The Incredible Story Of William James Sidis The 11-Year-Old Who Went to Harvard

The lecture is exceptionally brilliant, and the audience nods and gasps at his insights into this complicated topic. 

However, something about this lecture is different. The speaker is eleven years old.

By the time William turned eight, he could already speak multiple languages. He had even created his own unique language. However, it was in the math subjects that William amazed his teachers, his parents, and others following his progress. In fact, he made history with his talent.

Harvard is perhaps the most prestigious university in the United States. The university was thrilled to have the famous child prodigy as a student, and William looked forward to studying with some of the greatest minds in the world. However, once he got there, things started to go wrong.

William entered Harvard excited to begin his studies, knowing he was ready for higher levels of learning. He looked forward to meeting some of the world’s finest professors and students. He never did reach his dream. What happened to William?

William’s father had escaped political oppression. Both parents were relieved to leave the impossible situation in their home countries and settle in America, where they could freely pursue their professions. When they had their son William, they had high expectations for him.

The story is told that William’s parents were determined to make him a prodigy. They even taught him English while he was still a baby. The parents were thrilled with how William picked up new information and skills. Surely, they thought, they had a prodigy on their hands.

Thus, Boris was using his own son to test his psychological theory. He wanted to prove that one can produce a genius by constant training at home. In other words, Boris contended that William was not necessarily born with his genius abilities; his parents would create one.

The New York Times reported that he had also written a textbook on human anatomy at the time. Unquestionably his parents’ dream had come true – their young son was astounding scientists and academics worldwide with his accomplishments.

It is said that by the time he was eight years old, he could speak eight languages. The fantastic achievements continued to accumulate. Clearly, he was not cut out for the standard American education system for a boy his age. Here’s a question, though – why have we never heard of this boy?

William was different. His fields of genius included academics, poetry, and political theory. The boy stood out and accomplished many goals in all three areas, to much acclaim from older professionals. Because of this, Boris felt that only one school was appropriate for William.

The Harvard admissions team, however, thought differently. They determined that William was not fit emotionally to begin college studies and challenges.  Boris argued with the admissions office, but the university stood its ground. Had Boris taken their advice, William’s life would have been quite different.

So, in 1909, William Sidis began his life at Harvard University. He was the youngest freshman ever enrolled before then, and since – he still holds the record. We would expect to read more about William’s many accomplishments, but we don’t even see his name mentioned among the list of alumni. What happened?

The author Abraham Sperling wrote about Sidis in his 1946 book Psychology for the Millions. He wrote, “His [IQ] score was the highest that had ever been obtained.” Why, then, do we know nothing about William Sidis?  Why is he not as famous as Einstein?

In 1910, when he was just eleven years old, William delivered a lecture to the prestigious Harvard Mathematical Club. Attending that lecture were famous mathematicians from the university and elsewhere, and this young boy stood before them to deliver a fascinating talk.

There was one person in the audience who was especially familiar with this complex topic, a man named Daniel Comstock. Comstock was a physicist at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Comstock is quoted as saying, “I predict that young Sidis will be a great astronomical mathematician. He will evolve new theories and invent new ways of calculating astronomical phenomena. I believe he will be a great mathematician, the leader in that science in the future.” But even Comstock got it all wrong.

This obsession with William didn’t fade – it continued for the rest of his life.  He was the darling of the newspapers and other media and the public at large. But this was not true of William’s other classmates. That’s when the problems began.

Fuller stated that even when William was already 16 years old, his parents sent him to Harvard dressed in short pants. In those days, boys started wearing long pants when they turned 14, but William’s parents refused to dress him appropriately. That was one reason that the boy struggled to fit in since the other students were looking askance at him because of his attire.

We have one clue as to what happened to William Sidis and why he never reached the goals that everyone expected of him. The clue is in a speech he gave reporters after he graduated from Harvard in 1914.

