Talk:William James Sidis

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Contents 1 IQ estimate sources 2 An IQ of 300 is not "laughable" 3 Spelling 4 Samuel Rosenberg 5 Rejection from Harvard discrepancy 6 Documentation for claims 7 Unverified claims 8 Not just homeschooling 9 Chronology 10 Father taught at Harvard 11 Revert? 12 Be careful with errors in the media 13 W. J. Sidis in a nutshell 14 Harvard entrance exams 15 Massachusetts Institute of Technology entrance exams 16 Sarah Sidis' education 17 Languages 18 Ratio IQ 19 Early accomplishments of William James Sidis

[edit] IQ estimate sources

Where on earth do these IQ estimates come from? Is this even verifiable? --140.180.129.21 08:00, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

"Sidis's IQ can only be approximately known even though he took many IQ tests, the tests were just not up to the task, he was off the charts. Abraham Sterling, director of New York City's Aptitude Testing Institute said 'he easily had an IQ between 250 and 300, I have never heard of anybody with such an IQ. I would say that he was the most prodigious intellect of our entire generation'."[1] --Frencheigh 08:36, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

I'm curious as to what teaching methods were actually implemented to James from such an early age. Bearing in mind that Boris Sidis his father was also a hypnotist, does anyone have any thoughts on what methods might have been used? --Joshi, London Uk.

Probably games and intensive instruction. At least in the case of Norbert Weiner, whose parallels with Sidis run deeper than the article mentions. There are even several pages on Sidis in Weiner's autobiography. --Maru 23:13, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

None of this is true. His father was decidedly NOT a hypnotist. If you had ever read any of his work, you couldn't help but notice how he argues AGAINST hypnotism for it representing an artificial state. Instead, Boris Sidis suggested that patients' reserve energies may be liberated--and the patient thus relieved of their suffering--in a state he termed hypnOIDAL, the intermediate rest-state between waking, sleeping, and hypnotism. However, to answer the question, there was no psychiatric miracle at work in young William's education, other than Boris's stern belief that avoiding fear (in large part by teaching him to reason) would prevent emotional and intellectual crippling of his son. I suggest you read Boris's "Philistine and Genius" which can be found at sidis.net (and perhaps some other work). IMHO, the myths that William crammed from birth are nothing more than ignorance perpetrated by the status quo's insecurity. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.93.60.102 (talk • contribs).

First of all, and IQ range of 50 points is absurd in any context; the difference between an IQ of 100 and 150 (assuming SD 15) is comparing someone in the 50th percentile (one out of two people) to someone in the 99.9th percentile (one out of one thousand people). The difference between 150 to 200 is far more absurd; this is comparing the 99.9th percentile (1/1000) to the 99.9999999987th percentile; one out of 76 billion people. I suppose this was based upon an SD of 16, meaning an IQ of 200 would be "only" 1 in 4.85 billion people. The point is that no one ever has been nor ever will be born with an IQ coming anywhere close to 300; this would make anyone in history- Einstein, Newton, Leonardo Da Vinci- look like an idiot child- by the age of ten.

So not only is the gap (250-300) inifinitely more absurd than almost anything ever suggested, the numbers in and of themselves are, too. This should simply be removed, or heavily qualified. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Angelic Wraith (talk • contribs).

When you take into consideration that above 200, IQ tests (even the ones we have today) tend to get very imprecise, a range of 50 points isn't entirely out of the question when the range is above 250. Besides, there are bound to be random flukes, chance individuals who have IQs of greater than 200, even 250, possibly even 300. That said, Abraham Sterling could have just been exaggerating (or mistaken) when he gave an estimate of 250-300. Then again... reading at 18 months? -kotra 16:12, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Reading at 18 months may or may not be all that much of an accomplishment. His parents made an effort to teach him- children (at least in the US) aren't taught to read until around kindergarten to first grade, whereupon they learn to read within a few months, incredibly rapidly. I know people who knew how to read before the age of three, because they were exposed to it. Certainly it's unusual, but who's to say it can't be done? As for an IQ of 300.. I still contend that someone that smart would be able to take the math section of the SATs with no knowledge of how to solve them, and assuming they understood what the question was asking, be able to on-the-fly answer correctly by simply proving the theorems from which the formulae come from. If that made any sense. Dan 21:55, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Reading at 18 months is definately an accomplishment. An average child can begin to read by age 4 if they are taught at a young age (not waiting until Kindergarten as is common in the United States). I can see some people learning by age 3 or even age 2. But 18 months is staggering to me. Not impossible, but really really unusual. It's definately an accomplishment. My point is that if someone could read that early, then there must be something very unusual going on with their intelligence.

