child prodigy

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

He's the Youngest Ever to Beat a Chess Grandmaster

'I feel very proud of myself,' says 8-year-old Ashwath Kaushik

(Newser) - On Feb. 12, Leonid Ivanovic of Serbia became the youngest chess player to beat a grandmaster in a classical game at 8 years, 11 months, and 7 days. His record stood only six days until Sunday, when an even younger chess prodigy stole the title. Ashwath Kaushik—aged 8 years,...

Elon Musk Just Hired a 14-Year-Old Prodigy

Kairan Quazi is graduating from Santa Clara University this week

(Newser) - Kairan Quazi isn't even old enough for his first prom, but he's got a date with Elon Musk. As CBS News reports, the 14-year-old Californian is graduating Santa Clara University this week and heading directly to Redmond, Washington, (with his mom) where he'll take up a position...

California College Grad, 12, Busts a School Record

Clovis Hung entered Fullerton College at age 9, broke a school record

(Newser) - Clovis Hung is 12. He's also a member of the class of 2023—at Fullerton College, making him the youngest graduate in the California community college's history, per NBC News . Clovis' achievement outdoes the previous record set by Jack Rico, who graduated from the same college at 13....

This 9-Year-Old Is Now a High School Graduate

Pennsylvania's David Balogun hopes to be an astrophysicist

(Newser) - Like lots of kids, David Balogun took remote classes during the pandemic. Unlike lots of kids, however, David used those online classes at Reach Cyber Charter School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to help him notch a quite impressive achievement: earning a high school diploma before he even hit his teens, reports...

Stranger Gives Child Piano Prodigy a Stunning Gift

Bill Magnusson hopes to see Jude Kofie reach his full potential: 'He's Mozart level'

(Newser) - Eleven-year-old Jude Kofie stunned his parents when he sat down at the family's electric keyboard about a year ago and started playing fabulously, despite having no instruction. The boy living with autism in Aurora, Colorado, seemed to have a gift, as professional piano tuner Bill Magnusson recognized when he...

Chess Prodigy Gets Early Holiday Gift From the US
Chess Prodigy, 12,
Is Granted Asylum

Chess Prodigy, 12, Is Granted Asylum

Nigerian Tani Adewumi, 12, can now travel globally for chess competitions

(Newser) - In 2019, 8-year-old Tanitoluwa "Tani" Adewumi defeated 73 of the best players in his age group at a New York state chess championship, breaking a record by doing so. Now, three years later, he "just won his biggest match" ever, per NPR : The now-12-year-old Nigerian boy and his...

Meet 'Little Picasso,' Celebs' Favorite New Artist

Paintings of Andres Valencia, 10, sold for 6 figures to the likes of Diane Keaton, Brooke Shields

(Newser) - At age 10, Andres Valencia has already sold paintings in the six figures, and to celebrities including Sofia Vergara, Channing Tatum, Diane Keaton, and Brooke Shields. It's a level of success seldom achieved by the most experienced of the art world, let alone a fifth grader, per My Modern...

He's 13, Going for His Doctorate in Physics

Minnesota's Elliott Tanner is OK with the 'Young Sheldon' comparisons

(Newser) - Elliott Tanner's parents enrolled him in kindergarten at age 5, but it wasn't long before educators realized he wasn't kindergarten material—he was just too smart. "He was talking about particle accelerators when he was 5 years old, when other kids were pretending to be Superman...

School Tells 8-Year-Old She's Arizona Material

Mexico City girl already has graduated from high school

(Newser) - The University of Arizona has asked an 8-year-old to consider going to college there—any time now. Adhara Pérez Sánchez of Mexico City already has graduated from high school and is working online toward two degrees there. She wants to study astrophysics at Arizona, the Arizona Republic reports....

9-Year-Old Prodigy Drops Out of College
9-Year-Old Prodigy
Drops Out of College
in case you missed it

9-Year-Old Prodigy Drops Out of College

And in a bit of a huff

(Newser) - His parents wanted him to graduate with his bachelor's degree at age 9—but the Belgian child prodigy has now been yanked from his university after the school informed his parents he wasn't going to make the deadline. Laurent Simons turns 10 on Dec. 26, and had been...

