13 Mar 2012, 1:34 pm
13 Mar 2012, 3:58 pm
13 Mar 2012, 9:30 pm
DuneyBlues
Deinonychus
Joined: 23 Nov 2011
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 306
Location: Enjoying Solitary Confinement
15 Mar 2012, 7:19 pm
16 Mar 2012, 10:15 am
16 Mar 2012, 12:01 pm
Cornflake wrote:
The article is specious because Einstein's IQ was never measured.
Besides, the term "IQ" is practically meaningless.
Besides, the term "IQ" is practically meaningless.
I agree on both counts. His IQ means precious little. What is astonishing though is that he taught himself calculus, algebra, geometry and trigonometry within a week, skipped 7 grades, has a photographic memory, was able to understand Einstein's theory of relativity at age 10, and developed his own theory of relativity at age 12
I think that's the real news here. He might really be the next Einstein.
16 Mar 2012, 12:05 pm
16 Mar 2012, 12:10 pm
16 Mar 2012, 12:24 pm
16 Mar 2012, 1:01 pm
CrazyCatLord wrote:
Cornflake wrote:
The article is specious because Einstein's IQ was never measured.
Besides, the term "IQ" is practically meaningless.
Besides, the term "IQ" is practically meaningless.
I agree on both counts. His IQ means precious little. What is astonishing though is that he taught himself calculus, algebra, geometry and trigonometry within a week, skipped 7 grades, has a photographic memory, was able to understand Einstein's theory of relativity at age 10, and developed his own theory of relativity at age 12
I think that's the real news here. He might really be the next Einstein.Quote:
Why? I envy this kid. Of course it will be hard for him to relate to his peers. He probably won't even have peers due to his amazing mind that makes ordinary people look like macaques in comparison. But many if not most aspies have a rather lonely life. At least he will get to do something meaningful with his life instead of wasting away without a real purpose (like I'm doing).
Quote:
Michael Howe has argued that Einstein was an unrecognized child prodigy and debunked the myth that he was a bad student.
Quote:
There is a persisting although wildly inaccurate claim that Einstein was a bad pupil who failed to flourish at the Munich high school, or Gymnasium, which he attended from the age of nine and a half. In fact this assertion was firmly refuted as early as 1929, at which time the school's then principal searched the old records and was able to confirm that all the evidence demonstrated that Einstein had actually been a very good student. There had been no complaints about him and, no marks that were other than good. The written evidence of Einstein's performance also proved that the newspaper reports, in which Einstein was said to have been an especially poor student of languages, were totally unfounded.
Einstein did well at school despite the fact that neither the ambience nor the curriculum was particularly suitable for a Jewish child of his temperament and interests. There were eight hours of Latin every week and four of Greek from the fourth year onwards. This left little time for other subjects, and so there were only three mathematics classes per week, and only two science and geography classes. Physics was not taught at all until the seventh year. Fortunately for Einstein, he had made considerable progress in those subjects by private study in his spare time, reaching levels of attainment well beyond the school's requirements.
By the age of eleven or so Albert Einstein was reading about science and philosophy in books that were beyond the understanding of most children. He was already contemplating the conflicting claims of science and religion, and had become convinced that much that he had read in the Bible could not be true. At the same age he became enchanted by mathematics. On encountering Pythagoras' theorem he determined to prove it. He succeeded, but only after three weeks of the kind of strenuous and unremitting contemplation that (although Einstein would not have known it at the time) was a characteristic mental activity of his great predecessor Isaac Newton.
In common with Newton and a number of other outstanding thinkers (including Galileo and Bertrand Russell) Einstein became particularly strongly attracted to the certainty and purity of Euclid's geometry. Before the age of twelve he had quickly worked his way through a geometry textbook and made a serious start on the study of advanced mathematics. Such was his progress that the family friend who had first encouraged his interest was soon finding it impossible to keep up with the child.
(Source)
Quote:
There is a persisting although wildly inaccurate claim that Einstein was a bad pupil who failed to flourish at the Munich high school, or Gymnasium, which he attended from the age of nine and a half. In fact this assertion was firmly refuted as early as 1929, at which time the school's then principal searched the old records and was able to confirm that all the evidence demonstrated that Einstein had actually been a very good student. There had been no complaints about him and, no marks that were other than good. The written evidence of Einstein's performance also proved that the newspaper reports, in which Einstein was said to have been an especially poor student of languages, were totally unfounded.