About someone taking the SATs without knowing how to solve them... I don't think it matters how intelligent you are for some things. For example, if you don't have prior knowledge what π or Σ means, it could very well be impossible to solve a problem that uses them. Other things though, like word problems, they could figure out. I'm not quite sure why this was brought up, though... -kotra 09:18, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

I know... I said "if they understood the question being asked" (though the tables do give you the formulas you need for Pi). I brought it up simply as a way to convey how absurdly intelligent someone with an IQ of 300 would have to be to fill the shoes of a number that high. It would actually be sort of funny. I personally have a friend whose IQ is over 170, and he's way too smart for his own good. Anyway, my point was about the reading. I personally was taught how to read by my mother one month before 1st grade (mainly because she was pretty sure I wouldn't pay enough attention in school to actually learn it, which could have been disasterous), and in under a month I was reading fairly well. If that sort of accomplishment is possible for an (arguably) intelligent six-year-old, your average genius could conceivably learn to read at 18 months. Teaching yourself two other languages is something else, though :) Dan 23:01, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

My mistake for misunderstanding your SAT comment. And yeah, I agree that an IQ of 300 is pretty laughable. The guy who estimated his IQ at up to 300 was probably either exaggerating or mistaken. I do think that over 250 could be hypothetically possible though.

I also was taught how to read before I was taught in school, but I think most people could be taught before the age of six/seven. American (I assume you're from the US like me, please correct me if you're not) public schools tend to slow education down to match slower learners, so things like reading could actually be learned earlier for most people. But I think it's strange to say that if an intelligent 6-year-old could learn to read in a month then an "average" genius could learn to read at 18 months. That's too big of a stretch. For one thing, a six-year-old has been talking for 4 years. They have lots and lots of experience with communication. They even have learned other ways of communication like body language. An eighteen month-year-old, on the other hand, is usually just beginning to speak. And think about all the required abilities needed to learn how to read: not only knowledge of language, but also the ability to make the connection from letters to sounds and the fundamental understanding that these shapes somehow mean something. It would take a staggeringly intelligent baby to have all these qualities so that they would learn to read at 18 months.

As for the two other languages, though, I actually don't think that's so surprising. The younger you are the easier it is to learn other languages, it's just kids rarely have the motivation to at that age. For some reason, Sidis wanted to learn other languages, so he did... His ability to learn the languages isn't so interesting to me as his desire to do it. -kotra 12:45, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

it is not actually necessary to already know the language and the sounds to learn to read. One could learn a language entirely visually.

My point was, that if a Kid who wasn't reading anything at all (yes, even at six years old) can learn to do so in a month or less, it's rather likely that he/she has had the capability to do so for a good while. And visually, of course.. that's how the Chinese do it :) Rereading what he can do though? I'm beginning to think 300 isn't an exaggeration.. Dan 22:44, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

What exactly is the liberation of reserve energies? I would like to know more about it.Supersymmetry 07:38, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

See [2]. --Jagz 09:14, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] An IQ of 300 is not "laughable"

There is another way of determining IQ, and that is dividing Mental Age by Physical Age and multiplying that by 100. With an IQ of 300, this would put Sidis at a mental age of 30 at age 10. They teach this at high school folks! http://www.google.com/search?q=%22mental+age+by%22Kmarinas86 00:24, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, Mental Age/Chronological*100 age is [i]the[/i] way to do it, not a way. And statistically, it's laughable. Though, reading over his accomplishments, it might be true... though if it is, he's just a freak of nature... an idiot savant in every category... lol. Dan 22:39, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Whew: wrong in many categories. First, see Weschler vs Stanford-Binet vs Gardner; I'm not going to elaborate. Moreover, "idiot" savant is a crude (and outdated) way to describe prodigious autistic peoples. I believe you were looking for "polymath".

The nature of statistics is to produce measurements that can chart progress within a system. It might be, as you put it, "laughable" to assign a score of 300, but it is not improbable. The upper echelon of intellect is immeasurable and daunting to accurately describe. See Kim Peek for an example of supra-genius memory.

