La Stampa, Italy

La Stampa is one of Italy's best known and most widely sold newspapers. It is published in Turin, but distributed throughout Europe. It is presently owned by the Fiat Group of Agnelli fame (or is it the other way around?).

On the 16th May 2007, La Stampa wrote an article about Ainan, placed in their Science section. It is written with the typical Italian passion and enthusiasm. I am copying these news articles here because some of the newspapers that have covered Ainan have already taken the resultant articles down: some sites keep them up for as little as a week, it seems. I thought it wise to preserve them, here, therefore.

Ainan il genio: a sette anniè un chimico professionista
Il piccolo Ainan, genio a sette anni

Storia di un bambino prodigio: ad appena due settimane di vita già scandiva qualche parola
SINGAPOREQuesta è la storia di Ainan Celeste, che ad appena due settimane di vita scandiva qualche parola, a quattro mesi gattonava, a 6 camminava e a 8 correva. È la storia di Ainan, probabilmente il bimbo più piccolo ad aver mai gattonato o essersi drizzato in piedi. Una storia straordinaria: a otto mesi Ainan riconosceva le lettere e a un anno parlava correntemente al punto che raccontò nel dettaglio il momento della sua nascita, dalla prospettiva di chi esce dal grembo di una madre. Oggi Ainan ha sette anni ed è il più giovane prodigio della storia: ha superato il GCE O Level (un esame di stato per ragazzi di 16 anni) in chimica, certificato da London Edexcel Board: è il chimico più giovane al mondo e l’unico prodigio in chimica mai conosciuto.Mezzo irlandese, mezzo malesiano, Ainan ha frequentato le scuole sia inglesi che singaporiane. Suo padre, Valentine Cawley, laureato Cambridge, un portentoso ma incolto talento per la musica (senza conosere le note, a 11 anni sapeva ripetere o fischiettare qualsiasi pezzo, compreso il Requiem di Mozart e la Passione di San Giovanni) ha sposato Syahidah Osman e da lei ha avuto tre figli, tutti bimbi-prodigio. Sulla sua esperienza, Valentine Cawley ha creato un blog, in cui racconta le vicenda di questa sua famiglia fuori dal normale. L’O Level è un tradizionale esame britannico solitamente affrontato da ragazzi di 16 anni: esame rinomato che equivale al diploma della ’high school’ americana, tanto che chi lo lo supera può accedere direttamente ai corsi di laurea delle università statunitensi. Nonostante non avesse mai preso in mano un libro di testo per l’O level prima del 18 luglio 2006, Ainan ha dato il suo O Level in chimica il 18 gennaio 2007, esattamente sei mesi dopo, presso il British Council, a Singapore, presentandosi come candidato privato. A dare l’esame insieme a lui, c’erano adulti piuttosto sorpresi. Ainan aveva sette anni compiuti da un mese quando ha superato l’esame. Intorno ai tre o quattro anni, Ainan era interessato alle forme iperdimensionali e disegnava le loro ombre come sorta di gioco intellettivo; alcune di queste forme avevano centinaia di lati.Fu allora che la madre, un’artista ambidestra, cominciò ad allertarsi. Dall’interesse per la struttura nell’astratto Ainan passò ad interessarsi alla struttura delle molecole, quando scoprì la chimica su internet. Navigando la rete da solo, si fece una cultura sulla scienza. E sei anni gli venne ragalato un libro di chimica da leggere per sfizio. Ma il piccolo genio lesse il libro tutto d’un fiato e fece notare che lo aveva anche capito. La famiglia gli fece fare un test preso dal manuale e, tra la sorpresa generale, Ainan rispose correttamente alle domande. Fu allora che il padre, Valentine Cawley, a suo tempo fisico, decise di fargli un libro di testo per l’O level in chimica. E adesso, quali saranno i prossimi passi per Ainan? Ha già finito il libro di testo per l’ A level e dovrebbe dare l’esame quest’anno. Per questo esame avrà bisogno di esperienza in laboratorio, dove non è mai entrato. Se ciò potrà essere organizzato egli darà l’ A-level, solitamente dato da ragazzi di 18 anni, per poi preseguire per un viaggio più lungo: l’università ed il mondo dello scienziato per la ricerca. E per chi voglia seguirne il cammino, gli aggiornamento sul sito www.scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and six months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan, sixteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspotcom/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children, in general. Thanks.)

When advice, is not advice.

