The boy who knew too much: a child prodigy: The Grand Ambition of Genius

The boy who knew too much: a child prodigy

This is the true story of scientific child prodigy, and former baby genius, Ainan Celeste Cawley, written by his father. It is the true story, too, of his gifted brothers and of all the Cawley family. I write also of child prodigy and genius in general: what it is, and how it is so often neglected in the modern world. As a society, we so often fail those we should most hope to see succeed: our gifted children and the gifted adults they become. Site Copyright: Valentine Cawley, 2006 +

Monday, September 25, 2006

The Grand Ambition of Genius

One of the primary signs of genius is the ability and drive to undertake huge projects. Today, Ainan Celeste Cawley, my six year old son, wanted to build a haemoglobin molecule from metal balls and stick magnets. For those who don't know the chemical formula of haemoglobin is C2952H4664N812O832S8Fe4. The letters represent atoms: C for Carbon, H for Hydrogen, N for Nitrogen, O for Oxygen and Fe for Iron. The numbers represent the number of each atom.

Look at those numbers and think about how complex that molecule is. That's what my son wanted to do this evening. Now, that is ambition.

(For more on Ainan Celeste Cawley, six, a scientific child prodigy, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html )

Photograph by Syahidah Osman Cawley

posted by Valentine Cawley @ 9:39 PM

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...: Hey!!... It's me again! (Venezuelan girl..).. this photo was the one published at the newspaper I told you before... I'm trying to find the article on the web.. If i do it, i'll tell you, to find the way to send it to you...

Regards!

SP (Maracay - Venezuela); 3:43 AM
Valentine Cawley said...: Dear SP

Please send me the article - via my email at least, if you manage to find it. I cannot get access to it.

If you have a physical copy of it, maybe you could scan it?

Your assistance would be much appreciated.

Thanks!; 6:56 PM

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The boy who knew too much: a child prodigy

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Name: Valentine Cawley

Location: Singapore

As a child, I had many gifts...perhaps too many - and this leads to the characteristic problem many gifted children face: what to do, when there is so much you COULD do. I resolved the issue by doing each of them serially throughout my life. I had gifts in science, writing, art, music, acting and academia...and so my life has demonstrated each of these, at some time. However, in the modern world, those who specialize, and focus all their efforts on one thing, tend to win through. In the light of this I have written two books, which are being prepared for publication. I was a child in a time when being gifted was not something people spoke about: it was not a widely recognized situation - at least not in my background. Nothing special was done therefore, to help. It is my wish that all in that position, these days, receive the support that is needed, to become the best they can be. I have been an actor, a writer of two books, a government physicist, at age 17, the founding editor of an Arts magazine, at 22, and a performance artist whose work was covered by CNN (interviewer: Richard Blystone) and Reuters. However, my greatest achievement is to have fathered three sons.

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The boy who knew too much: a child prodigy

Monday, September 25, 2006

The Grand Ambition of Genius

2 Comments:

The boy who knew too much: a child prodigy

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