10 Lesser-known Prodigies Who Shook Up the World With Their Genius

by Prashant Gupta2 years ago

8 Jacob Barnett – Barnett overcame severe autism with the help of his mother to further Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

Jacob Barnett
Image credits: TEDxYouth/Youtube

Jacob Barnett, born in 1998, is a mathematics and science prodigy who overcame severe autism. His doctors declared that he would never be able to read or talk, but with the help of his mother’s homeschooling, he started speaking, drawing, and solving puzzles.

By the time he was eight years old, he had begun auditing physics classes at Indiana University. At the age of nine, he worked on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Jacob finished his high school’s entire math curriculum is just two weeks and was admitted to Indiana’s Purdue University when he was only ten years old.

He has a photographic memory and an IQ of 170.  Jacob got admission to Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada, to study for his Ph.D. He is the youngest student, at just 15, to get accepted at the institute. (source)

9 Ruth Lawrence

Ruth Lawrence was a child prodigy who, at age 9, won the top A-level mark in math. She also passed the Oxford University math entrance exam and became the youngest person to win a place at the university. She then completed the degree a year early, by age 13, and is currently a researcher in knot theory and algebraic topology.

Ruth Lawrence
Image credits: George Bergman/Wikimedia

In the 1980s, a British-Israeli girl named Ruth Lawrence set herself apart as a math prodigy at just age nine. Before attending Oxford University, she was homeschooled by her father, Henry Lawrence, who had given up his job as a computer consultant to tutor her.

Their efforts certainly paid off when in 1981, Lawrence became the youngest person ever to pass an Oxford University math entrance exam.

Lawrence then completed the three-year course in just two years and earned her degree by the age of 13. She was also the youngest person to be awarded a “starred first” for Mathematics at Oxford University. In 1989, she earned a Ph.D. that allowed her to work at Harvard University in the US.

Her father, who had been a constant companion throughout her education and career moved to the US with her. Today, she works as an associate professor at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics in Israel, where she is also a researcher in knot theory and algebraic topology. (1, 2)

10 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz – de la Cruz was an acclaimed, self-taught scholar and writer who was a fierce proponent of women’s rights.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Image credits: Wikimedia

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was born on 12 November 1648, in San Miguel Nepantla, which is located near Mexico City. She was a writer, dramatist, scholar, philosopher, poet, and composer. She wrote extensively on feminism, religion, and love. She was a staunch critic of misogyny. Her uninhibited and outspoken character resulted in her being given such titles such as “The Tenth Muse” and “The Phoenix of Mexico.”

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She contributed to the early Spanish literature and was known for her philosophies in her teenage years. She was fluent in Latin and could write in Nahuatl. She is considered to be the last great writer of the Hispanic Baroque style and an exemplar of the colonial Mexican culture.

She entered a monastery of Hieronymite nuns in 1669. She wanted to become a nun so that she could read to her heart’s content without entailing any responsibilities.

Her notable works include her poetry book First Dream, two dramas, and her music compositions. She also had an interest in philosophy, science, and mathematics. Today, Sor Juana is considered by modern scholars to be protofeminist, and her writings on subjects such as colonialism, education rights, women’s religious authority, and others are part of today’s seminal discourse. (source)

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