Martin Karplus, who shares the 2013 Nobel Prize in chemistry, was born in 1930, graduated from Harvard in 1950 (age 20), and earned a PhD in 1953 (age 23).
From
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.biophys.33.110502.133350"Spinach on the Ceiling: A Theoretical Chemist’s Return to Biology"
by Martin Karplus
My junior high teachers [in Newton, MA] soon realized that
I was bored with the regular curriculum, so
they let me sit in the back of the classroom and
study on my own. What made this experience
particularly nice was that another student, a
very pretty girl, was given the same privilege,
and we worked together. The arrangement
was that we could learn at our own pace without
being responsible for the day-to-day material
but had to take the important exams.
Several dedicated teachers at Warren Junior
High helped us when questions arose, particularly
with science and mathematics.With this
freedom, we explored whatever interested us
and, of course, did much more work than we
would have done if we were only concerned
with passing the required subjects.
