List of child prodigies

Ludwig Van Beethoven was recognised as a child prodigy

This is a list of notable people who, typically before 15 years old, showed abilities comparable to those of highly skilled adults in specific fields; hence the term child prodigy.

Mathematics and science

Mathematics

• Akshay Venkatesh (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 Ampère (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 Boedihardjo (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 University at the age of 16, where he earned an undergraduate degree, and later earned a PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan. He became an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley at age 25, but resigned two years later.
• Erik Demaine (born 1980) Became an assistant professor at MIT at 20 years of age.
• Per Enflo (born 1944) Swedish mathematician, also a piano prodigy
• Anne-Marie Imafidon is one of youngest students to graduate from the University of Oxford.
• Srinivasa Ramanujan (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 theory and Bernoulli numbers by age 13 (including independently re-discovering Euler's identity).
• Arran Fernandez (born 1995), youngest student at University of Cambridge since 1773.
• Evariste Galois (1811–1832) learned college-level mathematics by age 15.
• Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) made his first ground-breaking mathematical discoveries while still a teenager. Also could perform complicated arithemetic at age 3.
• Francis Galton (1822-1911), statistician
• William Rowan Hamilton, (1805–1865) a mathematician, read Hebrew at seven years old, and studied Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Sanskrit and four other continental languages at 12 years old.
• Jay Luo (born 1970), received his B.Sc. from Boise State University with honors in mathematics at the age of 12 to become the youngest university graduate in United States history.
• Blaise Pascal (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 Sarmiento (born 1997), second youngest medalist in International Mathematical Olympiad history, at age 11 (bronze medal).
• William James Sidis (1898–1944) set a record in 1909 by becoming the youngest person to enroll at Harvard College, at 11 years old.
• Terence Tao (born 1975), youngest medalist in International Mathematical Olympiad history, at age 10.
• Norbert Wiener (1894–1964) began graduate studies at age 14 at Harvard and was awarded Phd at 18 for dissertation on mathematical logic.
• Sufiah Yusof (born 1984) a Malaysian girl, gained entry into St. Hilda's College, Oxford University, in 1997, to study mathematics at 13 years old.
• Cameron Thompson (born 1997) began studying with the Open University 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 Colburn (born 1804) He had a major display of his ability at age eight.
• Daniel Tammet (born 1979) is a savant who can perform complex calculations in his head since the age of four.
• Shakuntala Devi (born 1939) Her abilities were first recognized at three years old.
• Ettore Majorana (1906-1938) could multiply two 3 digit number in his head in seconds at the age of 4.
• John von Neumann (1903–1957) A "mental calculator" by six years old, who could tell jokes in classical Greek.
• Priyanshi Somani (born 1998) current Mental Calculation World Champion.
• Truman Henry Safford (1836–1901) could square 18 digit numbers at ten years old; later in life, he became an astronomer.

Physics

• Mikaela Fudolig (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 Philippines. She entered the university at 11 years old. Currently, she is studying physics at the same university for the Master's degree.
• 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 Princeton at age 22.
• Abdus Salam (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 Pauli (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 Tulsi (born 1987) received an undergraduate degree at 10 years old, got a Ph.D. at 21 & was offered a position of assistant professor at IIT B at 22.

Astronomy

• Tanishq Mathew Abraham (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.

Computer Science

• Arfa Karim Randhawa (1995 - 2012) in 2004 at the age of 9 years, became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) in the world, a title she kept until 2008. She was invited by Bill Gates to visit the Microsoft Headquarters in USA. Arfa had earned the Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of science and technology and the Salam Pakistan Youth Award in 2005 for her achievements. Arfa is also the youngest recipient of the President’s Award for Pride of Performance. Arfa was invited by Microsoft in 2006 to be a keynote speaker at the Tech-Ed Developers Conference, where she was the only Pakistani among over 5,000 developers. Arfa Karim passed away on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at the age of 16.

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 Piaget (1896–1980) published a paper on the albino sparrow at 11 years old, and later became a psychologist.

Medicine

• Balamurali Ambati graduated from high school at 11 years old, was a college junior by 12 years old, and a doctor at 17 years old.
• Avicenna memorized the Qur'an at 10 years old and studied medicine at 13 years old.
• Sho Yano started college at nine years old and graduated summa cum laude at 12 years old from Loyola University Chicago. By 12 years old, he attended the Pritzker School of Medicine.

