4 ms·

What ever happens to these kids? I read these articles once every few years, and then .. Does the beurocracy of academia swallow them whole or is their work no

What ever happens to these kids? I read these articles once every few years, and then .. Does the beurocracy of academia swallow them whole or is their work no longer interesting once they hit 18? Or do they become average academics?

gadders 7y ago
Here's one example that I remember from my childhood as she is the same age as me: "Ruth Elke Lawrence-Neimark (Hebrew: רות אלקה לורנס-נאימרק‎, born 2 August 1971) is a British–Israeli mathematician and an associate professor of mathematics at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a researcher in knot theory and algebraic topology." "In 1981 Lawrence passed the Oxford University entrance examination in mathematics, joining St Hugh's College in 1983 at the age of twelve." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Lawrence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Lawrence
chabons 7y ago
You probably only ever hear of the success stories. I can think of Terry Tao, John von Neumann, and Erik Demaine off the top of my head, not because they were prodigies, but because they have gained enough name recognition that I Google'd them and learned of their early education. Even if the rest had very interesting research, you wouldn't hear about them outside of their chosen field unless they reached superstar status.
- pmoriarty 7y ago
  Norbert Wiener[1], founder of cybernetics, was another famous prodigy: "After graduating from Ayer High School in 1906 at 11 years of age, Wiener entered Tufts College. He was awarded a BA in mathematics in 1909 at the age of 14, whereupon he began graduate studies of zoology at Harvard. In 1910 he transferred to Cornell to study philosophy. He graduated in 1911 at 17 years of age." There are also, of course, many, many more musical and chess prodigies, for example... Mozart probably being the most famous of them all. Curiously, there don't seem to be any significant prodigy novelists or poets. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
kingbirdy 7y ago
Ted Kaczynski was a child prodigy who enrolled in Harvard at 16 and graduated in 3 years. He completed his post-grad at Michigan, won an award for his thesis, and became the youngest math professor ever at UC Berkeley. He later retired to a cabin in rural Montana and became the Unabomber.
- slphil 7y ago
  It's important to point out that he was basically emotionally abused by researchers (apparently paid in part by the government) and never really recovered from it. Also that his manifesto (and later works, while in prison) are genuine works of philosophy by a person who really shouldn't ever be let out into society again. Kaczynski is a really interesting guy.
joecool1029 7y ago
Sometimes things go rather sour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis
toby 7y ago
Galois is a very interesting historical prodigy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois Discovered group theory and died in a duel at 20. His work is very important to modern cryptography.
- djohnston 7y ago
  I do remember his story, basically the most romantic badass in the history of maths

gadders 7y ago

Here's one example that I remember from my childhood as she is the same age as me: "Ruth Elke Lawrence-Neimark (Hebrew: רות אלקה לורנס-נאימרק‎, born 2 August 1971) is a British–Israeli mathematician and an associate professor of mathematics at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a researcher in knot theory and algebraic topology." "In 1981 Lawrence passed the Oxford University entrance examination in mathematics, joining St Hugh's College in 1983 at the age of twelve." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Lawrence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Lawrence

chabons 7y ago

You probably only ever hear of the success stories. I can think of Terry Tao, John von Neumann, and Erik Demaine off the top of my head, not because they were prodigies, but because they have gained enough name recognition that I Google'd them and learned of their early education. Even if the rest had very interesting research, you wouldn't hear about them outside of their chosen field unless they reached superstar status.

pmoriarty 7y ago
Norbert Wiener[1], founder of cybernetics, was another famous prodigy: "After graduating from Ayer High School in 1906 at 11 years of age, Wiener entered Tufts College. He was awarded a BA in mathematics in 1909 at the age of 14, whereupon he began graduate studies of zoology at Harvard. In 1910 he transferred to Cornell to study philosophy. He graduated in 1911 at 17 years of age." There are also, of course, many, many more musical and chess prodigies, for example... Mozart probably being the most famous of them all. Curiously, there don't seem to be any significant prodigy novelists or poets. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

kingbirdy 7y ago

Ted Kaczynski was a child prodigy who enrolled in Harvard at 16 and graduated in 3 years. He completed his post-grad at Michigan, won an award for his thesis, and became the youngest math professor ever at UC Berkeley. He later retired to a cabin in rural Montana and became the Unabomber.

slphil 7y ago
It's important to point out that he was basically emotionally abused by researchers (apparently paid in part by the government) and never really recovered from it. Also that his manifesto (and later works, while in prison) are genuine works of philosophy by a person who really shouldn't ever be let out into society again. Kaczynski is a really interesting guy.

joecool1029 7y ago

Sometimes things go rather sour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis

toby 7y ago

Galois is a very interesting historical prodigy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois Discovered group theory and died in a duel at 20. His work is very important to modern cryptography.

djohnston 7y ago
I do remember his story, basically the most romantic badass in the history of maths