After Starting College in March, 9-Year-Old to Receive Degree

US schools try to recruit youngest graduate ever

(Newser) - There are fast learners, and there is Laurent Simons. The Amsterdam boy is about to receive a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology at age 9, making him the world's youngest college graduate ever. "The absorption of information is no problem for Laurent,...

Tribune Wrote About Jeopardy! Whiz ... When He Was 4

Paper digs up article on James Holzhauer

(Newser) - Long before he was racking up win after win —and oodles of cash—on Jeopardy!, James Holzhauer was impressing an entirely different demographic: his preschool teachers. The Chicago Tribune has unearthed an article that appeared in its pages in January 1989, when Holzhauer was just 4 years old and...

UK Backs Down From Deporting Child Chess Prodigy

Shreyas Royal, 'greatest British chess prospect in a generation,' was to be sent back to India

(Newser) - The UK's Home Office says that 9-year-old Shreyas Royal shows "immense promise." But that didn't stop the country from preparing to deport the chess prodigy—ranked fourth in the world for his age group and said to be the "greatest British chess prospect in a...

She Was a Prodigy. 'Pappoulis' Became Obsessed With Her

Atavist Magazine has the incredible story of Promethea Olympia Kyrene Pythaitha

(Newser) - You might expect the tale of a child prodigy would be an incredible one. But the story of Promethea Olympia Kyrene Pythaitha—born Jasmine Li Lysistrata, she gave herself the Greek name as she graduated from Montana State University with a math degree at age 13—is almost unimaginable. Raised...

Boy, 12, Is Now an Ivy Leaguer
Boy, 12, Is Now
an Ivy Leaguer

Boy, 12, Is Now an Ivy Leaguer

Jeremy Shuler might be Cornell's youngest student ever

(Newser) - Like many students heading off to college, Jeremy Shuler is excited to attend classes—including multivariable calculus and intermediate Latin—and meet new people. Partying, however, is out of the question: Jeremy is only 12. The real-life Sheldon Cooper—also from Texas—is believed to be the youngest person to...

12-Year-Old to Enter College—as a Junior

Tanishq Abraham gets accepted by two universities

(Newser) - Tanishq Abraham just got accepted by two California universities—not bad for a 12-year-old. The Sacramento boy, who graduated from high school at age 10 and received three associate's degrees from a community college last year, says he still hasn't decided which university to accept, NBC News reports....

11-Year-Old With 3 College Degrees: It's No Big Deal

Tanishq Abraham graduated from American River College on Wednesday

(Newser) - Tanishq Abraham dreams of one day becoming a Nobel Prize-winning doctor/medical researcher and the president of the United States. That may not be such a stretch for him, since graduating with three degrees from California's American River College at the age of 11 "isn't much of...

What N. Korean Kids Learn: Kim Jong Un Drove at 3

Kim Jong Un, boy genius, also won yacht races at age 9, per new curriculum

(Newser) - Parents outraged by Common Core can at least be glad their kids aren't being schooled in North Korea. The Telegraph reports that middle school and high school teachers there have been issued a manual to use while teaching a new subject for 2015: "Kim Jong Un's Revolutionary...

10-Year-Old Graduates From High School

Tanishq Abraham wants to cure cancer, be president

(Newser) - Tanishq Abraham has modest goals for a 10-year-old—he'd like to cure cancer and become president. Which probably seems realistic to the Sacramento prodigy, because Abraham just became one of the youngest children to ever graduate high school, earning him a letter of congratulations from Barack Obama. "It...

Girl, 13, Has Memorized 2.3K Digits of Pi
 Girl, 13, Has 
 Memorized 
 2.3K Digits of Pi 
3.14159265...

Girl, 13, Has Memorized 2.3K Digits of Pi

She recites 1.7K in competition to win prize

(Newser) - On Friday, March 14—dubbed "Pi Day" because, well, 3/14—13-year-old Rachel Ooi won $314.15 (yes, 1 and 5 are the next two digits in pi) by reciting 1,715 digits of pi from memory. And that's not the best she can do: Ooi tells the Tennessean...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
Most Read on Newser