Child Prodigy with Autism Wows and Inspires
Leading up to April’s Autism Awareness Month, much media attention was
given to an incredible young man by the name of Jacob Barnett, a 13-year-old
with Asperger’s Syndrome who has a tested IQ of 170 (higher than Einstein’s).
Deemed a child prodigy, Barnett was attending Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
(IUPUI) and taking advanced astrophysics classes as early as 8-years-old.
Jacob made headlines due to a new project where he plans to expand on Einstein’s theory of
relativity. And
according to The Indianapolis Star, he has also set out to disprove the Big
Bang theory.
The stunning revelations have raised a lot of eyebrows, but have not been
discounted. A world-renown astrophysics professor has confirmed the authenticity of
Jacob’s expanded theory of relativity and says that he will be in line for a Nobel
Prize if able to solve.
And asked in an interview about how the earth would have been formed if not for the
Big Bang, Barnett said he "was working on that," creating a lot of
buzz within the creationism community.
Pretty amazing for a child who didn’t speak until he was 2. In fact, his mom
Kristine was quoted as saying, "When he was two, my fear was that he would never be in our world at
all." She was also told by doctors to prepare for many challenges over his lifetime due to
limited communication skills.
The heartening story and background of Jacob Barnett is yet another example of a long list
of individuals on the autism spectrum who have greatly contributed to our
society. Some of these people with autism (both confirmed and suspected) include Daryl Hannah, James Durbin, Alexander Graham Bell, Jason
McElwain, Daniel Tammet, Albert Einstein, Stephen Wiltshire, Tim Burton, Temple Grandin, John Quincy Adams, Ludwig
van Beethoven, Isaac Newton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Bill Gates, Charles Dickinson, Jane Austen,
Emily Dickinson, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Friedrich Nietzsche, Nikola Tesla, Henry Thoreau, John Denver, Jim Henson, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hughes, Andy Kaufman, Charles Schulz, Andy Warhol, Bobby Fischer and Leonardo da Vinci — just to name a
few.