Hum Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 INDIANAPOLIS, March 20 (UPI) -- A 12-year-old autistic boy functioning at genius levels in mathematics is studying doctorate-level astrophysics at an Indiana university, his parents say. Jacob Barnett was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of borderline autism when he was about three when his parents noticed it was difficult for him to make eye contact with them, show emotion and interact with other people, The Indianapolis Star reported. What he did do was work with numbers either on paper, a dry erase board or in his head working pi out to 200 digits for fun. Jacob's parents noticed when they took him to the planetarium he loved looking at the stars and planets, but as his interest in cosmology grew so did his boredom in school. The Barnetts had a number of clinical evaluations done on "Jake" as he was known and decided to heed the last one made by clinical neurophysiologist Carl S. Hale. "He needs work at an instructional level, which currently is a post college graduate level in mathematics, i.e., a post master's degree. In essence, his math skills are at the level found in someone who is working on a doctorate in math, physics, astronomy and astrophysics." So, off Jake went to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis driven to class by his mom or dad. His professor sees great things for Jake. "We have told him that after this semester -- enough of the book work. You are here to do some science," said IUPUI physics Professor John Ross, who vows to help find some grant funding to support Jake and his work. Mom Kristine, who says she is still not sure if this is work or play on his part, sent a video of Jake proposing a "new expanded theory of relativity" to astrophysics Professor Scott Tremaine at Princeton University. "The theory that he's working on involves several of the toughest problems in astrophysics and theoretical physics, Tremaine said. "Anyone who solves these will be in line for a Nobel Prize." source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Paul Dirac was autistic as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_r_nelson Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 It's amazing how the brain works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted March 21, 2011 Member Share Posted March 21, 2011 That's amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buttus Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 awesome how they turned something that could have been a tragedy into something great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kizuran Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Absolutely astonishing, kudos to the family. :pinch: On a side note, whether it be the results of pure genetic inclination or not, isn't this a crazy-applied biological form of min maxing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattKent Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Great to see a family that is supporting their autistic kid. I have thought a bit about what I would do if I had an autistic kid, I just hope I could be as patient and observant as these parents seems to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Autistic spectrum kids can be amazing, but you'll find most of the high functioning ones have Asperger syndrome. Not to brag too much, but our son E. started college classes at 10. Gifted, bigtime, but not autistic. When a 2nd grade teacher taught the states of matter numbered 3, he informed her that she forgot to mention plasma, the Bose-Einstein condensate and superfluids - but he thought he'd forgotten a couple others. It's been a challenge :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkaic Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Yes, very gifted. Often people diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome are highly efficient in their area of interest. This case testifies to such. However that doesn't mean all with aspergers are working on their doctorate at 12. My one friend was 21 working on her doctorate in social psychology. unfortunately took an emotional breakdown around 28 now is 34 and finishing it up. It's nothing to pray for people, as it is still a brain disorder however beneficial it may be to humankind such as this kid will be possibly reinventing physics as we know it. Hell I had a breakdown myself (not aspergers myself) but im 24 in med school chasing an md and a ms in psych to be a treating psychiatrist in Philadelphia someday. Hello big money! :wub: Just saying parents don't pray for this, but cherish the individual they are :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloaked Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 I'm still waiting for the drug from "Limitless" to become available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkaic Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 I'm still waiting for the drug from "Limitless" to become available. :laugh: That's great line of the day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singh400 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Very cool (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 What. The. Hell? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7-O6ADAW1U&feature=feedu My question is where on earth did he learn all of this? He's 12 and autistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
what Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 This is the kid who came up with his own theory of relativity the other day isn't it? He's at university where he helps out classmates and is about to enrol on a PhD course. As for where he learns it all, textbooks? If you can pick up a subject quickly you only need to read one physics textbook seeing as it's applied maths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PyX Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 What. The. Hell? My question is where on earth did he learn all of this? He's 12 and autistic. Woah, I learned that when I was 17 years old at college, not 12 ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted March 29, 2011 Supervisor Share Posted March 29, 2011 where on earth did he learn all of this? He's 12 and autistic. This is the kid who came up with his own theory of relativity the other day isn't it? He's at university where he helps out classmates and is about to enrol on a PhD course. Bingo. There's an article about him floating around one of Neowin's forums. EDIT: Here you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unix2 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 He can't be autistic, his communication is far advanced than kids with autism. Also he is very smart which is unusual and rarely happens with autistic kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted March 29, 2011 Supervisor Share Posted March 29, 2011 He can't be autistic, his communication is far advanced than kids with autism. Also he is very smart which is unusual and rarely happens with autistic kids. You do realise that autism has different levels, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unix2 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 You do realise that autism has different levels, right? So, you are telling me that there autistic kids that are far advanced than normal kids? :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_ph0enix Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 He can't be autistic, his communication is far advanced than kids with autism. Also he is very smart which is unusual and rarely happens with autistic kids. So, you are telling me that there autistic kids that are far advanced than normal kids? :huh: That's exactly what he's telling you - there isn't a single 'one size fits all' approach to children [and adults] with Autism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unix2 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 That's exactly what he's telling you - there isn't a single 'one size fits all' approach to children [and adults] with Autism. So if this is true, then Autism is not bad at all, I guess depending the level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted March 29, 2011 Supervisor Share Posted March 29, 2011 So, you are telling me that there autistic kids that are far advanced than normal kids? :huh: Not exactly. Autism has different levels, and therefore can have different effects on individuals. To quote this site: The symptoms of autism may range from total lack of communication with others to difficulty in understanding others' feelings. Also one of the symptoms associated with High-Functioning Autism is obsessive interest in specific items or information. Add that with the idea that it has been known for people with High-Functioning Autism to show above-average intelligence, and you could start to understand how this child knows and understands so much about dark matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_ph0enix Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 So if this is true, then Autism is not bad at all, I guess depending the level. Well it depends on how you use the word 'bad'. I very, very briefly worked on a project with Aspergers diagnosed teenagers about 5 years ago, which was somewhat eye-opening. Basically the Autism Spectrum - well it's exactly that. There are, if I'm remembering correctly, 4-5 different 'categories' of Autism, ranging from Aspergers through PDD. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it is a disability - sadly, whilst a lot of autistic people are highly capable, and capable of incredible things, those 'abilities' tend to come at the cost of other skills, such as communication and interaction with other people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CUBBYJR2005 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 guys autism is on different levels you can be high function and dont even realize you have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
what Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 So if this is true, then Autism is not bad at all, I guess depending the level. You need to do a bit of reading up. Some types of autism allow for some kind of hyperfunction of the brain, but this kid still has symptoms associated with autism, the biggest being sleepless nights where he can't get numbers out of his head. Being autistic doesn't make you a total spastic that is unable to communicate like you seem to believe. As a mental disorder it can do all kinds of weird and wonderful things. Making you massively intelligent is one of the rarer side-effects and often it is a debilitating disorder, but with the right care sufferers can overcome the symptoms to some degree and go on to lead relatively normal lives. This kid has probably learned to cope somewhat so you hardly notice when he's talking to the camera. Talking about something he enjoys probably helps a great deal. It would be interesting to see if this kid enjoys being this intelligent or if he would sacrifice it to not be autistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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