William Sidis IQ - How intelligent is William Sidis?

William James Sidis was an American child prodigy with an IQ estimated to be between 250 and 300. He entered Harvard at the age of 11 and became the youngest person ever to graduate from the university. He went on to become a successful mathematician and writer, but his life was plagued by mental illness and he died prematurely at the age of 46.

What is the IQ of William Sidis?

William James Sidis was an American child prodigy with an IQ estimated to be between 250 and 300. In the early 1900s, he was admitted to Harvard University at the age of 11 and, by the age of 16, had mastered more than 40 languages. However, he later withdrew from society and failed to achieve his full potential.

William Sidis - family and life

William Sidis was a child prodigy who became famous for his intellect at a young age. He was born in New York City to immigrant parents from Belarus. His father, Boris Sidis, was a psychiatrist and his mother, Sarah Sidis, was a schoolteacher. William had an older sister, Natasha. Boris believed that all children were geniuses and he set out to prove it with his son. He homeschooled William and exposed him to advanced material from a young age. By the time he was eight years old, William could speak eight languages and had read over 10,000 books. He gave lectures on various topics and even wrote a few books himself. While he was clearly intelligent, William's social life was often lacking. He was shy and withdrawn around people his own age. He preferred the company of adults or books over that of other children. This made him somewhat of an outsider growing up. He eventually attended Harvard University, but his time there was not without its challenges. He struggled socially and academically. He did not make many friends and he eventually dropped out of school. After leaving Harvard, William worked odd jobs and drifted around for awhile before eventually settling in Boston. He lived a relatively quiet life, working as a janitor and doing odd jobs. He died in 1944 at the age of 46 from what is believed to be a cerebral hemorrhage.

William Sidis - career and successes

William Sidis was a child prodigy who began attending Harvard University at the age of 11. He went on to become a successful mathematician and author. However, his later life was marked by mental illness and he died in obscurity. Sidis was born in Boston in 1898. His parents were Ukrainian immigrants who had high expectations for their son. He did not disappoint, beginning to read at the age of 18 months and teaching himself Latin by the age of 4. He entered Harvard at the age of 11, after skipping several grades, and became the youngest person ever to attend the university. He graduated from Harvard summa cum laude in 1918, at the age of 19. He went on to do graduate work in mathematics, but left before completing his degree. He published a number of papers on mathematics and physics, and also wrote a popular book on calculus. However, Sidis' later life was plagued by mental illness. He became increasingly reclusive and paranoid, and was eventually committed to a mental institution where he died in 1944, at the age of 46.