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William Sidis possessed possibly the greatest mind of the 20th century. At 18 months he could read the New York Times, at two he taught himself Latin, at seven he passed the Harvard Medical School anatomy exam. Yet most folks have never heard of William Sidis - because for most of his life he refused to give humanity any benefit of his intellect. Frankly, humanity didn't deserve it. During his youth Sidis was constantly hounded by the press and public, which demanded that this great child prodigy deliver some wonderful discovery to humankind - while at the same time mocking him because he was "different." Sidis received little sympathy from his intellectual parents, who expected him to be perfect. He graduated from Harvard at 16 - cum laude in his class - and wrote a brilliant work of theoretical physics that predicted antimatter and black holes. This was in 1922. It was ignored by everyone. The newspapers instead ran articles speculating about why Sidis didn't have a girlfriend. Fed up, he spent the rest of his life as an adding machine operator. |
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For the full story of William Sidis's raw deal - and those of 22 other American victims - read RAW DEAL, new in paperback from Blast Books. If you know of others who were ruined because they were too smart, please share your thoughts.
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