Michael Kearney
|
|
Michael Kearney didn't sleep as much as other babies and would not take naps. During a checkup at two weeks of age, Michael, wearing Cabbage Patch doll clothes, held his head up and turned himself over. The doctors expressed disbelief. He would be frustrated at not being able to speak.
The son of a Japanese mother and a Caucasian father, Michael was communicating with hand signals when he was two months old. At four months, he was saying "Daddy," and "Mama" and "eat." A month later, he was using four-word sentences and became an avid video-game watcher. At six months, when Cassidy took Michael to the Navy pediatrician and inquired about the baby's problem, little Michael chimed in, "I have a left ear infection." People thought his mother was a ventriloquist as he would speak while he was being carried around.
He was characterized by a 'rage to learn'. When they could, he was schooled at home by his parents specially his mother and accelerated in his academic career since he was unable to display interest in the slow pace of conventional schooling. For this reason also, he was misdiagnosed with ADD and prescribed ritalin.
For a while, he was the world's youngest postgraduate and the holder of three Guinness Book records until Tathagat Avatar Tulsi. His 118-page master's thesis is titled "Kinetic Isotope Effects of Thymidine Phosphorylase." He explains, that his research is focused on an enzyme that could potentially slow or stop the growth of cancer cells without harming health.
He is listed in the Guinness World Records as the world's youngest university graduate at the age of 10, receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology from the University of South Alabama. This was after enrolling at Santa Rosa Junior College at the age of 6 years and 7 months, from which he graduated at the age of 8 with an Associate of Science in Geology. He graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a Masters Degree in Chemistry at the age of 14. He taught in college at 17. He wanted to become a TV show host.
His sister, Maeghan, is also a child prodigy.
See also
External reference
- Professor at 17 (http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/01/11/10786055.shtml?Element_ID=107)
- Find Articles:Letting Michael be Michael from Saturday Evening Post (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1189/is_n3_v268/ai_18221757)