Jacob Barnett is an American mathematician and child prodigy. At 8 years
old, Jacob began sneaking into the back of college lectures at IUPUI.
After being diagnosed with autism since the age of two and placed in his
school's special ed. program, Jacob's teachers and doctors were
astonished to learn he was able to teach calculus to college students.
At
age nine, while playing with shapes, Jacob built a series of
mathematical models that expanded Einstein's field of relativity. A
professor at Princeton reviewed his work and confirmed that it was
groundbreaking and could someday result in a Nobel Prize. At age 10,
Jacob was formally accepted to the University as a full-time college
student and went straight into a paid research position in the field of
condensed matter physics. For his original work in this field, Jacob set
a record, becoming the world's youngest astrophysics researcher. His
paper was subsequently accepted for publication by Physical Review A, a
scientific journal shared on sites such as NASA, the Smithsonian, and
Harvard's webpage. Jacob's work aims to help improve the way light
travels in technology.
Jacob is also CEO and founder of Wheel
LLC, a business he started in his mom's garage, and is in the process of
writing a book to help end "math phobia" in his generation.
Jacob's
favorite pastime is playing basketball with the kids at his charity,
Jacob's Place. It is a place where kids with autism are inspired every
day to be their true authentic selves...just like Jacob.
About five minutes into it he introduces himself. He learned from books. Says he did not learn anything in special ed. He could not learn what was taught there. That's when he stopped learning and began pursuing his own interests in thinking about shadows which prompted him towards astrophysics and math. His message is to stop learning and begin to think and use the gifts you have, whatever that may be. Hope you watch, it is well worth it.
Leaving public school...
- ImmiNan
on May. 24, 2012 at 3:56 PM