[edit] Spelling

"...capable of speaking over fourty languages"?

Try "forty" instead of "fourty." --Dr. James Moriarty

Fixed. You do realize that complaining here took more effort and thought than just fixing the spelling yourself would have taken? --Maru 16:26, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

LMAO. Signed, Kmarinas86 00:25, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

No, you guys, you don't get it. It's a quote. --DrZeus 23:18, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Samuel Rosenberg

Sidis was brought to the contemporary public's attention after an article regarding him was published in Samuel Rosenberg's paperback The Confessions of a Trivialist in 1972.

[edit] Rejection from Harvard discrepancy

So there are two statements now:

"Attempted to enroll in Harvard at age nine."
"the university had previously refused to let him apply at age eight"

Unless he applied and was refused twice, there's a contradiction. Since there's no citation for either statement, I don't know which is correct, but I suspect that eight was the age. There's an Oct. 11, 1909 New York Times article that says he applied and was rejected three years before he was accepted, although it incorrectly states that he was 13 at the time of acceptance, when he was actually 11. So, 11-3=8 although of course without an actual date we won't know for sure when he was rejected. Just so that there isn't a contradiction, I'll remove the one that says age nine for now. -kotra 01:21, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

I believe I read somewhere that he was 8 and almost 9 when he attempted to enroll at Harvard. --Jagz 17:36, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Documentation for claims

The list of accomplishments attributed to W. J. Sidis is currently unsourced. The article could greatly benefit from some substantiation of such claims, or attribution to their sources. For example, it should be easy to find references for the dates when he was admitted to college, attained the position of professor, etc. For the childhood accomplishments, I expect they are as reported by his parents. In that case, the it would be better to say that "his parents reported that he bowled a 300 game at the age of 15 months," etc. These are extraordinary claims, so they deserve to be well backed up (and any unverifiable ones weeded out). --Reuben 22:36, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

I agree, and to be perfectly honest some of the claims are extraordinary to the point of being ridiculous. Sidis had command of virtually every language in the world, and could learn a new language in a single day - this is complete toss. For a start, the article elsewhere states that Sidis could speak over 40 languages. Well there's a helluva lot more languages than 40 in this world (I understand that the number of distinct dialects runs into thousands). I doubt that the resources existed then (or even now) to provide anyone with that kind of knowledge, even if they did have the ability to digest it all.

Many of the so-called facts in this article are clearly anecdotal and probably unverifiable (eg reading NY Post at 18 months). I'm not questioning whether Sidis had exceptional cognitive abilities, but it seems to me that there is a lot of mythology surrounding him, and there are those that seek build him up to be some kind of tragic hero to those 'burdened' with a high IQ, as demonstrated by this article: (http://www.prometheussociety.org/articles/Outsiders.html), clearly written by someone with a substantial mental deficiency. Beeromatic 11:05, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Absolutely agreed with both.

I think he just dropped out of the mainstream. I believe he got tired of unwanted attention, ridicule, people expecting too much of him, and having to deal with people of average intelligence who probably seemed slightly retarded to him. --Jagz 17:57, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

I think I've heard such story about 999 times.

Here is a story from the Harvard newspaper dated 1924.[3] This is also from the Harvard newspaper showing he entered Harvard Law School in 1916.[4] Here is his transcript from Harvard undergraduate school.[5] His father, Boris Sidis, taught psychology at Harvard, maybe at the same time W.J. Sidis was there. --Jagz 22:37, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

These could be added to the article as external links or references. --Reuben 07:17, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Is there evidence for the other claims - e.g. the claim that he passed the MIT entrance exam at age 8? Autarch 20:04, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

See here.[6] --Jagz 20:49, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unverified claims

This article is something I hoped never to find on Wikipedia. Unreferenced, unverified claims, pseudoscientific approach to intelligence and much, much more. I particularly love the section about his "accomplishments", which include supposedly feeding autonomously. Please, be accurate and rational. Keep close to the facts, this person has had an education none of us will ever be lucky enough to even imagine, we just have had to waste our time doodling in obligatory schooling instead of being personally taught useful things. Sure he was clever, but the thinking "oh my God, he entered Harvard at age 11 when average people do it at 18 !!" is just stupid. I was as intelligent as I am now (but with far less knowledge) when I was 11. Would you be surprised if somebody was able to enter university at age 16 instead of 18? You sholdn't. The same applies for a homeschooled person. To make matters worse, and despite all those advantages he had, he didn't take profit of the situation in later life, dying as a lonely and sad virgin. A sad story.

