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Child prodigy

(Redirected from Wunderkind)

A child prodigy, or simply prodigy, is someone who is a master of one or more skills or arts at an early age. One generally accepted definition of a prodigy is a person who, by the age of 10, displays expert proficiency in a field usually only undertaken by adults. Some of the fields common to prodigies are mathematics, chess, art, and music, but prodigies occur in many other areas.

The term wunderkind (from German: Wunder, wonder/miracle + Kind, child, kid) is sometimes used as a synonym for prodigy, particularly in media accounts, although this term is discouraged in the scientific literature. Wunderkind is also used more generally of adults who achieve success and notoriety early in their careers, including Steven Spielberg and Steve Jobs.

Contents

1 Cognitive studies on child prodigies

2 List of child prodigies

2.1 Art
2.2 Music
2.3 Mathematics
2.4 Physics
2.5 Chess
2.6 Literature
2.7 Medicine
2.8 Sport
2.9 Academics
2.10 Mental calculators
2.11 Computing
2.12 Military
2.13 Languages
2.14 Other fields,notable

3 See also

Cognitive studies on child prodigies

There is much debate about what forms a prodigy, but many are found to come from families where one or more of the parents specialize in the field of the child’s talent. Mozart, one of the most accomplished classical musicians and a recognized musical prodigy, was raised by a musician father whose specialty was teaching. Pablo Picasso, the world-renowned artist prodigy, had a professional painter as a father. Also, in a recent study of Taiwanese physics and chemistry prodigies, three-quarters of the children studied were first or only children in relatively well-off families in which both parents were professionals (though not necessarily in the child's field of expertise).

Few studies have examined the neurological activity of prodigies. Michael O'Boyle, an American psychologist working in Australia, however has recently utilized fMRI scanning of blood flow during mental operation in prodigies to display startling results. Mathematical prodigies, so-called “calculators,” achieve blood flow to parts of the brain responsible for mathematical operations six to seven times the typical flow.

PET Scans done to several math prodigies have led to the idea of the LTWM, or long-term working memory. This memory, specific to a field of expertise, is capable of holding relevant information for extended periods, usually hours. For example, experienced waiters have been found to hold the orders of up to twenty customers in their heads while they serve them, but perform only as well as an average person in number-sequence recognition. The PET scans also answer questions about which specific areas of the brain associate themselves with prodigal number-manipulation. One subject never excelled as a child in mathematics, but he taught himself algorithms and tricks for calculatory speed, becoming capable of extremely complex mental math. His brain, compared to six other controls, was studied using the PET scan, revealing separate areas of his brain that he manipulated to solve the complex problems. Some of the areas that he (and presumably prodigies) uses are brain sectors dealing in visual and spatial memory, as well as visual mental imagery. Other areas of the brain showed use by the subject, including a sector of the brain generally related to childlike “finger counting,” probably used in his mind to relate numbers to the visual cortex.

While there are no definitive answers in the field of child prodigies, the consensus among most researchers is that it is a mix of practice and innate talent. Not all children are prodigies, and not all prodigies became so without hard work to develop their talents. The "Mozart Effect " of hereditary talent provides a base from which prodigious children may express their gifts. As Joanna Schaffhausen put it, "Mozart was a child prodigy; Beethoven was not. The world still marvels at them both."

Murray Gell-Mann-Taught himself calculus at seven. Went to Yale at 15 and received his PhD from MIT at 20. Winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics
Lev Landau-Entered University at 14. Pioneered Condensed matter, and "created" the Russian school of theoretical physics. Winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physics
Chris Hirata -Entered Caltech at 14, currently at Princeton

Chess

See chess prodigy.

Literature

Thomas Chatterton
Samuel R. Delany
Mattie Stepanek
John Kennedy Toole-wrote The Neon Bible at the age of 16.
Timothy Olsen　- wrote The Teenagers guide to Investing at the age of 12.
Isaac Asimov- PHd in Chem.. But prolific sci-fi writer. Taught himself to read at 5. Wrote fiction before entering high school.
Taylor Caldwell wrote Romance of Atlantis when she was 12 or 13.
Lesya Ukrainka
Lope de Vega- wrote his first play at the age of 12. Read and Latin in addition to his native Spanish at 5.

Michael Kearney
Tathagat Avatar Tulsi
Gregory R. Smith
Ivan Cherevko
Friedrich Adolf Ebert
Alia Sabur -15 year old Doctoral candidate at Drexel University.
Merrill Kenneth Wolfe
Adragon DeMello - Graduated from U.C. Santa Cruz at age 11, gained master's degree in Chemistry at 15. Believes father pushed him inordinately [1]

Mental calculators

Note: Many mathematicians were mental calculators when they were still children.

Computing

Steve Kirsch - Wrote an e-mail program at the age of 12, (witnessed, participated in the birth of the internet), programmed IBM 360 mainframe.
Priyanshu Kumar - MCSE, CCNA at the age of 11 years old.
Chandra Sekar - MCSE at the age of 10
Will Harvey -created his first program at the age of 15.

Military

David Farragut Navy captain at 12 years old.

Languages

Note: Several already mentioned prodigies were polyglots as children.

Jean-Francois Champollion Half a dozen languages by the age of 16. Decipherer of the Rosetta Stone.

Other fields,notable

Jeremy Bentham
Doron Blake

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