Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Genius at work: 12-year-old is studying at IUPUI

http://www.indystar.com/article/201103200245/LOCAL01/103200369

Genius at work: 12-year-old is studying at IUPUI
by Dan McFeely
March 20, 2011

When Jacob Barnett first learned about the
Schr�dinger equation for quantum
mechanics, he could hardly contain himself.

For three straight days, his little brain
buzzed with mathematical functions.

From within his 12-year-old, mildly autistic
mind, there gradually flowed long strings of
pluses, minuses, funky letters and upside-
down triangles -- a tapestry of
complicated symbols that few can
understand.

He grabbed his pencil and filled every
sheet of paper before grabbing a marker
and filling up a dry erase board that hangs
in his bedroom. With a single-minded
obsession, he kept on, eventually marking
up every window in the home.

Strange, say some.

Genius, say others.

<rest of article at link>

That is a very interesting article.

Thanks.
Ren

very positive article!

What a wonderful young man!

And what a remarkably accepting and nurturing family he has. That really warmed my heart.


Am I the only one that found the initial tone of this piece to be more than a little grating, however?

"little brain"-- ugh.

I didn't much appreciate the reporter taking the patronizing, 'sideshow freak' approach. I'm still wondering what the Doogie Howser quote was all about. Clearly if this young man's classmates are seeking him out for assistance, he's integrated just fine into the environment.

At least the writer finally focused on the extent to which the boy's parents have simply supported his natural development, disregarding what we are told "should" be right for kids. I'm deeply impressed by his parents; that takes such courage!!

The comment about not sleeping and 'scaring people' really struck a chord. I see that (to a lesser degree, of course) with my own sweet DD.

I'm so happy for this passionate youngster!

Great story and I loved this part:
Jake's parents decided to pay closer attention to the things their first-born son was doing -- rather than the things he was not.

I love reading about when someone got it right. Bravo to those parents for allowing him to stretch his boundaries. I see great things in the future for this boy.

I'm glad people liked the story. Some videos of Jacob teaching math, including calculus and linear algebra, are at YouTube, posted by mathboysmom, who I assume is his mother. One link is .

Here's another article about Jacob (which has embedded the link Bostonian posted, too);

Daily Mail (UK) article about Jacob B.

This bit doesn't have the smarmy tone from the reporter, either, IMO. Much better for that.

Baby step: plumb the depths of astrophysics. My favorite part of the story is the "slow" start. They sure had him pegged wrong, didn't they?

It will be interesting to see what he contributes when he's more fully developed. Right now he seems to be motivated in large part by egotism (nothing wrong with that if it keeps him striving, and geniuses in the past have certainly had their share of big egos), and doesn't seem to have actually produced anything new of note, but he's only 12! As long as he keeps pushing himself, he may do spectacular things. I wonder if he'd be even better served in the short term at a different university.