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Sidis was born to Jewish Russian immigrant parents, Boris and Sarah Sidis, who emigrated to escape pogroms. His parents would be considered geniuses in their own right; Boris Sidis taught psychology at Harvard University and wrote many books; Sarah was a medical doctor who gave up her own career to assist in William's education.
His parents sought to make their son a pre-eminent genius using their own teaching methods. William could read at 18 months ( hyperlexia) and had written four books before his eighth birthday. He entered Harvard at the age of 11.
Sidis was socially inept his entire life. Later he vowed to keep from sex and pursuit of women to focus on his intellectual development. Many blame the intense methods his parents used to educate him and his too-early entry into higher education for this. He was very possibly an undiagnosed autistic; autism was first described in children by Leo KannerDr Leo Kanner MD ( June 13 1894 April 4 1981) was born in Klekotow, Austria. He studied at the University of Berlin from 1913, his studies broken by service with the Austrian Army in World War I, finally receiving his MD in 1921. He emigrated to the Unite in 1942 two years before Sidis died. In an episode striking to those familiar with autistic children, he became hysterical at breakfastBreakfast is a meal, often light, usually taken in the morning. The name derives from the concept that you have not eaten whilst sleeping, i. you are fasting during that time, and break that fast with the meal. It is therefore a calque of the French dejeu time at a resortA resort is a place for holidaying or vacationing. A resort can commonly refer to two specific but similar places: Towns in which tourism or vacationing is a major part of the local activity but are usually not run by a single company (for example Aspen, at which he was staying with his parents. The menu specified the hours at which breakfast was to be served, yet the waiter offered to serve the family 15 minutes before that time. Young William could not deal with this anomalyAn anomaly is a deviation from the common rule. It is an irregularity that is difficult to explain using existing rules or theory. In astronomy, the anomaly is the angular distance of a planet from its periapsis: The true anomaly is observed from the prim, and became so agitated that he had to be removed from the dining roomA dining room is a room for eating. It is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving. A typical dining room will contain a table with chairs arranged along the sides and ends of the table, as well as other pieces of furniture as space perm.
He was the most prominent of an amazing group of young prodigies who studied at Harvard in 1909, which included Norbert WienerNorbert Wiener ( November 26, 1894 March 18, 1964) was an American mathematician, known as the founder of cybernetics. He created the term in his book Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (MIT Press, 1948). He was born in, the father of cyberneticsCybernetics is a theory of the communication and control of regulatory feedback. The term cybernetics stems from the Greek (meaning steersman, governor, pilot, or rudder). Cybernetics is the discipline that studies communication and control in living bein, and composerA composer is a person who writes music. The term refers particularly to someone who writes music in some type of musical notation, thus allowing others to perform the music. This distinguishes the composer from a musician who improvises. However, a perso Roger Sessions.
The difficulties Sidis and other exceptionally young students encountered in dealing with the social structures of a university setting at a very young age helped to shape opinion against allowing precocious children to advance too rapidly through higher education. The debate over gifted education continues today, and Sidis remains a part of the discussion. Cast in modern standards, scholars usually classify Sidis as a profoundly gifted individual. Sidis' experience and the popular perception of him may have influenced 20th-century artistic depictions of ennui-drenched young geniuses in works like J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey and Wes Anderson's film The Royal Tenenbaums.
Several subjects on which Sidis wrote or spoke included the fourth dimension , Native American history, cosmology and psychology. Sidis was a railfan who was fascinated with transportation research and streetcar systems (transportation is a popular obsession amongst autistics). He wrote a treatise on streetcar transfers under the pseudonym of "Frank Falupa" that identified means of increasing transit ridership only now gaining general acceptance. In 1930 he was awarded a patent for a rotary perpetual calendar that took into account leap years.
The burdens of intellectual work and his autistic tendencies caused him to flee from the hounding of the media and formal intellectual life. Determined to live a private life, he disavowed his knowledge of mathematics and would only take work running calculating machines or other fairly menial tasks. He devoted himself to his hobby of collecting streetcar transfers.
Sidis died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1944.