
12-Yr-Old Expands Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Thinks He Can Prove It Wrong - cwan
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/26/12-year-old-genius-expands-einsteins-theory-of-relativity/
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diiq
"The 12-year-old taught himself calculus, algebra and geometry in two weeks,
and can solve up to 200 numbers of Pi." and "Autistic boy,12, with higher IQ
than Einstein develops his own theory of relativity."

Ignoring the bizarreness of some of those claims ("solving numbers" for
"memorizing digits") and the irrelevance of others (IQ?) what's hellish is
that there is no mention of what he actually _thinks_. The world is astonished
that he has an opinion; no one cares what it is. Reporters make a big deal of
having no idea what he's saying; that speaks poorly both of the reporter and
the theoretician.

It'll be news when he polishes his thoughts and explains them to someone who
is willing to try to understand. For now its a circus, and that's no good for
anyone.

~~~
physcab
I agree with you for the most part, but consider for a moment that few people
will never understand the type of math he explains. For most people, what he
says sounds like gibberish. I know my math pretty well, and while my interest
was piqued by the outlandish title, I was even more impressed by the boy's
ability to explain these concepts so clearly while writing the proofs at the
same time. That shows deep understanding.

You may think that this "circus" doesn't do anyone any good, but I disagree.
He will get far more attention than he otherwise would have. And I bet there
will be someone who will hear about his story in the press with the right
patience to develop his mind to the genius it has the potential to be.

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snorkel
Misleading headline. The professors at Princeton only acknowledged he's bright
and charitably encouraged him to keep studying in the nicest terms possible.
Already he's scored 15 points on the Crackpot Index which is not bad for 12
years old.

~~~
artmageddon
Posting a link since I hadn't heard of it before, assuming we're talking about
the same one:

<http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html>

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wbhart
Oh the poor kid. No one measured Einstein's IQ. He looks to be up to about
grade 12 maths -- still an accomplishment for someone so young. He claims to
"debunk" the Big Bang theory, and now to be developing a new "relativity". I
wish the media wouldn't do this to kids. Every single time I had an article
written about me as a kid it contained gross inaccuracies. Half the time they
couldn't even get the country I was in correct!

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swGooF
"The 12-year-old taught himself calculus, algebra and geometry in two
weeks..."

That is real smart.

How come I have never heard about this 12 year old before? The world needs
more stories like this.

~~~
thwarted
Because he's only been 12 for less than a year (last year you would've heard
about an 11 year old and next year about a 13 year old) and hasn't really had
a few decades to make a name for himself yet. He and Google would be in the
same grade together.

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jeromec
This was also posted yesterday: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2379419>

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goombastic
Every generation seems to create a genius. The media, the ensuing circus and
hero worship usually end up killing the spark.

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ck2
I'm starting to think the time-of-day you post on HN is critical

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2378099>

Though admittedly this title is better.

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nathanwdavis
This kid lives only a few minutes from me. I'm surprised I hadn't heard about
him earlier.

