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| Hangul | 김웅용 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 金恩榮 |
| Revised Romanization | Gim Ung-yong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kim Ung'yong |
Kim Ung-Yong (born March 7, 1963) is a Korean child prodigy. He was able to read and write in Japanese, Korean, German, and English by his fourth birthday. At the age of four, on November 2, 1967, he solved complicated differential and integral calculus problems on Japanese television, demonstrated his proficiency in German, English, Japanese, and Korean, and composed poetry. Kim was listed in the Guiness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ"; the book estimated the boy's score at 210.
Early life and career
From the beginning, Kim's life was distinguished by unusual physical and mental growth. He began to walk at six months of age, having cut 19 teeth in a single day when he was 100 days old. At two years, four months old, he began to keep a diary, whose entries included his thoughts on the clouds outside his home, philosophy, and his impatience with the crowds of visitors thronging his home. By the time the child was three years old, visitors were beginning to approach the family about the possibility of his attending college in the United States, an option in which his family was greatly interested, though at least one of these offers proved false when a man who represented himself as a professor from the University of Michigan turned out to be unknown at that school. At the time of one August 1966 article on Kim, his parents were planning to start him at a local junior high, with hopes of his studying in the United States at a later date.
Kim was a guest student of physics at Hanyang University from the age of three until he was six.. At the age of seven he was invited to the United States by NASA.. He finished his university studies, eventually getting a Ph.D. in physics at Colorado State University before he was 15. In 1974, during his university studies, he began his research work at NASA and continued this work until his return to Korea in 1978.
When he returned to Korea, he decided to switch from physics to civil engineering and eventually received a doctorate in that field. Kim was offered the chance to study at the most prestigious universities in Korea, but instead chose to attend a provincial university.
As of 2007 he serves as adjunct faculty at Chungbuk National University.
Notes
- "What Ever Became of 'Geniuses'?," TIME, December 19, 1977. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
- ^ James Kim. (no relation) "Korean child, 3, has IQ over 200: works calculus," The Dallas Morning News, August 7, 1966, page 4.
- ^ KBS World Radio article about Kim Ung-Yong's current life (in German)
See also
References
External links
- Time magazine article mentioning Ung-Yong
- Article in Korean mentioning Kim Ung-Yong (Currently Working as the Leader of the Compensation Department of the Chungcheongbuk-do Government Office of Development)