LINGUIST

William James Sidis

1898 - 1944

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William James Sidis (; April 1, 1898 – July 17, 1944) was an American child prodigy whose exceptional abilities in mathematics and languages made him one of the most famous intellectual prodigies of the early 20th century. Born to Boris Sidis, a prominent psychiatrist, and Sarah Mandelbaum Sidis, a physician, Sidis demonstrated extraordinary intellectual capabilities from infancy. Enrolled at Harvard University at age 11, he delivered a widely publicized lecture on four-dimensional geometry at age 12 and graduated cum laude in 1914 at 16. Despite his early academic success, Sidis deliberately withdrew from public attention following his imprisonment during the First Red Scare and spent the remainder of his life working in anonymity while pursuing private scholarly interests. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. William James Sidis is the 7th most popular linguist (down from 6th in 2019), the 199th most popular biography from United States (down from 169th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular American Linguist.

William James Sidis is most famous for being a child prodigy who had an IQ of 250.

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Among LINGUISTS

Among linguists, William James Sidis ranks 7 out of 214. Before him are Ferdinand de Saussure, Edgar de Wahl, Pāṇini, Patanjali, Noam Chomsky, and Max Müller. After him are Noah Webster, Mahmud al-Kashgari, Roman Jakobson, Mesrop Mashtots, Rasmus Rask, and Leonard Bloomfield.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1898, William James Sidis ranks 13. Before him are Sergei Eisenstein, René Magritte, Stefania Turkewich, Umm Kulthum, Zhou Enlai, and Leo Szilard. After him are M. C. Escher, Albert Lutuli, George Gershwin, C. S. Lewis, Herbert Marcuse, and Liu Shaoqi. Among people deceased in 1944, William James Sidis ranks 9. Before him are Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Romain Rolland, Erwin Rommel, Claus von Stauffenberg, and Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom. After him are Charles Glover Barkla, Abdulmejid II, Günther von Kluge, Richard Sorge, Hilma af Klint, and Reza Shah.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, William James Sidis ranks 199 out of 20,380. Before him are John Nance Garner (1868), Tom Hanks (1956), John Jay (1745), Brad Pitt (1963), Gene Cernan (1934), and Whitney Houston (1963). After him are Douglas MacArthur (1880), Ed Asner (1929), Herbert Hoover (1874), Henry Fonda (1905), Noah Webster (1758), and Denzel Washington (1954).

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Among LINGUISTS In United States

Among linguists born in United States, William James Sidis ranks 2. Before him are Noam Chomsky (1928). After him are Noah Webster (1758), Leonard Bloomfield (1887), Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897), Joseph Greenberg (1915), Joshua Fishman (1926), William Labov (1927), George Lakoff (1941), Morris Swadesh (1909), Stephen Krashen (1941), and George Kingsley Zipf (1902).

American born Linguists

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