What Happens To Child Prodigies Once They Grow Up?

IMO I think it affects them their whole lives you know? But on the downside it could have a negative effect on them - especially if they're living their lives having to deal with a lot of stress such as parents pushing them too hard

Yeah, I guess parents only push them once they're kids (and the parents can) though?

To get started; the seven year old surgeon.

He is 21 now and still hasn't cured cancer. He was a child prodigy and claimed he had a cure for cancer at age 8.

A little bit of more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akrit_Jaswal

E.g. people who go to university very early. Do they usually end up becoming geniuses/leaders in their fields of work? Does the extra time give them an advantage? Or does being a "child prodigy" not really matter in the long run?

The answer to this is as simple as some do, some don't, and you can find plenty of examples for both cases.

e.g Terence Tao: Youngest ever gold medal winner in the IMO (a notoriously difficult mathematics competition), later went on to win the Field's Medal (The equivalent of a Nobel Prize in Mathematics, except it's only awarded every four years), and became the youngest full professor ever at UCLA.

He sounds really talented, but that whole "cure for cancer" thing may just have been something he said for attention (and the kid was 8 TBF!)

We don't seem to have many child prodigies in this country (except Ruth Lawrence, and was that Terence Tao guy British too?)

I think I've heard of him, but he isn't exactly famous like Alan Turing. Has he made any significant contributions to Maths instead of winning awards?

The Field's Medal is awarded for making a significant contribution to mathematics.

Prodigies are just... amazing.
Their brain structure..
Just how are child prodigies created?

One of the problems here is that the definition of "prodigy" has been distorted. Whenever I hear that in the UK media, it's about an 8 year old who got an A* in GCSE Mathematics or a 17 year old who got 100% in 10 A Levels. The problem is that neither of these are any insurance that you'll actually do well in the real world. For instance, if we're talking about science, there's no way exams can in any way quantify how good a scientist you'll actually be. Another important point about science is that the day of the lone scientist is long gone. Science is now so group based, it's virtually impossible for there to be another Einstein or another Newton.

Another type of "prodigy" are people with exceptional unique skills like human calculators but again, these skills really aren't that applicable in the real world. You do still get the occasional child genius who turns into an adult genius but it doesn't seem to be that common.

E.g. people who go to university very early. Do they usually end up becoming geniuses/leaders in their fields of work? Does the extra time give them an advantage? Or does being a "child prodigy" not really matter in the long run?

Yeah I agree but that can have a negative effect on their lives in the wrong run you know?

Except I disagree with there not being another Einstein or Newton.

Although unlikely it's certainly possibly for someone to come along and make an equal contribution. In this day and age I guess it's very difficult because so much has been discovered and we have advanced so much. I think the next big thing would be a TOE. If someone discovers this I think they would be better than Einstein or Newton.

I think we just need someone to think outside the box of mathematics for once, just like Einstein did.