Child Prodigy
William James Sidis could read at 18 months (hyperlexia),
Taught himself Latin at 2,
Greek at 3
Wrote a treatise on anatomy at 4,
Wrote four books and knew eight languages (English, Latin, Greek, Russian, Hebrew, French, German and Vendergood, his own invention) by age eight.
It is said he could learn any language in just a day, and subsequently leanred all the languages that were known.
Went to harvard at age 11
Became a professor at Harvard by age 16
It is estimated that William Sidis had an IQ of 250-300.
And yet he did nothing with his life, and died at just 47 years of age.
posted by Joy at
2:37 PM
3 Comments:
my brain just exploded.
By
Steven, at Wednesday, March 22, 2006
actually he did a lot with his life... like disprove the big bang and stuff i think
By
japanaysian, at Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Your article although informative lacks substance and is only feeding the mass with distorted imagery of him. Here's a list of his works:
-Invented his own language, simpler version of Esperanto, Vendergood at early age; one of his first book well before most could read and write.
-Once held patent in Perpetual calendar. Before his time, many 'greats' tried to do such with far higher learning in advance math classes. He hated math before age of 8 but was persuaded when his father says its the only way he can earn his degree in life.
-Wrote Inanimate and Animate for cosmology which is currently the only hypothesis against the Big Bang which would otherwise dominate current thinking.
-Notes of Street Car Tranfer is used widely today in transportation for its revolutionary ideas. Later published a follow up book on Highway safety.
-won a settlement of invasion of privacy by a big newspaper advocating himself in court against those of vast financial resources and connections while he was alone in a world that still viewed him as a freak of nature by creation of his pushy parents. Not bad for someone who dropped out of Law school nearly 3 decades past but in good standing. Good Will Hunting was loosely based on his character; they both had eidetic memory,held low paying jobs lived exclusive lives, and hid their gifts except from their friends.
He left a reclusive life because often when his boss found out that he is more than what he try to appear they'd expect more of him, to use his gift, and then denounce him when he refuse to be used thus neither for profit nor one's greed. He left his parents especially his mom for she was later hard to be pleased and society alike around the age of 22 when she wanted him to finish law degree so that he doesn't have to live in poverty. He was neither vain nor contempt for money but he was always self-sufficient; enough so that he self-published his own books which was unprecedented at least in his time of which he held over 14 books, 30 something articles , and two or more periodicals. Not bad for someone who could have filed for government welfare money easily under his financial conditions; he was not only resourceful but had moral character and contrary to his many contributions worked full-time! . He could have spent his money on something else. Why did his waste his time if he felt it didnt matter to society what he wrote despite being lynched by media? The myth you're implying is burn-out genius myth which is in this case an utter failure of a myth. Compared to other greats and normal people alike who are overachievers themselves, Sidis was a colossal success! He could have been more if not for and University officials, negative media attention, and most importantly overzealous, and jealous society that was unprepared to welcome such genius in modern century. I hope we won't make that same mistake twice and at least we had Einstein and still have Stephan Hawkins, Bill Gates, etc. Way i see it is that you see him as a failure myth and next time see another genius born in your time with contempt and a loser who is a workaholic or a person of extraordinary gift for the common good. Not all geniuses end up being world leaders, rock stars, star athletes, and the likes but she or he is to be encourage and given motivation especially if this person is closer to home and given positive feedback. They may just change the world again for the common good instead of being wasted on negative media attention and forced underground by only people who use and abuse them and scorn them because of their fear of inferiority and insecurity. Do unto others have you would have done unto you.
And he had cerebral hemorrhage which isnt anything unique but it is quite common for someone his age, 46, living by other's standards as poor even in a modern country and compared to elsewhere. It is only a coincidence that his father died when he was transitioning to independence of the same cause that he later died. He died in a hospital where the public loved to lynch him and he probably had no choice after seeing the signs of it coming.
Quote:"When a true genius arise in the world you'd know him by this- that all the dunces in the world will congregate against him.
Jonathan swift
Source
Megafoundation.org
By
Anonymous, at Sunday, April 23, 2006
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