Child Geniuses - Are They Born or Bred? - By: Jay Benjamin

One American answer was to use child prodigies in an experiment utilising the Nobel Sperm Bank in Escondido, California, which was founded by an eccentric elderly millionaire, Robert Graham. The sole aim was to provide intelligent women, who wanted to be mothers of superior babies, with the sperm of Nobel Prize winners. The experiment was intended to dramatically increase the number of gifted children for future generations.

Afton Blake's baby became the first deliberately conceived genius, and was born in 1982. Afton was an unmarried psychologist and she chose the father of her baby from a portfolio, which listed the donor as having good physical appearance and a high level of intelligence. The anonymous donor, identified only by a number, was also a gifted computer scientist and an accomplished musician. The mother named the baby 'Doron', being an anagram of 'donor'. Psychologists tested the baby at 4 months old and declared the infant had an IQ of 200. At 2 years old Doron was developing faster than his peers.

Does this mean anything?

Maybe not when you consider the number of child geniuses born to parents of normal or below normal intelligence. A good example is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was born in 1756. Although his father was a moderately good violinist, the young Wolfgang outshone him almost as soon as he could walk. At the age of 3 he taught himself to pick out chords on the harpsichord, and at 5 years old he was composing music. At age 6 he had mastered musical notation, and a year later performed before the Austrian emperor in Vienna.

The boy genius, Andragone de Mello was born in 1977. He became the youngest person to graduate from an American university, when at the age of 11 he was awarded a degree in mathematics at the University of California. The child astounded his parents by saying 'hello', when he was just 7 weeks old. At 2 1/2 he was playing chess and working out geometry problems. At 4 he was studying Greek, physics and philosophy. By the time he was 8, he was able to write complex computer programs. His father was a flamenco guitarist.

George Bernard Shaw was in no doubt about the futility of genetic selection. The grizzly, bearded playwright was approached by a gorgeous young actress who suggested that with his brains and her beauty, the could produce a 'wonder child' to astound the world. He wrote to her, politely stating: 'But alas madam, what if the child inherits my looks and your brains!'

About the Author

The author has been writing articles on health and other topics for a number of years. Take a look at her latest website about using a cheap HDMI cable which also looks at options for using a long HDMI cable in your home entertainment system.

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