This young man is now fourteen and is tutoring theoretical physics string theory.
Jacob Barnett: Experts said boy would never be able to read but now he’s brainier than Einstein
They said the youngster would never be able to even tie his own shoelaces but his mum refused to accept their word.
Born with Asperger’s syndrome, Jacob Barnett was written off by experts who insisted he would grow up locked in a world of his own.
They said the youngster would never be able to read, write or even tie his own shoelaces.
But his mum Kristine refused to accept their word and set about transforming his life.
Since then, she has watched him flourish into a child genius with an IQ of 189 – higher than Albert Einstein’s – and an astonishing grasp of maths and physics. He is even tipped for a Nobel prize.
And he’s still only 14.
As Jacob scrawls complex mathematical problems thick and fast on a window pane, proud nursery teacher Kristine says: “Those equations are scary but to Jacob they are natural.
“Each one of them is a picture and he’s been able to see them like that since he was a little baby. But for a long time we had no idea that was what was going on inside his head.”
Jacob Barnett as a baby with mum Kristine
By the age of three, Jacob could explain the laws of planetary orbit, something he gleaned from spinning a ball.
At four he memorised a map of the US and navigated his family 190 miles from their home in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Chicago.
When he turned 11 he got a place at Indiana University after his mum had taken him there for lectures.
Jacob, studying for a masters, started work on a new physics theory that was hailed as original in his field.
His heroes are the physicist Richard Feynman and Donald Trump.
Jacob says simply: “I respect people who are good at their fields.”
His development is testament to 39-year-old Kristine’s determination to see her son not written off as a withdrawn child with learning difficulties.
At first she put her faith in psychologists who set about trying to coax Jacob out of his shell.
Kristine says: “He would see speech therapists, physical therapists, developmental therapists, occupational therapists. Neurologists, psychologists.
“He’d work 40 hours a week. Everyone was trying to help fix him.
“If he was spinning a ball they would take it away and try to make him speak but then he would retreat further into himself.”
Kristine was about to lose hope of her son ever progressing when a different outlook on the situation suddenly dawned on her.
She adds: “It was the first good day of summer and all the children at my work were playing on the grass and I realised Jacob was three and hadn’t done that in a year.
“We were all so busy trying to make him have better social skills. I needed to fight for his childhood.”
Top of the class: Studying at university
So she took him out to play at nights. It was during one of these times together that Jacob discovered his love of the stars.
Kristine says: “He became obsessed so I took him to a planetarium.
“We sat through this complicated lecture and I was worried how I was going to entertain him for that long, but as soon as it started he sat up and tuned in.
“Then when the lecturer asked ‘Why are the moons around Mars shaped like potatoes?’ Jacob’s hand shot up.”
Kristine tells how she struggled to describe her shock when he blurted out: “The moons around Mars don’t have enough mass and gravity to make them round.”
She adds: “Everyone turned around and looked at this three-year-old. That was the moment we realised just how different Jacob was.
“As soon as we allowed Jacob to do what he enjoyed, he stopped being frustrated and started to communicate.”
But Jacob, who has two brothers Wesley, 12, and Ethan, nine, was still frustrated at school.
By the time he was eight, Kristine decided to withdraw him and instead took him to university lectures in maths, astronomy and physics.
She adds: “He was coming home and curling up in a ball, he wasn’t playing with his friends.
“It was a scary decision but I knew what was right. It was important to keep him close to the family.
“The focus was on him having a normal childhood. Experts have said Jacob beats the odds for a prodigy because he’s social and happy.”
“I would hold him out in front of me and he would arch his back and twist away. He couldn’t make eye contact.
“He would look out the window and then stare at the shadows even when he was one. He’d spin a ball around for hours.
“Where other toddlers are chaotic, Jacob was precise and methodical. He would take a bucket of crayons and arrange all 500 of them end to end in the spectrum of the rainbow.”
Kristine, who has written a book about her experiences, and Michael had kept their son out of the limelight, but after an article about him in the local paper went global that all changed. He had an army of new admirers – girls.
Kristine says: “We opened the curtains one morning to find girls holding up signs saying ‘We love Jacob’ and ‘Jacob teach us maths’.”
Jacob seems to take it all in his stride. But young girls trying to impress him with bling are in for a bit of a shock.
He says: “There are so many girls who have sparkly earrings, rings and dresses, thousand dollar shoes and coats. I think that’s ridiculous.”
Jake now is so far advanced in his Indiana university studies that professors are lining him up for a PHD research role.
The boy wonder, who taught himself calculus, algebra, geometry and trigonometry in a week, is now tutoring fellow college classmates after hours.
And now Jake has embarked on his most ambitious project yet – his own ‘expanded version of Einstein’s theory of relativity’.
His mother, not sure if her child was talking nonsense or genius, sent a video of his theory to the renowned Institute for Advanced Study near Princeton University.
According to the Indiana Star, Institute astrophysics professor Scott Tremaine -himself a world renowned expert – confirmed the authenticity of Jake’s theory.
In an email to the family, Tremaine wrote: ‘I’m impressed by his interest in physics and the amount that he has learned so far.
‘The theory that he’s working on involves several of the toughest problems in astrophysics and theoretical physics.
‘Anyone who solves these will be in line for a Nobel Prize.’
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