to Grenoble for a teaching post in history. At a very early age, Champollion had conceived the romantic idea to decipher the hitherto unknown Egyptian hieroglyphs. Working with transcriptions of all available texts and languages, including the famous Rosetta Stone, he finally succeeded in 1822. Champollion later became Curator at the Louvre (1826) and co-director of the Franco-Tuscan expedition to Egypt (1828-1829). He could speak several dead languages before the age of ten. By 16, he could speak more than one dozen languages in spite of the fact that his only teacher was a brother who himself was largely self-taught.
