History is peppered with such children who went on to become prodigies and legends in their respective fields.
1. Frédéric Chopin
Chopin was born in 1810 and left Poland after being established as a child prodigy. He started learning the piano at a very young age after which his mother enhanced his skills. His talent became more apparent as he grew up and he was deemed as the ‘second Mozart’.
2. Carl Friedrich Gauss
Gauss was born in 1777 and was extremely sharp even as a toddler. He made several discoveries in the field of mathematics during his teenage years. His masterpiece was published in 1801 and went by the name of “Disquisitiones Arithmeticae”. Gauss is undoubtedly the most influential in the field and is fondly referred to as the Prince of Mathematics.
3. Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega was born in 1562 and was a playwright and poet. He published a good deal of literary pieces out of which about 2,500 were plays and 425 can still be found. This child prodigy could read both Latin and Spanish at 5 and by the time he was 10, he could translate Latin verses. He finished his first play by his 12th birthday.
4. Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin started playing the violin at age three under the guidance of Sigmund Anker. He performed in front of an audience in 1923 and had recorded several pieces with his pianist sister by the time he was seven.
5. John von Neumann
This mathematician was born in Hungary in 1903. He contributed greatly to function analysis, topology, computer science, quantum physics, set theory, statistics and much more. He came to be recognized as an outstanding mathematician at a very early age and one of the best the world had to offer. This child prodigy could divide 8-digit numbers mentally at six and completed his Ph.D. at 23.
6. Jean-François Champollion
Champillon was born in 1790 and had extraordinary talent in the field of linguistics. By the time he turned 16, he could read and write about 12 languages and headed a prestigious seminar at the Grenoble Academy. By the time he turned 20, he could speak 13 more languages including Arabic and Sanskrit.
7. Maria Gaetana Agnesi
Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born in 1718 and was a linguist, philosopher and mathematician. Agensi wrote the first book on the subject of integral and differential calculus.
8. Blaise Pascal
By the time Pascal turned 12, he had solved a number of prepositions of Euclid without any help. His father educated him after that and he got interested in both applied and natural sciences. He wrote about the various scientific methods and compared the works of different experts. This mathematician made significant contributions to the scientific world and several theories were named after him.
9. Pablo Picasso
Picasso was born in 1881 and is undoubtedly the most recognized artist of the 20th century. At 13, he had started painting regularly and several of his pieces were displayed at prominent art galleries.
10. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart was born in 1756. His father used to give his sister keyboard lessons. At 3, he was fascinated with the instrument and spent hours staring as if in a reverie. His father started teaching him how to play as well and within a short period of time, he was playing as though he was born with piano keys instead of fingers. He started composing at the age of 5 and by the time he died, he had composed over 600 music pieces.
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