List of child prodigies

This is a list of people who in childhood (at or before 9) showed abilities in a specific field comparable to those of a highly skilled adult; hence the term child prodigy. Names added should fit this criterion and be properly sourced. Proper sources include respectable newssources, university websites, museum sites, and academic studies that refer to the person as "a prodigy" or describe one as fitting the criteria defined in the article Child prodigy. As a rule self-promotional sites must not be used when adding a name.

Mathematics and science

Mathematics

Mathematicians

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• Jean-Philippe Baratier: Said to be well versed in math by age 8, published articles by age 10, joined the Academy at 14, and died before 20.
• Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz: He published astronomical tables at age 10. Delivered a speech she translated into Latin at age 9.
• Alexis Clairault: He studied the work of Guillaume de L'Hôpital at 10 and presented a paper at 13.
• Carl Friedrich Gauss: His potential was noted at seven, and in his teens he unknowingly discovered the already extant Titius-Bode law.
• William Rowan Hamilton: (Originally a languages prodigy)
• Ruth Lawrence: The youngest student to enter the University of Oxford at age 11.
• Colin Maclaurin: Entered university at 11, a feat not particularly unusual at the time, but at 14 he defended a thesis concerning ideas at the forefront of contemporary human knowledge.
• Blaise Pascal: At 11 or 12 he had secretly worked out the first twenty-three propositions of Euclid on his own.
• Regiomontanus (Johannes Müller)-Studied dialectics at 11.
• William James Sidis: Corrected E. V. Huntington's mathematics text galleys at age of eight and entered Harvard at 11 where he gave his self-conceived lecture on four dimensional geometry.
• Terence Tao: At eight he was attending Year 11 classes and scored a 760 on the SAT math section.
• Norbert Wiener: He entered Tufts at 11.

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. It should be noted that mental calculators are sometimes more like savants than they are like child prodigies. They have skills that rarely exist in adults and they may not be truly "mature" in mathematical understanding.

• Matthew Haworth: His abilities at the age of two enabled him to innovate calculus into realms scientists had not previously considered.
• Zerah Colburn: At the age of nine he was able to multiply six digit numbers in his head.
• Shakuntala Devi: Her abilities were first recognized at age 3.
• Brian Greene:(As an adult he is an important physicist)
• John Von Neumann: A "mental calculator" by age 6 who could tell jokes in classical Greek.
• Truman Henry Safford: At ten years old he could square 18 digit numbers, later in life he was an astronomer.
• Daniel Tammet: a British autistic mental calculator who can explain his abilities, recounted pi to its 22,514th digit from memory.

Computer science and engineering

Engineering

• Alia Sabur: 15 year old Doctoral candidate at Drexel University who entered college at 11.

Physics

• Kim Ung-Yong: Attended university physics courses at age 4, Ph.D in physics before age 15.
• Song Yoo-geun: Physics prodigy who entered university at age 8.
• Tathagat Avatar Tulsi: Undergraduate degree at age 10

Mechanical engineering

• Karl Benz: at the age of nine he started at the scientifically oriented Lyzeum, went on to study at the Poly-Technical University under the instruction of Ferdinand Redtenbacher, and at age fifteen he passed the entrance exam for mechanical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe

Medicine

• Balamurali Ambati: He graduated from High School at 11, was a college junior by age 12, and a doctor at 17.
• Maximiliano Arellano: Spoke at a medical university at age 7.
• Avicenna: Memorized the Quran at age ten, studying medicine at 13.
• Sho Yano: He started college at age 9 and graduated summa cum laude at age 12 from Loyola University Chicago. At 15 he attends the Pritzker School of Medicine
• Akrit Jaswal: India's youngest university student. He carried out an operation aged 7.

Biology and psychology

• Jean Piaget: Published a paper on the albino sparrow at 11, later a psychologist.

The Arts

Acting/directing

Note: This section is mostly limited to child actors or directors who were respected enough to be nominated or win awards against adult competitors and were declared prodigies. It also includes a few actors from eras predating film who were declared theatrical prodigies. This section must be limited in this way because being even an award-winning child actor is not, in itself, prodigious. (See Academy Juvenile Award for why being an award winning child actor does not equate to being competitive with adults.)

• William Henry West Betty: A sensation as a boy doing Voltaire and Shakespeare roles.
• Dakota Fanning: Since her breakthrough role in I Am Sam in 2001, has won numerous awards, and is currently the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award. In her performance in the 2005 film Hide and Seek, many said that her performance equaled (or even surpassed), the performance of veteran actor Robert De Niro.
• Hana Makhmalbaf: (director at age 8, currently 18)
• Tatum O'Neal: Won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at age 10 for her 1973 role in Paper Moon, making her the youngest person ever to win a regularly awarded Oscar.
• Haley Joel Osment: Nominee for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar at age 11.
• Anna Paquin: She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at age 11.
• Shirley Temple: At 5 years old she proved a spontaneous talent as an actress in Hollywood; she was also a great tap dancer. When she was 7 she received a special Academy Award.
• Ernest Truex: He did Shakespeare at age 6.
• Elijah Wood: Began acting at age 7, known for his incredibly mature performances in adult themed movies and additional off-screen maturity. Cited by some as the most gifted child actor in history.