Did he say he was lonely and sad? --Jagz 03:13, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Here's a newspaper article from one of his friends published two days after his death.[7] --Jagz 02:03, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Not just homeschooling

Although it's impossible to prove, it seems that he would have had a genius IQ even without all the homeschooling, which started during infancy. His father was a genius and his mother was at least gifted so although that won't automatically make him a genius, the genetics should increase the odds. I have read that his father, Boris Sidis, tried to say something like W.J. Sidis' achievements were not a result of his gifts at birth (a geniuses are made not born type of logic) but how could he prove it? It was likely a combination of his innate intelligence and the homeschooling provided by his parents. Although people have used W.J. Sidis as proof against starting the formal education of kids too early, I don't think this one example can serve as proof. Who knows how he would have turned out if he had not had the homeschooling, etc. --Jagz 01:55, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Of course genetics matter, but what makes such huge differences IS training. At the gym, very strong people usually lift say 40kg at the bench press, and 15 for weaklings. However, an average person with 3 years of experience will easily lift 130, easily surpassing the genetically strong person (for whom we don't know which "indirect" training they may have, such as an involuntary diet with lots of protein). Something even more dramatical applies to intellectual achievement. Genetics matter, and may play a very important role, but what makes differences of orders of magnitude is hard-working discipline.

On the other hand, I agree with Boris that the method he applied for his son is the best and everyone should be given formal education as early as possible, instead of wasting their time at kindergartens for 15 year olds.

Maybe he could have been Mr. Universe too if he had worked out. --Jagz 23:35, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Pardon?

[edit] Chronology

Someone deleted the Chronology section (before it was reverted) because they said it was inaccurate. What about it is inaccurate? --Jagz 13:41, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

I guess everything.

I'm working on incorporating the Chronology into the Biography section, however until then, I will put it here:

• 1914- Graduated from Harvard, cum laude, in June at age 16.[8] Shortly after graduation, he told reporters that he wanted to live the perfect life, which to him meant living it in seclusion. He granted an interview to a reporter from the Boston Herald, which published his vows to remain celibate and to never marry, and a statement that women do not appeal to him (although he later developed a strong affection for a young woman named Martha Foley[9]). Later (in 1914 or 1915) he enrolled at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.
• 1915- After a gang of Harvard students threatened to beat him up, his parents secured a job for him at Rice Institute (now Rice University) in Houston, Texas as a professor of mathematics. He was also going to work towards his doctorate. He arrived at Rice in December at age 17.
• 1916- Departed Rice after being persistently teased and kidded by the students he was instructing (who were older than he was), which negatively affected his teaching performance.[10] Then gave up what may have been a promising career in mathematics and enrolled at Harvard Law School.[11]
• 1919- Withdrew in good standing from Harvard Law School in his last year.[12] Later arrested after a socialist May Day parade turned into a melee.

--Jagz 21:59, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

I incorporated this into the Biography. --Jagz 21:55, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Father taught at Harvard

Does anyone know what years his father, Boris Sidis, taught psychology, etc., at Harvard? --Jagz 02:38, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Good question. He taught a course in Aristotelian logic for Josiah Royce in 1896 [13], experimented in his attic with William James the following year, and gave some advice about teaching in Philistine and Genius (which originated as a lecture). However, he introduced himself as Boris Sidis, M.A., Ph.D., (and M.D. from 1909 onwards) in his publications, and the scarce references to a "Professor Boris Sidis" come from journalists who likely never knew any member of the Sidis family personally (contrast this with articles by personal friends such as Addington Bruce who refers to "Dr. Boris Sidis.") [14]. Boris might not have been a professor at all (his Harvard transcript doesn't show him earning a professorship either [15]), but we'll have to further investigate the matter.

Boris may have been a professor (small p) but not a Professor (capital P). (Also, you should try to sign your Talk comments using 4 ~ or the time stamp button.) --Jagz 06:14, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Titles require capitalization. That aside, Boris's colleagues "did not want him to be a college teacher," and arranged for him to move to New York in late 1897 from which point, it seems, he practiced medicine instead [16]. But, like I said, I'm reluctant to dismiss the possibility completely. However, Boris wouldn't have taught at Harvard in 1916, since he moved to Portsmouth by 1911. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chyren (talk • contribs).