Long ago, my brother Josh was starting out on his career in the financial world.

(I have referred to him elsewhere in one story that told of his savant-like gift for mental calculation. As I noted then, he has the gift, but he does not have a savant's impairment - but is, in fact, profoundly gifted.)

It was at this time that he was given what I have recently come to regard as a mischievous piece of advice. This supposedly helpful adviser was aware of Josh's ability to do complex calculations instantly and instinctively, in his mind, without reference to a calculator or computer. In the financial world, at that time, there were many roles which involved the manipulation of numbers, the analysis of numerical data and the ability to understand all things mathematical. There would seem, therefore, to be one obvious piece of advice that Josh could have been given...but what he was actually advised to do was something altogether different.

This adviser told Josh, as I heard the story, many years ago, to steer clear of any role that involved direct interaction with numbers. He argued that it would become unbearable, for one such as Josh, with his innate understanding of number, to be surrounded by numbers, all day. Josh, as a young man, just out of University, took this advice at face value - and duly steered clear of any role having such direct and considerable daily involvement with numbers.

Think about that for a moment. Josh had a unique gift for instant calculation and interpretation of numbers. He could do what no other could, numerically. The possible implications for effective outcomes for one such as that, placed in a situation which allowed the interpretation of numbers to have a real world effect, are boundless. Truly, he could have done something very interesting indeed. Yet, he was advised not to become involved with numbers. I wonder at the mischief behind such advice. Josh was being advised to avoid playing to his greatest strength, being advised to hide his talents, to operate in an area in which they would have no direct use. Such advice could only have been meant unkindly, I think - unless the adviser truly misunderstood the situation - but I think that unlikely.

Josh never did apply his numerical gift, professionally, as far as I am aware. He took the advice and let his calculatory gift lie dormant and rarely called upon. That is, I feel, a pity.

I tell this tale for an obvious reason. You or your children may have unusual gifts. At various times others, in a position of authority, may advise you or your children as to careers and courses. I would evaluate their advice with the story above in mind - and ask these questions:

Does the advice take note of the innate strengths of the child? Does the advice play to the strengths of the child - or does it ignore them? Is the adviser someone likely to be in competition at the organization with your child? If so, then look more closely still at the advice that is being given.

The gifted are not welcomed everywhere. Sometimes people feel threatened by their gifts - and do what they can to hide them, obstruct them or otherwise interfere with their expression.

Had Josh become directly involved with numbers, in an area in which the rapid understanding of their meaning and possibilities had real world implications, he would have become, in all probability, the best in his field, in the world - for no other could compete with him, in the matter of mental calculation.

In taking the advice he was given, he turned away from his most unusual strength, and played to others, instead - but I can't help but wonder what would have happened had he exercised a gift that no-one else could challenge him in.

Ensure that your child is never left to wonder such a thing, too: play to their strengths, whatever they may be.

(I should point out that Josh has led a fulfilling and interesting career, since. Yet, the point remains that there are applications for his unused gift that would have been truly remarkable.)

(If you would like to read about Ainan Celeste Cawley, Josh's nephew, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and six months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan, sixteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children, and gifted adults. Thanks.)

High IQ promotes longevity

A high IQ confers many advantages on the possessor but perhaps the most valuable, in the long run, is that of a long life.

A UK study on 2,200 participants from Aberdeen, Scotland who took the 11-plus IQ examination in 1932, has thrown up some interesting correlations between IQ and ultimate longevity. The correlation is very strong indeed, compared to other factors which influence longevity.

The basic finding is that the better the child did in an IQ test in 1932, the more likely they were to survive until 76. The difference was marked between those of low IQ and those of higher IQ. A woman who scored one standard deviation above the norm, at IQ 115 in 1932, was TWICE as likely to survive to 76 as a woman who scored one standard deviation below the norm, at an IQ of 85. The correlation with men was not so strong, however, the difference in likelihood of survival in the same instance being 32% in favour of the IQ 115 male.

Now, the researchers were well aware of the known correlation between social status and health - and so this was accounted for in their analysis. Even accounting for the different occupations of the father and the attendant wealth differentials and differences in overcrowding in the households, the correlation remained intact: high IQ, as an independent variable, confers longevity on its possessor.

