10. William James Sidis may or may not have been ‘the smartest person who ever lived’, but the boy genius was definitely capable of speaking 25 languages
Some people say he was the ‘smartest human being who ever lived’. While this may be an exaggeration – and certainly impossible to prove either way – William James Sidis was undoubtedly an intelligent chap. A very intelligent chap indeed. He was a child prodigy who grew up to become a math genius. And, what’s more, he was a talented linguist, mastering foreign languages as effortlessly as he mastered math and physics.
Born in downtown New York City in 1898, William was the son of the psychologist Boris Sidis. From birth, the father wished his boy to be not just intelligent, but a genius. As such, he challenged the infant to push himself, trying to instill a ‘love of knowledge’ in the boy before he could even walk. While highly controversial, the ‘precocious’ style of parenting seemed to work. According to his father, Sidis was reading the local newspaper for 18 months. What’s more, by the age of just eight, he was fluent in eight languages, including Russian, German, Hebrew and Armenian. As if that wasn’t enough, Sidis also invented a language of his own, which he called ‘Verdergood’.
After his homeschooling, Sidis went off to Harvard at the age of just 11. He focused on physics and wrote a pioneering work on dark matter and the origins of life when he was 21. Gradually, however, he became better known for his eccentric ways than for his genius. He eventually retired from first public and then academic life. When he did publish anything in the 1930s and 40s, it was usually under a pseudonym. He died in 1944 at the age of just 46. In the end, it was his powerful brain that killed him, as he suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage, just as his father had done a decade before.
Exactly how smart Sidis was is open to debate. Some biographers claim he had a record-breaking IQ. Similarly, the number of languages he spoke is not completely clear. According to most accounts, he could hold a conversation in as many as 25 languages and dialects. Sadly, since Sidis was a recluse for most of his life, there was never any chance to put his language skills to the test.