Dance

• Wade Robson: First appeared on tour with Michael Jackson at the age of five; by 11 was teaching dance classes; choreographed major tours for artists such as Immature, Britney Spears and N'Sync beginning at age 14.

Music

See List of music prodigies.

Literature

• William Cullen Bryant: Published at ten, had a book of political satire poems at 13.
• Thomas Chatterton: Composing poems that would make him famous at age 12.
• Lucretia Maria Davidson: By 11 had written some poems of note and before her death at 16 received praise as a writer.
• H. P. Lovecraft: recited poetry at age 2 and wrote long poems at age 5
• Mattie Stepanek: Successful writer when he died at 13.
• Lope de Vega: wrote his first play at the age of 12. Could read Latin at 5 and was translating Latin verse at ten.
• Henriett Seth-F.: Hungarian autistic prodigy, wrote her first poem at the age of 9. She has also been a painter from an early age.

Visual arts

• Gian Lorenzo Bernini: at 7, his sketches caught the eye of Pope Paul V, he also sculpted Martyrdom of St. Lawrence at the age of 16
• Akiane Kramarik: 12 year old Christian artist who has been featured on television and in museums since age 10.
• Jan Lievens: Painter apprenticed at 8 and an independent artist at 12.
• John Everett Millais: Painter who entered the Royal Academy at eleven.
• Alexandra Nechita: Painter with solo exhibit at age eight.
• Dylan Scott Pierce: Wildlife art illustrator at 10.
• Marla Olmstead: Painter since age 4. Subject of the documentary My Kid Could Paint That.
• Pablo Picasso: His Picador is from age eight, see List of Picasso artworks 1889-1900.
• Stephen Wiltshire: An example of autistic artist child prodigies, he is an English artist
• Zhu Da: Prodigy poet by age 7 and later a painter.

Humanities

Academics

• Michael Kearney: Several degrees with the first being earned at age 10. He is currently noted as a "17 year old professor."
• Gregory R. Smith: He entered college at age 10 and was first nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize at age 12.

Business

• Y.Siddharth Reddy: Youngest-ever CEO of a Public Limited Company
• Nandeep Bamrah, MBA Graduate at age 17. (MBA 2005) .

Law/philosophy

• Jeremy Bentham: He studied Latin at age 3 and entered The Queen's College, Oxford at 12.
• Saul Kripke: philosopher by 12 and invited to apply for a teaching post at Harvard while still in high school.
• John Stuart Mill: Knew several dead languages by age eight and studied scholastic philosophy at 12.
• Eugene Volokh: Earned a BS in math/computer science from UCLA when he was 15. Proceeded to earn a JD, and clerk for judge Alex Kozinski and justice Sandra Day O'Connor before becoming a professor at the age of 26.

Linguistics/translation

• Jean-François Champollion: He knew several dead languages at age 10 and at 16 he read an important paper at the Grenoble Academy.
• Thomas Young (scientist): More noted as a physicist, he was a polyglot at a young age who worked on translating Demotic Egyptian
• Émilie du Châtelet: translated ancient Greek and other ancient texts in her late childhood. Later famous for translations of Newton's works, with her own additional commentary and analysis, into French.

Sports

• Fu Mingxia: A diver, referred to as a child prodigy by at least two sources, and was an Olympic gold medalist at 13.
• Ronnie O'Sullivan: snooker player. Scored his first century break aged 10, his first maximum at 15 and was youngest ever winner of a ranking event at 17.
• Michelle Wie: Qualified for the USGA Women's Amateur Public Links at 10 and won the same event at 13, making her the youngest person both to qualify for and win a USGA adult national championship.
• Tiger Woods: He first won the Optimist International Junior tournament at age 8, playing in the 9-10 age group since there was no group for 8-year-olds at the time.
• Wayne Gretzky: At age 6 he was skating with 10-year-olds. By the age of ten he scored 378 goals and 139 assists in just 85 games with the Nadrofsky Steelers.

Legendary

This is for historic children who have become representatives of the "prodigy" phenomenon, inspiring literature on it, but whose actual accomplishments have not been firmly established due to the poor sourcing or records of their era.

• Gaon of Vilna: A historically significant rabbi called a prodigy in youth and who has been said to have had a variety of skills by age 11.
• Christian Friedrich Heinecken: The book The Life, Deeds, Travels and Death of the Child of Lubeck was based on his life and he was an influence on The Hampdenshire Wonder. He allegedly "knew by heart the principal incidents in the Pentateuch" by age 1.
• Okita Sōji (1842 or 1844-1868): Prodigy of kenjutsu (swordsmanship), who defeated a kenjutsu master by age 12 and became a master of kenjutsu and a school head (Jukutou) at 18 or so. He died from tuberculosis in his mid-twenties.

See also

• Chess prodigy
• List of people youngest in their field

References

• Gifted Children: Myths and Realities by Ellen Winner: ISBN 0-465-01759-2
• Children Above 180 IQ: Standford-Binet Origin and Development by Leta Stetter Hollingworth: ISBN 0-405-06467-5
• Child Prodigies and Exceptional Early Achievers by John Radford: ISBN 0-02-925635-6

External links

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