It is impossible with this information alone to isolate the reason for this correlation. It is likely to involve both genetics and lifestyle factors. Quite simply the high IQ person may have better genes in general and this could be responsible for promoting their health and longevity. There is also the likelihood that the higher IQ person is more likely to avoid such unhealthful habits as smoking, drinking to excess and the like - as well as adopting better dietary and lifestyle practices in general.

Whatever the ultimate cause of the correlation, the fact remains that the brighter your child (or you, are), the longer they are likely to live, INDEPENDENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS. A factor two difference in likelihood of survival for women, with only a one standard deviation IQ advantage above the norm is an advantage of huge dimensions. Most health practices produce relatively small increases in chances of survival: that is the biggest advantage I have ever noted, in my reading, for a single influence. Remarkable.

(If you would like to read of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and six months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan, sixteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

La Vanguardia, Spain (Barcelona)

La Vanguardia is the most widely read newspaper in Catalunya, in which Barcelona is to be found. It is also one of the papers which covered Ainan in recent times. To preserve these articles I am going to copy and paste them, one by one, over the next few weeks, onto this blog - or at least those I can still find - since newspapers do not keep these articles active for long on their sites, in general.

Below is the article from La Vanguardia. It is dated the 22nd of May 2007. It refers to the fact that O level is sufficient to gain access to American universities.


Un niño prodigio de Singapur aprueba con siete años un examen de Química de nivel preuniversitario

22/05/2007 Actualizada a las 13:25
Madrid. (Europa Press).

- Ainan Celeste Cawley, un niño de Singapur de siete años de edad, ha aprobado un examen de Química del nivel 'O', que corresponde normalmente a jóvenes de 16 años de edad y que tanto en Estados Unidos como en los países de la Commonwealth sirve de referencia académica para acceder a la Universidad.

Seguir leyendo noticia
PALABRAS CLAVE
Singapur, Internet, Universidad, Commonwealth, Estados Unidos, Reino Unido, British Council, Londres, Madrid, Cambridge

Ainan, mitad irlandés y mitad malayo, ya pronunciaba algunas palabras con apenas dos semanas de vida, gateaba a los cuatro meses, caminaba a los seis y ya corría con ocho meses, según informaron sus propios padres a través de su propia página de Internet.El niño, que ha asistido a escuelas de Londres y Singapur, obtuvo el nivel 'Ò en Química por el London Edexcel Board. En la actualidad, Ainan es el químico más joven mundialmente reconocido y se cree que es el único químico prodigio conocido en el mundo. Su padre, Valentine Cawley, es licenciado en Física por la Universidad de Cambridge.El Nivel 'O' es el examen al que tradicionalmente se presentan en Reino Unido los jóvenes de 16 años de edad. Según los padres, el nivel de este examen es similar o incluso superior a los exámenes de graduación preuniversitaria estadounidense, ya que las universidades norteamericanas suelen enviar a los estudiantes de niveles 'O' directamente a los cursos de titulación. En los países del Commonwealth el examen de nivel 'O' suele servir de referencia académica. Aunque nunca había leído un libro de texto de nivel 'O' antes del 18 de julio de 2006, Ainan se presentó al examen el pasado 18 de enero, exactamente seis meses después, en el British Council de Singapur. Junto a él había otros cuatro candidatos adultos. Ainan tenía sólo siete años y un mes de edad cuando se presentó al examen.Cuando era pequeño, Ainan buscaba libros de ciencias en la biblioteca de la casa, mostrando preferencia por textos difíciles con complicadas ilustraciones sobre temas científicos, los cuales absorbía calladamente para luego comentarlos.Hacia la edad de tres o cuatro años, Ainan estaba interesado en las formas híperdimensionales y dibujaba sus sombras en dos dimensiones a manera de juego intelectual. Algunas de estas formas tenían cientos de lados, lo cual no fue una sorpresa para su madre, Syahidah Osman Cawley, una artista ambidiestra. Este interés hacia las estructuras abstractas se desarrolló posteriormente en un interés por las estructuras de las moléculas a medida que fue descubriendo la Química en Internet. A través de la navegación por la red, según los padres, Ainan se educó a sí mismo en la ciencia.Cuando tenía seis años de edad recibió un libro de Química, y Ainan se sentó y leyó el texto, mostrando que lo entendía. Su familia le dio a resolver un examen de Química relacionado con el mismo libro y para el asombro de todos, Ainan contestó las preguntas correctamente. Su padre, Valentine Cawley, le dio inmediatamente un libro de texto de nivel 'O' en Química.De momento, según sus padres, el niño ya ha leído un libro de texto en nivel 'A' y se espera que se presente este mismo año a un examen de ese nivel. Para ello requiere de experiencia en laboratorio, lo cual de momento no ha sido posible. En caso de conseguirlo, el jovencísimo científico podría presentarse al examen, propio de jóvenes de 18 años, antes de lanzarse a objetivos mayores, como la Universidad y la investigación científica.