Engineering

Materials engineering

• Alia Sabur (born 1989) received an undergraduate degree at 14 years old, and became a college professor at 18 years old.

Mechanical engineering

• Karl 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 Redtenbacher, 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-Benz.

The arts

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 Award. These names do not necessarily equate with being competitive with adults and therefore do not necessarily count as prodigies.)

• William Henry West Betty was a sensation as a boy doing Voltaire and Shakespeare roles.
• Jackie Cooper was the youngest nominee for the Best Actor Oscar at age nine years old.
• Quinn Cummings was an Oscar and Golden Globe Award nominee at 10 years old. She is now a businesswoman and blogger.
• Brandon De Wilde at seven years old, was the first child actor to win the Donaldson Award; his talent was praised by John Gielgud in the following year. He was also a nominee for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar at 11 years old, in Shane and starred in his own sitcom television series on ABC at the same time.
• Jodelle Ferland received a daytime Emmy nomination at four years old and, at 12 years old, was nominated at the 27th Genie Awards for lead actress.
• Justin Henry was the youngest nominee for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar at eight years old, in Kramer vs. Kramer
• Patty McCormack was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at 11 years old, in an era when child actors could still be nominated for the Juvenile Award.
• Frankie Michaels, at 11 years old, received praise and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for his role in Mame.
• Tatum O'Neal won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at 10 years old, for her 1973 role in Paper Moon, making her the youngest person ever to win a regularly awarded Oscar.
• Haley Joel Osment was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar at 11 years old.
• Anna Paquin won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at 11 years old.
• Ricky Schroder won a Golden Globe Award at nine years old, youngest winner ever.
• Kishan Shrikanth - Directed a feature film on 35 mm, of 130 mins Care of Footpath at age nine and entered the Guinness Book of World Records for being the youngest film director on this earth.
• Shirley Temple, at five years old, showed talent as an actress and tap dancer. When she was seven years old, she received a special Academy Award. She was described as a prodigy by Time (magazine) in 1936.
• Ernest Truex (1889–1973) performed Shakespeare at six years old.

Music

See List of music prodigies.

Literature

• Harold Bloom - American literary critic and Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale. Bloom claims that as a child he went to the Melrose branch of the New York Public Library and borrowed the works of Hart Crane, T. S. Eliot, Auden, William Blake, 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. Abrams, 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 Bryant was published at 10 years old; at 13 years old, he published a book of political-satire poems .
• Thomas Chatterton started as a poet at 11 years old. He began writing the poems that would make him famous at 12 years old.
• Lucretia Maria Davidson, by 11 years old, had written some poems of note; before her death at 16 years old, she received praise as a writer.
• Marjorie Fleming was a published poet before her death at eight years old.
• Barbara Newhall Follett began working on a novel at 8 and was published by age 12.
• H. P. Lovecraft recited poetry at two years old and wrote long poems at five years old.
• Christopher Marlowe: as a child, attracted the attention of Matthew Parker. He is the eponymous Marlowe of the Marlovian theory of Shakespearean authorship.
• Alexander Pope: 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.
• Arthur Rimbaud wrote influential French poetry throughout his early and late teens. Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare."
• 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, [5], 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 Vega wrote his first play at 12 years old. He could also read Latin proficiently at the age of five years old.

Visual arts

• Albrecht Dürer
• Jacques Henri Lartigue, French photographer whose childhood work was recognized as exceptional when he was sixty nine years old.
• Jan Lievens was a painter who was apprenticed at eight years old and an independent artist at 12 years old.
• John Everett Millais was a painter who entered the Royal Academy at 11 years old.
• Alexandra Nechita is a painter who had a solo exhibit at eight years old.
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Pablo Picasso painted Picador at eight years old. See List of Picasso artworks 1889-1900.
• Kieron Williamson, an eight-year-old watercolor artist from Norfolk, England whose second exhibition sold out in 14 minutes, raising £18,200 for 16 paintings.
• Wang Yani had her paintings appear on postage stamps at six years old and in worldwide museum exhibits at 12 years old.
• Zhu Da became a poet by seven years old. He later became a painter.
• Akiane Kramarik born in 1994, sold paintings worth $3M USD at age 7
• Marla Olmstead born in 2000, sold paintings worth over $20,000 at age 6 and had international recognition.
• Aelita Andre 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, [6], 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

