Originally posted by: Whade
I find this to be amazing, from this
linky :
William James Sidis is arguably the brightest human who ever existed on our planet Earth.
He was born of parents Boris and Sarah Sidis, emigrant Jews who escaped anti-Semitic Russian pogroms and came to America at the end of the 19th century. William James Sidis ('Billy') boggled minds of normal intellectuals and theoreticians. He was born on April Fool's Day in 1898. He became a strange combination of an April Fool and a 20th century genius vastly beyond common sentient discernment.
Boris and Sarah met each other some time after they entered the USA. Boris arrived in 1886 at age 19, and Sarah arrived a year later at age 13. Boris arrived with a few hundred dollars which afforded him opportunity to find a decent place to stay and to spend several months learning English and rudimentary American customs. Sarah arrived broke and had to borrow a minimum $20 needed for entry, which she promptly returned having passed immigration officials.
Sarah needed Boris to tutor her. That is how they met. Unknown to her, he fell in love at first sight, but delayed disclosure to a more opportune time.
Both Boris and Sarah became well educated. He with Ph.D's and M.D., and she with M.D. His first Ph.D. was basically settled upon him by Harvard to entice him to do their bidding. Boris and his family were so bright that they could learn and understand difficult, complex intellectual concepts at a rate greater than ten times as quickly as typical advanced academics. Boris claimed to have a technique which allowed him access to an energy source. He taught Sarah, then William how to access and manage this source of abundant energy.
In her first three chapters of The Prodigy, Amy Wallace belies details and essence of William James Sidis' (Billy's) persona. Your reviewer decided to capture this as partial lists which allow you reader to quickly capture essence of Billy as a Homo sapiens (some might argue he is a precursor of our successors ? Neo sapiens).
Here is a partial list of William James Sidis' extraordinary capabilities and accomplishments:
Given IQ is a purely anthropocentric means of assessing intelligence, Sidis' IQ is crudely estimated at 250-300.
Infant Billy listened to Greek myths read to him by Sarah as bedtime stories.
Started feeding himself with a spoon at eight months (after two months of trial and error).
Cajoled by Boris, Billy learned to pronounce alphabetic syllables from blocks hanging in his crib.
At six months, Billy said, "Door." A couple months later he told Mom he liked things, doors and people, that move.
At seven months he pointed to Earth's moon and called it, "moon." He wanted a 'moon' of his own.
Mastered higher mathematics and planetary revolutions by age 11.
Learned to spell efficiently by one year old.
Started reading The New York Times at 18 months.
Started typing at three. Used his high chair to reach a typewriter. First composed letter was an order for toys from Macy's.
Read Caesar's Gallic Wars, in Latin (self-taught), as a birthday present to his Father in Billy's fourth year.
Learned Greek alphabet and read Homer in Greek in his fourth year.
Learned Aristotelian logic in his sixth year.
At six, Billy learned Russian, French, German, and Hebrew, and soon after, Turkish and Armenian.
Calculated mentally a day any date in history would fall at age six. Absolutely fascinated by calendars.
Learned Gray's Anatomy at six. Could pass a student medical examination.
Billy started grammar school at six, in 3 days 3rd grade, graduated grammar school in 7 months.
At age 8, Billy surpassed his father (a genius) in mathematics.
Corrected E. V. Huntington's mathematics text galleys at age of eight.
Total recall of everything he read.
Wrote four books between ages of four and eight. Two on anatomy and astronomy, lost.
Passed Harvard Medical School anatomy exam at age seven.
Passed MIT entrance exam at age eight.
Intellect surpassed best secondary school teachers.
At age 10, in one evening, corrected Harvard logic professor Josiah Royce's book manuscript: citing, "wrong paragraphs."
Attempted to enroll in Harvard at nine.
In 1909, became youngest student to ever enroll at Harvard at age 11.
In 1910, at age 11, lectured Harvard Mathematical Club on 'Four-Dimensional Bodies.'
Billy graduated from Harvard, cum laude, on June 24, 1914, at age 16.
Billy entered Harvard Law School in 1916.
Billy could learn a whole language in one day!
Billy knew all the languages (approximately 200) of the world, and could translate among them instantly!