On being an academic reference

It has come to my attention, that my blog is now official reading at one school. I find this quite touching - enough to bring a smile, anyway.

One school has listed my blog as part of the term's reading list, relating to intelligence and giftedness, for a course, of some sort. I am in good company on this list, which even includes Wikipedia.

It is surprising how different people react to what is essentially an exercise in communicating my understanding of giftedness, in particular of prodigy. That a school should make my site required reading is not only positive feedback for all my efforts - it is something much more important than that: it is an opportunity to reach out to all the children at that school and broaden their perspective on education, its ways, its effects and, most importantly, its opportunities. I espouse a much wider view of giftedness than many do - and perhaps that might be encouraging to some children whose gifts are not necessarily rewarded by a conventional schooling.

To me a gifted child is any child who is better than is usual - at anything. By "anything", I mean anything. There are so many ways in which a human being can be outstanding - and I believe that all of them have their place, in a better human society. Giftedness should never be viewed as something narrow, something purely academic - for that only captures a minority of those who are exceptional. Giftedness, in its truest sense, is the potential to exceed the norm, in any positive way, in any positive endeavour - or attribute. (Sometimes giftedness doesn't have to be exerted, it just is.) Perhaps I will write more of this idea another time...but for now, I would like to welcome the readers from that school - and any other that chooses to reference my blog. Thanks...don't forget to credit any quotes, though, to their writer. (That is the way things are done.)

(IF you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and six months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, or Tiarnan, sixteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)

Tiarnan's hungry tummy

It was a couple of months ago, now. We had just been shopping and were wending our way past various shops, to get to the taxi rank.

Suddenly, Tiarnan, fourteen months, made a detour. We were passing a restaurant that had placed tables and chairs out onto the pathway, when Tiarnan made a silent decision: he climbed up on to a chair, of a table at the restaurant to sit down.

Clearly, Tiarnan was hungry and wanted us to stop to eat there. I thought it was funny and revealing from several points of view. Firstly, was that it was the wrong time of day for most people to eat and so there was NO-ONE outside the restaurant eating. There was no food to be seen and no indication (by direct sight) of the fact that food would be available there. Somehow, he had assessed that this place was a restaurant, though he could see no food - and he had further judged that, by sitting down there, he would be served food and would solve his hunger problem. (It should be noted that we rarely eat out - perfectly good food being readily available at home (!) - and so Tiarnan does not have any real direct experience of restaurants.)

We had other ideas and picked him up from the chair and carried him away, where we would feed him in our own way.

It was interesting to see that instead of asking us about his hunger, that he decided to do something about it himself. It was amusing to see his little form sat upon the tall chair, of the restaurant, his head not much above the level of the table, waiting to be served.

There is so much to be understood about the contents of a young child's mind, simply by watching what they do and examining what those actions mean - and much of it turns out to be funny.

It is also interesting to note how much a little child understands about how the world works, from their own observations. They often understand much more than one would suppose.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, now sixteen months, or his gifted brothers, including Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and six months, or Fintan, three, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss

Some of history's greatest thinkers began life as child prodigies. What is interesting, to me, is that not everyone seems to know this.

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a classic and remarkable case of child prodigy, emerging from an unpromising background. He was born on the 30th April 1777 in Brunswick, Germany. Neither of his parents were educated - indeed, his father was a stone mason. So, the young Gauss was very much on his own, in his early education. Yet, he was not without success. By the age of three he had somehow taught himself reading and arithmetic to a proficient degree.

One day, his father was adding up some figures, on paper, concerning the family finances. The young Gauss, three, peered over at his father's work and pointed out an arithmetical error - which Gauss had checked in his head.

In time, Gauss came to the attention of the Duke of Brunswick and, as was the custom of the day - and a good custom it was too - Gauss was to receive the patronage and support of the Duke of Brunswick, throughout much of his career. The Duke awarded Gauss a fellowship to the Collegium Carolinum, which he attended from 1792 to 1795 and thence he went to the University of Gottingen, which he attended from 1795 to 1798.