Humanities

Academics

• Michael Kearney 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 Prize at 12 years old.
• Colin Maclaurin 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 Faludy in 1998 became the youngest undergraduate at the University of Cambridge since 1773.
• Pierre Bouguer (1698–1758) was appointed professor of hydrography in 1713 at the age of 15.
• Kim Ung-Yong (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 Chun (Born 196, died 208) was the son of the famous Chinese warlord Cao Cao became the youngest person to ever fight for an army higher than the rank of major.
• Mohammad Hossein Tabatabai (Born 1991) memorized all the Holy Quran at the age of 5.
• Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr(1935 – 1980) was an Iraqi Shi'a cleric who memorized the Quran at a very early age and wrote his first book by the age of 12 called Fadak in History. He later went on to lay the foundation for modern economics and banking in Islam. He also wrote "Our Philosophy" which is an important a critique of both socialism and capitalism, as well as write the textbook for Jurisprudence which is used by many Islamic Seminaries today. He was one of the leading Islamic intellectuals of the 20th century and died at the short age of 45.

Law/philosophy

• Jeremy Bentham studied Latin at three years old and entered The Queen's College, Oxford, at 12 years old.
• Hugo Grotius: 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 Kripke was invited to apply for a teaching post at Harvard while still in high school.
• John Stuart Mill knew several dead languages by eight years old and studied scholastic philosophy at 12 years old.
• Kathleen Holtz 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

• Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718–1799), a multilingual prodigy who went on to become a mathematician.
• Asad Ullah Qayyum, at seven years old, was able to deliver speeches in 12 languages.
• John Barratier could speak German, Latin, French and Dutch at the age of 4; knew six languages at the age of 11.
• George Boole (1815–1864) could speak English, Latin, Greek, German, Italian, and French by his early teens.
• Jean-François Champollion knew several dead languages by the time he was 10 years old and read an important paper at the Grenoble Academy at 16 years old.
• Edmond-Charles Genêt (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, though this is not directly comparable to scores on modern IQ tests.
• Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494) could speak 22 languages at the age of 18.
• Dorothea von Rodde-Schlözer (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), more notable as a physicist, was a polyglot 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 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 Mingxia (伏明霞) is a diver and was an Olympic gold medalist at 13 years old.
• Jet Li (real name: Li Lianjie (李连杰)) is a Chinese martial artist, who has won several gold medals in wushu at the All China Games at the age of 12.
• Sachin Tendulkar - Batsman (cricket). Made debut at the age of 16. In his early matches he hit Abdul Qadir, 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, the first batsman to get 200* in ODI.
• Michelle Wie 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 Gretzky 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 Woods 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.

Games

See also: Chess prodigy

• Bobby Fischer 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 Caruana, 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 Capablanca was one of the best chess players of all time.
• Cho Hunhyun was a professional go player at nine years old.
• Willie Mosconi, nicknamed "Mr. Pocket Billiards", played against professionals at six years old.
• Ronnie O'Sullivan, a snooker 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.
• Nicholas Patterson, a chess prodigy who went on to become a mathematician.

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 a historically significant rabbi who was called a prodigy in youth and who is said to have had a variety of skills by 11 years old.

• Christian Friedrich Heinecken (1721–1725) was a prodigy who could speak from an early age. By the time of his death was well-versed in mathematics, history and geography. He and could speak Latin and French in addition to his native tongue.
• Okita Sōji (1842 or 1844–1868) was kenjutsu-(swordsmanship) 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 tuberculosis in his mid-twenties.

See also

• Chess prodigy
• List of child prodigies in fiction

Further reading

• Hollingworth, Leta S. (1975). Children Above 180 IQ: Standford-Binet Origin and Development. New York: Arno Press. ISBN 0405064675.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link).
• Radford, John (1990). Child Prodigies and Exceptional Early Achievers. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0029256356.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link).
• Winner, Ellen (1996). Gifted Children: Myths and Realities. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0465017592.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link).

External links

• The Origins and Ends of Giftedness by Ellen Winner
• Time Asia
• History of the education of gifted children by Ellen Summers