Friday, October 17, 2003
The Brightest



Ever heard of William James Sidis? William James Sidis is arguably the brightest human who ever existed on our planet Earth.

Here is a partial list of William James Sidis' extraordinary capabilities and accomplishments:

1. Infant Billy listened to Greek myths read to him by Sarah (mother) as bedtime stories.
2. Started feeding himself with a spoon at eight months (after two months of trial and error).
3. Cajoled by Boris (father), Billy learned to pronounce alphabetic syllables from blocks hanging in his crib.
4. At six months, Billy said, "Door." A couple months later he told Mom he liked things, doors and people, that move.
5. At seven months he pointed to Earth's moon and called it, "moon." He wanted a 'moon' of his own.
6. Mastered higher mathematics and planetary revolutions by age 11.
7. Learned to spell efficiently by one year old.
8. Started reading The New York Times at 18 months.
9. Started typing at three. Used his high chair to reach a typewriter. First composed letter was an order for toys from Macy's.
10. Read Caesar's Gallic Wars, in Latin (self-taught), as a birthday present to his Father in Billy's fourth year.
11. Learned Greek alphabet and read Homer in Greek in his fourth year.
12. Learned Aristotelian logic in his sixth year.
13. At six, Billy learned Russian, French, German, and Hebrew, and soon after, Turkish and Armenian.
14. Calculated mentally a day any date in history would fall at age six. Absolutely fascinated by calendars.
15. Learned Gray's Anatomy at six. Could pass a student medical examination.
16. Billy started grammar school at six, in 3 days 3rd grade, graduated grammar school in 7 months.
17. At age 8, Billy surpassed his father (a genius) in mathematics.
18. Corrected E. V. Huntington's mathematics text galleys at age of eight.
19. Total recall of everything he read.
20. Wrote four books between ages of four and eight. Two on anatomy and astronomy, lost.
21. Passed Harvard Medical School anatomy exam at age seven.
22. Passed MIT entrance exam at age eight.
23. Intellect surpassed best secondary school teachers.
24. At age 10, in one evening, corrected Harvard logic professor Josiah Royce's book manuscript: citing, "wrong paragraphs."
25. Attempted to enroll in Harvard at nine.
26. In 1909, became youngest student to ever enroll at Harvard at age 11.
27. In 1910, at age 11, lectured Harvard Mathematical Club on 'Four-Dimensional Bodies.'

Posted at 02:49 pm by Madsen

 

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