The word professor without being capitalized can refer to a teacher at a university who does not necessarily have the academic rank of Professor. --Jagz 02:26, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Revert?

I'm thinking about reverting the modified article by Chyren to the version 10:05, 30 December 2006 Jagz [17]. Any comments? --Jagz 05:29, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

I reverted the article because I was unable to determine exactly what had been changed. There were many changes. No explanation was given for the changes. I have reorganized the article now though. --Jagz 02:41, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

The article got reverted back so I have decided to make my edits one by one. I don't want to get into a revert war. --Jagz 19:14, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Be careful with errors in the media

It seems that there were some erroneous statements published about W.J. Sidis in newspapers and magazines decades ago. Maybe their standards were not as high back then or their methods of communication and verifying information were not sophisticated by today's standards. It seems like the errors tended to get copied from one newspaper article to the next one. --Jagz 01:28, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the article already explains that most of his eccentricities "rely on Sidis' negative image in the press of the day, which refused to acknowledge that Sidis' intellect could be attributed to anything but monotonous cramming — precisely what his parents argued against." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chyren (talk • contribs).

[edit] W. J. Sidis in a nutshell

Here is a paragraph written by Robert N. Seitz, Ph. D. that briefly describes why W. J. Sidis' life still captures interest today:
"William Sidis is hailed by some as the smartest human being who ever lived. He’s not the most precocious. The most precocious individuals of whom I’m aware are “Adam Konantovich”, who spoke his first word at three months and was talking in grammatically correct sentences at six months, and Michael Kearney and Merrill Kenneth Wolf, who spoke their first words at four months, their first sentences at six months, and were reading before they were a year old. By contrast, Billy Sidis spoke his first word at eight months, and began to read at two. Still, “Billy Sidis” seems to have shown great creativity and enduring powers of mind on into adulthood. His sister, Helena, said of him that, as an adult, he could learn a new language in one day, and as an adult, he was a true polymath, a “Renaissance man”. Perhaps a part of the mystique that renders William Sidis such a thought-provoking figure is the tragic waste of his talents. He was pilloried by the press, and traumatized into working as a $25 a week adding machine operator until he died at 46 of a cerebral hemorrhage. However, he continued to pursue his own studies, and the fruits of these endeavors have fired the interests of a cadre of 21st-century admirers."[18] --Jagz 19:19, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Harvard entrance exams

I read somewhere that Sidis passed the Harvard entrance exams at age 8 and somewhere else that Harvard refused to let him take the exams at that age. What should this article say? --Jagz 09:05, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Massachusetts Institute of Technology entrance exams

Amy Wallace's book "The Prodigy" says Sidis passed the MIT entrance exams at age 8. I found a 1908 Washington Post article saying he had just passed the MIT exams at age 10. I suppose he could have taken the exams more than once in different years. What should this article say, 8 or 10? --Jagz 09:09, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Prefer primary sources over secondary, unless Wallace's book explicitly accounts for the discrepancy. I personally would probably add the WP article in a reference, and mention how Wallace's book differs. --Gwern (contribs) 16:11 12 January 2007 (GMT)

Does anyone have the book "The Prodigy"? Does it provide a reference/citation for this? --Jagz 17:27, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

I changed the article to say he unofficially passed the test at 8 (administered by his high school teacher) and officially at 10. --Jagz 17:04, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sarah Sidis' education

Sarah Sidis attended medical school at Boston University.[19][20][21] She "passed the New York State Board examination for high school students with flying colors".[22] However, an adult passing an exam for high school students isn't a noteworthy accomplishment in this article about W. J. Sidis. --Jagz 14:25, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Regarding the statement that I removed from the article, "Sarah received no formal education", since she attended Boston University, she did get formal education. --Jagz 16:05, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Sarah never set foot in a school (other than an informal one she organized herself), didn't learn to read until she was about 15, worked ten hours per day [23], studied with Boris three nights per week, and aced the exams on her first try at age 17 [24]. It constitutes a perfectly noteworthy accomplishment on her part, illustrates the Sidis attitude towards education and academia, and parallels the scholastic path Boris, William and Helena pursued. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chyren (talk • contribs).

Sarah received no formal education PRIOR to her enrollment at Boston University! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chyren (talk • contribs) 16:29, 19 January 2007 (UTC).

