Before the terms “Tiger Mom”
or “Helicopter Mom” entered our
vernacular. Before the moms on
“Toddlers and Tiaras” tried to
turn their daughters into beauty
queens. Before Earl Woods
showed off his two year old son
Tiger’s golf skills on the Mike
Douglas Show. Before Lindsay
Lohan’s dad, the mother in
Psycho, and every other
overbearing parent we know
from modern pop culture, there
was William J. Sidis and his mom
and dad.
Boris and Sarah Sidis were
Ukrainian Jewish immigrants who
were both brilliant. Having fled
the Ukrainian due to political
and religious persecution, they
decided to settle in New York
City. Boris was a psychologist
who quickly became known (and
somewhat infamous) for his work
with hypnosis and his studying
of mental disorders. Sarah was a
doctor who was one of the only
women of her time to earn a
medical degree. Both had highly
successful careers, but they
wanted children. So, on April 1,
1898, Sarah gave birth to the
couple’s first child, William
James Sidis.
Combining Boris and Sarah’s
genes alone should have been
enough to produce a very smart
child, but they didn’t want
merely a smart child. They
wanted a genius.
William’s education began in his
very first days on Earth. Sarah
quit her job practicing medicine
to mold their son into the image
they had in mind for him. They
used the family’s life savings to
buy books, supplies, and any
other tool they needed to
encourage their son. Utilizing
Boris’s innovative psychology
techniques, William was taught to
recognize and pronounce letters
from the alphabet within months.
He was using words like “door”
at six months. He became
dexterous enough to feed
himself with a spoon at eight
months.
His parents were proud of their
son, but possibly more proud that
Boris’s techniques in teaching
his son were working, constantly
publishing academic papers
showing off their successes. By
two years old, William was
reading the New York Times and
tapping out letters on a
typewriter from his high-chair –
in both English and French. He
wrote one such letter to Macy’s,
inquiring about toys.
Unfortunately, his time to act
like a child had already passed
young William by. Studying seven
different languages (French,
German, Latin, Hebrew, Greek,
Russian, and one he made up
himself – Vendergood) and
learning a high school curriculum
at seven left Billy precious little
time to act his age. His parents
wanted the whole world to know
about their prodigal son, as well
as their participation in all of it.
He was accepted into Harvard at
age nine, but the university
refused to allow him to attend
due to him being “emotionally
immature.” His parents took this
perceived slight to the media
and William was front page news
in the New York Times. This
gave William the notoriety and
fame he was not prepared for.
Tufts College, though, did admit
him and he spent his time
correcting mistakes in math
books and attempting to find
errors in Einstein’s theory of
relativity.
His parents pressed Harvard
further and when William turned
eleven, they relented. William
Sidis became a student at one
of the most prestigious
universities on Earth at the age
most kids were perfectly
content playing stick ball and
not worrying about giving a
dissertation on the fourth
dimension.
On a freezing Boston January
evening in 1910, hundreds
gathered to hear the boy genius
William Sidis in his first public
speaking engagement, a talk
about fourth dimensional bodies.
His speech, and the fact that it
was over most of the audiences’
heads, became national news.
Reporters followed William
everywhere on campus. He rarely
had a private moment. He
graduated from Harvard at the
age of 16, cum laude. Despite
his success, Harvard was not a
happy experience for young
Billy. According to Sidis
biographer Amy Wallace , William
once admitted to college
students nearly double his age
that he had never kissed a girl.
He was teased and humiliated
for his honesty. At his
graduation, he told the gathered
reporters that, “I want to live
the perfect life. The only way to
live the perfect life is to live it
in seclusion. I have always hated
crowds.”
After leaving Harvard, society
and his parents expected great
things from William. He briefly
studied and taught mathematics
at what later would become
known as Rice University in
Houston, Texas. His fame and
the fact that he was younger
than every student he taught
made it difficult on him. He
resigned and moved back to
Boston.
He attempted to get a law
degree at Harvard, but he soon
withdrew from the program.
William, brilliant as he was,
struggled with his own self-
identity. In May 1919, he was
arrested for being a ringleader
of an anti-draft, communistic-
leaning demonstration. He was
put in jail and that’s where he
would meet the only woman he
would love – an Irish socialist
named Martha Foley. Their
relationship was rather
complicated, mostly due to
William’s own declaration of love,
art, and sex as agents of an
“imperfect life.”................


just Google his name for more info


Is he really the most intelligent man the world has produced?

wow

Cyberrex:
wow

Have you watched the film "Good wiil hunting" Matt Damon was used as Williams james Sidis character. The guy is awesome

I'd rather my children grow up to discover themselves than to force-mould them into an image of pseudo success that would make them unhappy.

thesicilian:
I'd rather my children grow up to discover themselves than to force-mould them into an image of pseudo success that would make them unhappy.

Wow what an insight

thesicilian:
I'd rather my children grow up to discover themselves than to force-mould them into an image of pseudo success that would make them unhappy.

Different strokes for different folks