List of child prodigies

In psychology research literature, the term child prodigy is defined as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain to the level of an adult expert professional.^[1][2][3]

• Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher who wrote a treatise on vibrating bodies at the age of nine; he wrote his first proof, on a wall with a piece of coal, at the age of 11 years, and a theorem by the age of 16 years. He is famous for Pascal's theorem and many other contributions in mathematics, philosophy, and physics.^[4]
• John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) was a British philosopher and economist. At the age of eight, Mill began studying Latin, the works of Euclid, and algebra. At about the age of twelve, Mill began a thorough study of the scholastic logic. In the following year he was introduced to political economy and studied Adam Smith and David Ricardo.
• Norbert Wiener (1894–1964) was an American philosopher and mathematician. He graduated from Ayer High School at 11 years of age. He was awarded a BA in mathematics in 1909 at the age of 14.^[5]
• William James Sidis (1898–1944) was a mathematics and language prodigy. Sidis was able to read the New York Times as an 18-month-old. He taught himself eight languages by age eight and invented his own. He was admitted into Harvard University at age 11, and in the same year attracted national attention for lecturing on 4-dimensional bodies to the Harvard Mathematical Club.^[6]
• John von Neumann (1903–1957) was a "mental calculator" by the age of six years, who could tell jokes in classical Greek.^[7][8] Von Neumann went on to make numerous contributions to mathematics, economics, physics, and computer science. (Note: Several mathematicians were mental calculators when they were still children. Mental calculation is not to be confused with mathematics. This section is for child prodigies largely or primarily known for calculating skills.)
• Lev Landau (1908–1968) was a Soviet physicist who mastered calculus by age 13. He graduated from the Baku Gymnasium aged only 13 as well. Landau is today best known for his work in superconductivity and a series of textbooks he co-authored with Evgeny Lifshitz.
• Terence Tao (1975–) A child prodigy,^[9] Tao exhibited extraordinary mathematical abilities from an early age, attending university-level mathematics courses at the age of 9. He is one of only three children in the history of the Johns Hopkins Study of Exceptional Talent program to have achieved a score of 700 or greater on the SAT math section while just eight years old; Tao scored a 760.^[10] Julian Stanley, Director of the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth, stated that Tao had the greatest mathematical reasoning ability he had found in years of intensive searching.^[11]
• Erik Demaine (1981–) is a Canadian-American professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a former child prodigy. From the age of 7, he was identified as a child prodigy and spent time traveling across North America with his father.^[12]

• Sho Yano (1990–) is an American physician. Yano is a former child prodigy. He entered Loyola University at age 9 and graduated summa cum laude just three years later. At 13, he went on to the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine.^[13]

• Jean-Philippe Baratier (1721–1740) by the age of nine knew French, German, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew and at the age of eleven published a scholarly translation of a medieval work. He was admitted as a foreign member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and received a master of arts degree at the age of 14.^[14]
• Christian Heinrich Heineken (1721–1725), known as the "infant scholar of Lübeck", was able to read the Pentateuch at the age of one, and read the Old and New Testaments in Latin between the ages of two and three. He recited the history of Denmark in front of the Danish king in Copenhagen at the age of three.^[15]
• Karl Witte (1800–1883) at the age of nine knew—in addition to his native German—French, Italian, Latin, English, and Greek, and read classic works in those languages. In the same year, he was matriculated at the University of Leipzig. He earned a doctorate at age 13 and became a Doctor of Law at the age of 16, when he joined the teaching staff of the University of Berlin.. He later became a notable scholar of Dante.^[16]

• William Cullen Bryant published his first poem at the age of 10; at the age of 13 years, he published a book of political satire poems.^[17]
• Minou Drouet caught the notice of French critics at the age of eight, leading to speculation that her mother was the true author of her poetry. She later proved herself to be the author.^[18]

• Edmund Thomas Clint (1976–1983) was an Indian child prodigy.^[19] He is known for having drawn over 25,000 paintings, though he lived to be just six years and 11 months old.^[20]

• Sumire Nakamura was competing in national Go tournaments in Japan by the time she was seven, and became the youngest professional go player at age 10 in 2019.^[21][22]

Some children become famous and are called a prodigy although it is questionable whether they have produced meaningful output to the level of an adult expert professional.^[23]

• Arden Hayes (born 2008) who as a five-year old appeared in newspapers and television shows because of his ability to memorize information about certain topics.^[24]

• List of fictional child prodigies
• Lists of child actors
• List of child sportspeople