Prodigies don't necessarily have high IQ. Some do. Some don't. IQ, alone, is not the defining factor here.
Agreed.
I've been thinking about the idea of
talent for a long time. I suspect that the extreme talent that gives us breathtaking new ideas results from a complex interplay of different abilities and other factors. IQ is important in many fields (e.g. mathematics or physics), but if a stratospheric IQ was all that was needed, we would have produced dozens of new Darwins, Einsteins, and Mozarts every century.
So other factors are presumably important. I think about creativity and intellectual independence (Lee Smolin talks about this idea
The Trouble with Physics, and I've seen it discussed elsewhere). Intellectual independence refers to an ability to follow your own ideas, while being fully aware of the consequences to your career. Etc.
There are presumably other factors as well, such as being financially able to eschew a traditional career. Maybe you are independently wealthy. Maybe you find a sponsor. Maybe your spouse has a good job. Maybe you can work part-time.
Then there is access: access to an instrument, to books, to tools, and these days, to the internet. Maybe someone gave you a piano. Maybe your professor arranged things so that you could tag along on a ship going to the Galapagos and your uncle persuaded your father to pay for it.
Either way, I think it's all very complicated.