Einstein did well at school despite the fact that neither the ambience nor the curriculum was particularly suitable for a Jewish child of his temperament and interests. There were eight hours of Latin every week and four of Greek from the fourth year onwards. This left little time for other subjects, and so there were only three mathematics classes per week, and only two science and geography classes. Physics was not taught at all until the seventh year. Fortunately for Einstein, he had made considerable progress in those subjects by private study in his spare time, reaching levels of attainment well beyond the school's requirements.
By the age of eleven or so Albert Einstein was reading about science and philosophy in books that were beyond the understanding of most children. He was already contemplating the conflicting claims of science and religion, and had become convinced that much that he had read in the Bible could not be true. At the same age he became enchanted by mathematics. On encountering Pythagoras' theorem he determined to prove it. He succeeded, but only after three weeks of the kind of strenuous and unremitting contemplation that (although Einstein would not have known it at the time) was a characteristic mental activity of his great predecessor Isaac Newton.
In common with Newton and a number of other outstanding thinkers (including Galileo and Bertrand Russell) Einstein became particularly strongly attracted to the certainty and purity of Euclid's geometry. Before the age of twelve he had quickly worked his way through a geometry textbook and made a serious start on the study of advanced mathematics. Such was his progress that the family friend who had first encouraged his interest was soon finding it impossible to keep up with the child.
(Source)
I realize the super genius brainiac stereotype can be seen as an ideal, but you are giving far too much credence to the statements.
These "prodigal" son ideas are as much fantasy as the "loser who is really a super-genius" are, that is so often applied to einstein(which you have a provided a source which attempts to debunk that latter notion).
As others said, einstein is the culmination of ambition, keen interest, and perhaps even a little bit of luck. There is only ONE key element that connects all great figures throughout history. Ambition.
This is the one and only attribute that under close scrutiny seems to be the only consistent characteristic of mind for all great figureheads. Make a list of every idea that can be applied to a great person, than gradually go through a complex encyclopedia of every single major figure you can name. Cross off principles that do not apply to those individuals. By the end, you will likely be left with only ambition as the sole consistent idea.
An unambitious prodigal son would lead a life as boring and unremarkable as every other individual in existence. Being intelligent might make it easier to engage practical matters, but it is not the only aspect of personality that matters. In fact, it can be argued that being intelligent is not even necessary for greatness. There are usually better results when an individual ascends to greatness with intelligence, but it is not a requirement. This is very noticeable as not all great figures were remarkably intelligent. There are even some who can be argued to be relatively stupid.
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Next, comes the objectivity of statements provided. Most of those ideas seem to be exaggerations within the sources.
Do you really think he truly learned the entire foundations of math with mostly perfect understanding, little to no previous experience in the matter, and no aid? If he was really that capable at such a young age, governments would be harvesting his dna and making clone armies of the boy. It simply isn't realistic. His blood could not be the result of normal human copulating, but would require essential dna mutation that would be noticeable in a simple lab test.
More likely, the objective reality is that his parents are very strict in terms of desiring greatness in the boy. If anything I actually feel sorry for him. He is probably in a worse situation than michael jackson and the jackson family were with their father. My guess, is his parents probably have collected all the necessary resources, thought long and hard about what might theoretically allow the boy to learn fastest, and are forcing the child to learn at their discretion. If his parents are intelligent, it can be assumed he has a natural gift and ability to learn at an accelerated pace. Put all of this together, and you will have a boy who can learn some aspects of the basic foundations of math in a relatively short period of time, however, the understanding certainly won't be perfect. It likely took him much longer to perfect his understanding(assuming he even has that knowledge, and it simply isn't exaggeration because people want to BELIEVE he is that incredible, when it is not the case.)
This is the development of an intelligent boy, placed in an environment that cultivates accelerated learning. If anything I'm more worried about the possibility that he might be suffering, with expectations placed upon him that he both does not want, and will not achieve.
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Edit: Rushed off my response earlier. I noticed I had far too many uses of the words "likely" and "simply" . Cleaned it up a bit.
Last edited by Hero on 16 Mar 2012, 1:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
16 Mar 2012, 1:07 pm
Tollorin
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Joined: 14 Jun 2009
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,178
Location: Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada
16 Mar 2012, 5:20 pm
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