 |
William James SidisAn eccentric genius and child prodigy, famous in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century
Date of Birth: 01.04.1898
Country:  USA |
Content:
- The Life of William James Sidis
- Early Education and Extraordinary Abilities
- Academic Achievements and Controversies
- Career and Personal Life
- Controversies and Later Years
- Decline and Legacy
The Life of William James Sidis
Introduction and Early LifeWilliam James Sidis was an eccentric genius and prodigy who gained fame in the early 20th century in the United States. He was born in 1898 in New York City to Ukrainian Jewish immigrant parents. His father, Boris Sidis, was a philosophy doctor and Harvard University professor, while his mother, Sarah Mandelbaum Sidis, held a master's degree from the School of Medicine of Boston University. They named their son William James after a family friend, the renowned American philosopher William James.
Early Education and Extraordinary Abilities
From a very young age, William's parents had a clear vision for his education, which often attracted criticism. They began teaching him as an infant, and by the age of one and a half, he was avidly reading the 'New York Times'. William mastered eight languages - Latin, Greek, French, Russian, German, Hebrew, Turkish, and Armenian - by the age of eight and had authored four books by the time he turned eight. Some sources even suggest that Sidis eventually learned 40 languages. His IQ, ranging from 250 to 300, is considered the highest recorded IQ in history, challenging the claim that a woman holds the highest IQ.
Academic Achievements and Controversies
By the age of nine, William had completed the school curriculum and was ready for university. However, he was initially denied admission to Harvard University due to his young age. Eventually, in 1909 at the age of eleven, he became the youngest student ever admitted to Harvard. Shortly after, William was already presenting papers at the Mathematics Club and published his own research in American history, cosmology, and psychology. He also had a penchant for more abstract topics and proposed his solution to the problem of railroad capacity. Interestingly, William had a peculiar hobby of collecting railroad tickets.
Career and Personal Life
Sidis was predicted to have a dazzling career in mathematics. However, after completing his studies, he told a journalist that he wished to live as a hermit and remain a bachelor. Nevertheless, he eventually formed a strong attachment to a young woman named Martha Foley. Later, he enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Following threats from a group of Harvard students, William's parents found him a position as an assistant professor of mathematics at Rice University in Houston, Texas, when he was only seventeen. He taught several future prominent scientists during his time there.
Controversies and Later Years
Sidis subsequently enrolled in Harvard Law School but dropped out in 1919. That same year, he was arrested for participating in a May Day protest in Boston. He was sentenced to one and a half years in prison, and this arrest and sentence received widespread attention in the national press. Although Sidis openly declared himself a socialist and expressed his opposition to participating in World War I, his father's influence prevented him from serving the full sentence. His parents initially placed him in a sanatorium and then took him to California.
Decline and Legacy
William's brilliant career as a prodigy was doomed to failure. He worked as an accountant and constantly changed jobs whenever his extraordinary abilities were discovered. He had a deep aversion to journalists and maintained no relationships with women. He passed away at the age of 46 from an intracranial hemorrhage, the same condition that claimed his father's life. His life serves as a vivid example of the challenges faced by geniuses, whose scientific accomplishments often do not translate into personal fulfillment.