Sidis’ speech then got even stranger. He said, “The only way to live the perfect life is to live it in seclusion. I have always hated crowds.” Everyone was stunned – was this genius preparing to drop out of normal society and discontinue his studies? Would no one hear from him ever again?

People wondered if his troubles at Harvard, being isolated by his fellow students and not developing any friendships, were the root of the strange behavior. Perhaps he felt isolated at the university and preferred to keep to himself rather than risk embarrassment.

He was 17 years old when he began his studies at Rice University. To support himself, he also accepted a position teaching trigonometry and geometry to students older than him. This was destined to be a difficult situation, and indeed it was. His hardships continued.

Instead of pursuing further studies in mathematics, William enrolled at Harvard’s Law School. As he did everywhere else he studied, he excelled but ultimately dropped out in 1919. Once again, his path took a different and surprising turn. Why was Sidis failing to meet his goals?

Considering all of the paths open to him and his tremendous, breathtaking intellect, Sidis could not find a place for himself. It seems that he became so interested in socialism that, during the demonstration where he was arrested, he allegedly shouted, “To hell with the American flag.” 

The trial gave Sidis a platform to proclaim his beliefs. He apparently stated that he embraced pacifism and supported the movement that was behind the Russian Revolution. These sentiments were not popular with those people worldwide who had admired his academic accomplishments.

Instead of going to any psychological institution, however, Boris took William to Boris’ own facility in New Hampshire.  He hoped to set his son back on the right track through therapy and in-person care. However, Boris’ hopes were not to be realized.

He was finally released from the mental hospital in 1921. Finally, he was free of the presence and influence of his father and mother and could be a man on his own. He seemed ready to start his own life on his own terms.

Instead of staying in any type of academic position, however, William took on a series of jobs that required no particular high-level skills. He did this to keep out of the limelight and out of the eyes and ears of the press. That did work for a short time.

The reporter found him working on Wall Street in New York City. He was employed as an adding machine worker, earning $23 per week, which was a low salary even for those times. Suddenly the world found the famous William Sidis again, and interest grew.

Much as he wished to live a quiet life, somehow, William missed the academic world. He longed for the challenges of research.  In 1925 he published a theory about the cosmos and how life began called The Animate and the Inanimate.

The rejection of his book may have been the final straw in William’s decision to re-enter the life of isolation and obscurity. At this point, however, since he still wanted to research and write, he began to publish under pseudonyms. His name being hidden, he could publish more freely.

One of the books was titled The Tribes and the States. This work offers a very different history of Native Americans, contending that American democracy was shaped by various native people whom European immigrants met when they settled in the colonies.

This book is a collection of trivia, facts, poems, and jokes about streetcars. It is shocking that a man with such a gifted mind should choose to write about this topic, and it seems a waste of his time to do so. Indeed not a book to amaze the scientists of the world. 

But the world did not forget about William Sidis. People wondered what happened to him, whether he was hiding away somewhere developing important scientific theories, and whether he would reappear one day with fascinating findings.

Sidis was quoted in the article as saying, “The very sight of a mathematical formula makes me physically ill.” Later in the article, the reporter asked about not living up to what others expected of him. He explained by saying, in a wry tone, “It’s strange, but you know I was born on April Fool’s Day.”

Sidis sued The New Yorker for invasion of privacy. Although he had been quoted correctly, he felt that the article’s tone was unfair and complained that the piece had caused him “grievous mental anguish [and] humiliation.”

The reasoning of the court was that the legal system was not able to protect an individual from the media. Sidis had hoped the article would prove that he was no longer his father’s genius and that he had made the right decision to simply hide away. But now Sidis was back in the news. 

In July of 1944, at the age of 46, Sidis suffered a brain hemorrhage, which had felled his father twenty years before. After so many years of brilliant work, followed by so many years of terrible sadness and suffering, the would-be genius was silent.

Perhaps this was the right type of ending for this confused person. He tried to be what his father wanted him to be, but found no joy in it. Instead, he opted to hide away, and, at a very young age, he got his wish.