From what I've read about him, he didn't even derive his solutions. They "came to him" (he thought from the divine) and he had to be taught how to go backwards

From what I've read about him, he didn't even derive his solutions. They "came to him" (he thought from the divine) and he had to be taught how to go backwards from the solution to formal proofs. Based on that it sounds like he was a savant, rather than having taught himself a unique solving technique or depending on the questions he thought of. Personally, I think he'd have excelled equally well in a standard learning path. There are definitely other cases of people going the "standard" route and still possessing this sort of savant-like ability. E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Demaine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Demaine