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[CaliNative]

William Sidis was estimated to have an I.Q. in excess of 300. He spoke many languages before 5, and invented his own language, proposed something like black holes before 1920, was a mathematical genius. He went to Harvard around 1912 when still in short pants. Norbert Weiner, who later invented cybernetics & another child prodigy at Harvard at the same time, said Sidis was brilliant but socially awkward, as was Weiner himself. Sidis taught several math courses at Rice in Houston for a short period, writing and mimeographing his own textbooks for the classes. He was often teased about girls by some of the students, most of whom were older than Sidis. He left or was not reappointed. Sidis went back to Harvard and earned a law degree, but never practiced.

Sidis spent his adult life working in menial jobs running mechanical calculating machines (called comptometers at the time) at insurance and investment companies. He was so fast on the calculator (or did the calculations in his head) that he usually finished his daily assignments in a couple of hours, and spent the rest of his time reading a stack of newspapers in a restroom stall. He rarely lasted long in a job, since the other employees complained about his short hours, even though he did the job well, just fast. When he was offered promotions, he always turned them down, saying he preferred being an adding machine operator.

In his private time, Sidis wrote many books and articles (using the pseudonym "Frank Folopa") on such arcane subjects as collecting bus and trolley transfers, Native American tribes and languages, and cosmology. He died in 1943 at the age of 45 from a stroke. From most accounts, he led a happy life in his private investigations of arcane subjects, and gave talks to interested people and friends. His only annoyances were being hounded by the press for supposedly squandering his early genius and potential, and for his odd lifestyle. When these articles appeared from time to time, this was another reason he left his jobs. He won several lawsuits for libel for these newspaper articles.

Source: "The Prodigy" by Amy Wallace, 1988.

I can think of only one genius who may have been smarter. This was the famous "Infant Prodigy of Lubbeck" in Germany in the 1700s, who read and quoted Biblical verses by the age of 1, and spoke several languages at 2. Alas, he died in an epidemic before he was 3. A pity we will never know what he might have accomplished.

Correction: the title header in bold type should read Sidis, not "Sedis". Can't edit the header line