乾明 李根 发自 凹非寺
量子位 报道 | 公众号 QbitAI

It is commonplace on earth for a person to graduate from college.

Why has Laurent Simons attracted worldwide attention?

The New York Times, CNN, the Daily Telegraph, and a host of other major mainstream media outlets have all focused their attention today on Laurent Simmons, who will complete his undergraduate degree in December.

Because this Belgian boy was born in 2010 and just turned 9 years old.

But he will be the youngest college graduate in the world, and if all goes well, he will also be the youngest doctor in the world.

Graduated from college at the age of 9. What does that mean?

The normal age for humans is 22, but Sheldon, the genius in the fictional classic American TV series “The Big Bang Theory”, got his bachelor’s degree at the age of 14.

However, what the screenwriters dared not to imagine happened in reality.

Laurent Simmons, a young genius with super high IQ.

However, if you fully understand the story behind him, perhaps you will also think about the family and research system behind the genius.

Ordinary family, extraordinary talent

Laurent was born in Ostend, Belgium in 2010. His father is a dentist and his mother works in administration, and both work in the Netherlands.

When Laurent was a child, he was raised by his grandparents in Belgium - he was considered a left-behind child.

But the old man soon discovered that this child was no ordinary person. He was always quick to learn new things, had a wide range of interests, and did everything well.

However, when Laurent’s parents heard these compliments, they did not take them seriously at first. They thought that the older generation loved their children too much and were “too serious” about their children’s growth.

It wasn't until he was 4 years old, when he started primary school, that Laurent's gift for learning began to astonish everyone.

The teacher soon discovered that the child could digest more things in a short period of time.

IQ test result: 145 .

Therefore, from teachers to schools, they began to provide Laurent with more personalized support.

Two years later, at the age of 6, Laurent skipped a grade and went to high school.

But just one year later, bored with school work, he wanted to join a research project at the University of Amsterdam’s Academic Medicine—and was allowed to do so.

At the age of 8, Laurent was recognized again and entered Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands to study electrical engineering.

This is a prestigious science and engineering university in the Netherlands and even in Europe, equivalent to the University of Science and Technology of China in China.

Moreover, electrical engineering, which Laurent chose, was not an easy subject. University staff said that it was a difficult course even for college students of normal age.

But Laurent once again demonstrated what they call his photographic memory and “simply extraordinary” abilities.

A normal course lasts four years, but for this teenager it only takes 10 months.

And with no surprises or broken promises, Laurent will basically be awarded his bachelor's degree by December.

Laurent's graduate thesis is a chip project on brain connectivity.

His teacher, Professor Peter Baltus, said: "He is three times smarter than the best student I have ever met in my long career. He has achieved solutions that many adult students could not achieve."

So just like that, a 9-year-old boy, the youngest college graduate in the world, is right before our eyes.

As for the next step, Laurent's father revealed that his son plans to pursue a doctorate in electronic engineering, but will also pursue a medical degree at the same time.

So there was only one question left: where to go?

Laurent himself said that he likes the United States and wants to go to California because of the abundant sunshine and pleasant climate there.

However, his father also said that he did not rule out going to Oxford or Cambridge in the end because it would be more convenient for the family, and a mathematics professor that Laurent was close to now went to Oxford University.

Mathematics is Laurent's favorite subject.

The Oxford University professor also said that he taught Laurent when he was 6 years old, when Laurent's intellectual level was equivalent to that of a 16-year-old.

The professor was very proud and wanted to recommend Laurent to continue his studies in Oxford.

But everything ultimately depends on Laurent's wishes.

Because - now the top universities around the world have begun competing for 9-year-old geniuses.

"Ordinary" genius

The New York Times lamented in its report that geniuses in history have always left this impression: they are very good at intellectual activities, but are mediocre and biased in other sports and entertainment.

But Laurent is not.

If it weren't for the fact that he was about to complete his undergraduate degree, just looking at his life on social media, he would be just a middle school boy growing up happily.

He doesn't like playing chess and doesn't play any musical instrument - contrary to the conventional impression of a genius.

But he loves his dog (named Sammy) , video games (he likes Fortnite and Minecraft) , and TV shows—he openly professes a fondness for shows like “The Blacklist.”

He is also a fan, but his idols are Shakespeare and Nikola Tesla.

He also loves social networks. His Instagram account has 17,000 followers and is full of his colorful teenage life.

The only recent update was complaining about being “tired” because he had been giving interviews for almost a week.

Laurent's mother stressed that her child was no different from other 9-year-olds, and was just as stubborn when dinner was not to his liking.

But unlike other 9-year-olds, Laurent has found his life goal: developing artificial organs .

Because the grandparents who raised him both had heart disease.

So Laurent hopes to create an artificial heart in the future to help people like his grandparents.

This is one of the reasons why Laurent was praised by many media, he is full of compassion.

The soil behind genius

Of course, the soil behind the genius Laurent also received attention in these reports.

His mother laughed and said that they still didn't know how talented Laurent was.

"Maybe I ate a lot of fish during pregnancy."

But we can get a glimpse of the support from the system and social soil.

Laurent started primary school at the age of 4 and was allowed to "graduate" after a year because he showed potential and qualities.

Next, his middle school and high school also recognized his goal of completing “five years of classes” in 12 months, allowing him to enter university.

Moreover, the openness and support of the social mechanism also helped Laurent a lot when he was 7 years old.

At that time, because he was "bored by school", he was allowed to start a research project at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam and received sufficient support.

When he went to college at the age of 8, Laurent's plan of "completing a 3-year credit project in 10 months" was also supported by the Eindhoven Institute of Technology in the Netherlands.

Sjoerd Hulshof, the school's dean of undergraduate education, said in a statement that it was not unusual for them to allow Laurent to complete his courses faster than other students, and that there were good reasons to support a specialized schedule for special students — just as adjustments are made for students who play top sports.

In addition, although not expressed openly, both Laurent’s parents and teachers showed a “let it be” mentality.

As a teenager who showed his talent very early, they did not deliberately keep him away from "video games" and "TV series", and even helped him manage social networks - Instagram (laurent_simons) is full of the innocent and carefree appearance of the young Laurent.

Naturally, Laurent should not have been required to attend various interest classes or tutoring classes unless he was interested and took the initiative to request it.

Causes exclamation

Such a talented young man, once reported, further attracted global attention and admiration.

in the country, many netizens have also started worshipping:

He probably didn't drink Meng Po soup and brought back the memories of his previous life.

This is no longer someone else's child, this is a child from someone else's planet [smile]

Some people also think of Sheldon:

Young Sheldon is even more awesome than Young Sheldon in the American TV series.

There are also blessings:

I give a thumbs up to this child and hope he can have his own life that is appropriate to his age.

More of them are undoubtedly self-deprecating: " I was still picking my feet at the age of nine, and I was still playing in the mud at the age of nine. "

One more thing

Regardless, Laurent's world will never be the same again.

But he probably won't panic.

Because the latest thing for a 9-year-old college graduate - instead of choosing Oxford, Cambridge or Stanford and Caltech - he is busy planning his graduation trip.

He said that after graduating from university, he would go to Japan for a trip first.

How about visiting China as well? I think many parents would be willing to be guides. (Laughs)

reference:

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/14/europe/university-graduate-child-genius-scli-intl/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/world/europe/laurent-simons-prodigy.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/13/worlds-top-universities-compete-9-year-old-boy-genius/