It was while at the University that Gauss began the train of mathematical breakthroughs that were to characterize his work and life. In 1796, he proved that any polygon with a number of sides equal to a Fermat prime may be constructed with a compass and straightedge. This was a major mathematical discovery since the problem of construction of such shapes had bedevilled mathematicians since the Ancient Greeks. It took the young Gauss to finally solve it.

Admission to University seems to have electrified Gauss into creative action. The construction problem was solved on March 30, 1796. A few days later, on April 8th, he proved the Quadratic Reciprocity law, which allowed one to determine the solvability of any quadratic function in modular arithmetic.

Modular arithmetic? Oh, he invented that, too. Then he came up with the Prime Number Theorem about the distribution of primes amongst all integers, on May 31st. On July 1oth he discovered that any positive integer is the sum of, at most, three triangular numbers. On October 1st, he published some work on the number of solutions of polynomials with coefficients in finite fields.

This outburst of creativity was not a solitary occurrence in Gauss' life. He went on to make lifelong contributions in many fields. I wrote in detail of that one year to give you some idea of what he was capable of. In 1799, he proved the fundamental theorem of algebra. In 1801, he published his book on number theory, Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, a magnum opus which he had actually completed at the age of 21, though he delayed publishing (this was a chronic tendency of his, failing to publish until, in his perfectionism, he was satisfied with his work. Had he published all that was later to be found in his notebooks, it is estimated that he would have advanced mathematics fifty years, single-handedly. However, in delaying publication, other mathematicians often got to publish Gaussian results before he did, though he had reached the same conclusions decades ahead of them).

In that same year, 1801, Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the planetoid Ceres. He tracked it for a few months, across three degrees of sky, but was unable to locate it again. (It had been lost behind the glare of the sun.) The astronomers of the time were unable to calculate an orbit sufficiently well on so little information to be able to predict the path of an object. Gauss, however, just 23 at the time, took on the project. In three months of work, he revolutionized how orbital calculations were performed, devising an approach which still stands as the foundation of such calculations today. He accurately stated where the object could be expected to be seen in the night sky - and Ceres was duly found again. This single piece of work catapulted Gauss to fame - and was later key in securing him the lifelong position of astronomer at Gottingen.

Gauss' achievement with Ceres puzzled many, for it seemed a feat beyond possibility. He was asked how he had done such an intricate calculation. He replied: "I used logarithms." When asked how he had looked up so many logarithms in so short a time, he dumbfounded them, by saying: "Who needs to look them up? I calculated them in my head."

Thus Gauss carried into his adult life the childhood ability as a mental calculator that he had shown at the age of three.

Gauss put his mental calculation to another practical use through performing a geodesic survey of the state of Hanover. In so doing, he developed what we know today as the Normal Distribution - or more properly, Gaussian distribution.

In the 1820s he collaborated with the physicist Wilhelm Weber and contributed much to the areas of optics, acoustics, mechanics and magnetism. Indeed, in 1833 he invented the telegraph, which was to later revolutionize communications that century.

Subsequent to his death on February 23rd, 1855, his brain was taken from his skull and weighed. It was, perhaps not surprisingly, significantly heavier than usual, at 1,492 grams and, the examiner stated that it was "highly and deeply convoluted". It was theorized that this unusual manifestation of the brain accounted for his genius.

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss, began life as a self-educated child prodigy, born of uneducated parents, who could not, therefore, assist him but, by the end of his days, he was accounted, by many, as "the greatest mathematician since antiquity".

(If you would like to read about Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and six months, a scientific child prodigy, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, or Tiarnan, sixteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)

Fintan sings his own songs

Today, I heard Fintan singing a song. At first, I just listened to the overall effect of what he was doing and didn't notice the words. The song was clearly his own: it was a rhyming song, with words that spoke of his love for his family - his mother, his father and his brothers.

What I was struck by was how he managed to make his song both rhythmic and rhyming, even as he improvised it as he went along. It was quite clear that he was inventing the song as he sang: it had that feeling of immediacy and spontaneity as he reacted to his own words and their requirements to rhyme, by simply conjuring the rhyme out of mid-air.

It was touching to note both the subject of his song and the way he composed it. It had a tune, it had rhyme and and it had rhythm. Not bad at all for a musically untrained three year old, expressing himself, as he felt best.

(If you would like to read more of Fintan, three, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and six months, or Tiarnan, sixteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)