That's not what the sentence said though. --Jagz 21:22, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

The sentence expressed in perfect clarity that she basically earned a high school diploma without having attended a single class, but relied only Boris's tutoring. Perplexing you don't find mastering a high school mathematics curriculum in three weeks while working ten hours per day a noteworthy accomplishment--especially for a 17 year old girl in the 19th century. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chyren (talk • contribs).

Here's the sentence I changed, "Sarah received no formal education (other than Boris's tutelage) but graduated from the Boston University School of Medicine in 1897." It says she did not receive formal education but since she attended Boston University that could not be true. Since it's not true, I changed it. --Jagz 18:51, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Before your changes, information about her passing the New York Stateboard examinations with honors followed "Sarah received no formal education..." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chyren (talk • contribs).

Why don't you give it another try. I'll take a look at what you put in the article or you can put your new sentence here and I'll take a look at it. --Jagz 22:22, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Languages

How many languages did Sidis know and how quickly could he learn a new one? There seems to be conflicting accounts of how many languages he knew. --Jagz 15:53, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Correct. His mother recollected that William employed a "workable knowledge of 25 languages" [25], while his sister believed he "knew all the languages in the world" (Doug Renselle probably estimated the world's number of languages at 200 [26]). Both disagree about the time required for William to learn a new tongue, his mother gave him a week, whereas his sister claims it took him a day. In 1991, a Time Life Books article titled "The Bent Twig" claimed he could "translate some forty languages" [27]. Specifically, he supposedly knew English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Turkish, Armenian, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Basque, Esperanto and, of course, Vendergood. He likely understood at least some more Slavic and Native American (especially Algonquin) languages and plenty of dialects, but we can't know definitively. Sarah's conservative account best matches the reports, but her estrangement from William in his adult life draws her approximation into question. Helena's suggestion, while flattering, sounds more awe-struck than factual. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chyren (talk • contribs).

[edit] Ratio IQ

I added a distinction between ratio and deviance IQ on the IQ page, and linked our explanation ("Probably ratio IQ") to that. It would still be great to have a better source regarding Sidis' IQ. I deleted the reference [28] regarding the difference between ratio and deviance IQ because it's no more reputable than wikipedia, but a more reputable definition that makes a distinction between ratio and deviance IQ would be welcome. A university website perhaps? --Hurtstotouchfire 19:48, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

I put the external link back in until someone comes up with something better. That link is associated with the Mega Foundation, see High IQ society. --Jagz 22:52, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Early accomplishments of William James Sidis

Some of the early accomplishments of William James Sidis include:[29]

• After some trial and error, he started feeding himself with a spoon at eight months.[30]
• Cajoled by Boris, Sidis learned to pronounce alphabetic syllables from blocks hanging in his crib.
• At six months, William said his first word - "door". A couple months later he told his mother that he liked things, doors and people, that move.
• At seven months he pointed to Earth's moon and called it, "moon."
• Learned to spell efficiently by one year old.
• Started reading The New York Times at 18 months.
• Started typing at three. Used his high chair to reach a typewriter. First composed letter was an order for toys from Macy's.
• Read Caesar's Gallic Wars, in Latin (self-taught), as a birthday present to his Father in Sidis's fourth year.
• Learned Greek alphabet and read Homer in Greek in his fourth year.
• Learned Aristotelian logic in his sixth year.
• At the age of six, Sidis learned Russian, French, German, and Hebrew, and soon after, Turkish and Armenian.
• Calculated mentally the day any date in history would fall, at age six.
• Learned Gray's Anatomy at six. Could pass a student medical examination.
• Started grammar school at six. In three days he was moved to the third grade, and he graduated from grammar school in seven months.
• Wrote four books between ages of four and eight. Two on anatomy and astronomy are lost.
• Passed Harvard Medical School anatomy exam at age seven.
• Passed Massachusetts Institute of Technology entrance examinations at age eight unofficially, scoring a perfect 100 on the mathematics and physics sections, and officially at age ten.[31]
• Corrected E. V. Huntington's mathematics text galleys at the age of eight.
• His father attempted to enroll him at Harvard at eight (going on nine).
• At age ten, in one evening, corrected Harvard logic professor Josiah Royce's book manuscript: citing, "wrong paragraphs."[32]
• Mastered higher mathematics and planetary revolutions by age 11. --Jagz 23:51, 27 January 2007 (UTC)