acts of early genius
(“Child prodigy” more recently means someone who is very good at school so I don’t use the term.)
It’s mostly maths and music.
- JC Maxwell (geometry), 14
- Saul Kripke (modal logic), 15
- Pascal (geometry, computing), 16
- Gauss (geometry, number theory, OLS), 16
- Clairaut (differential geometry), 16
- Charles Fefferman (logic), 17
- Walter Pitts (logic, the neuron), 18
- Frank Ramsey (translation, economics), 18
- Chaitin (algorithmic complexity), 18
- Wiener (logic), 18
- Niels Abel (the quintic), 18
- Lagrange (variational calculus), 18
- Evariste Galois (Algebra), 19
- von Neumann (foundations), 20
- Aaronson (complexity), 20
- Grothendieck (functional analysis), 21
- Nash (games), 21
- Dürer (painting), 13
- Turner (painting), 15
- Picasso (painting), 15
- Raphael (painting), 16
- Van Dyck (painting), 16
- Gentileschi (painting), 17
- Velazquez (painting), 19
- Bernini (sculpture), 13
- Michelangelo (sculpture), 16
- Fermi?
- Hamilton?
- Landau?
- Abelard?
- Maclaurin?
In writing, we have Rimbaud, Chatterton, Joyce, the Shelleys, Pope.
In leadership, Alexander, Augustus Caesar, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, Lafayette, Genghis Khan, Garibaldi, Jeanne d’Arc.
I don’t give a fuck about chess.
People sometimes note that no teen has ever done great work in e.g. philosophy or history. Kripke and Grotius are as close as we get.
On the other hand, it is normal for teenagers to make incredible music, such that it’s unremarkable and people don’t make lists. But I have:
Young music
Miles, Herbie, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Charlie Haden,
McCartney, Randy Newman, Redd Kross, Minor Threat, Replacements (Tommy was 12!), Buzzcocks, The Germs, Bad Brains, Kool Herc, Behemoth, Kate Bush, Sepultura, Laura Marling, Dizzee Rascal, Arctic Monkeys, AFX, Beirut, Bad Religion, Metallica, Sondre Lerche, Green Day, Ash, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Milla Jovovich, Karen Brooks, Cap'n Jazz, Ani Difranco, Nas, James Ferraro, Yoji Mabuchi, Avey Tare, Gordon Gano, De La Soul, Them, Johnny Marr, Leiber & Stoller, Fiona Apple, Maurice Williams, A Tribe Called Quest
A pattern in the above musicians is that they were melodic or lyrical or textural geniuses; harmonic genius really does take time.