World’s top five whiz kids, Hong Kong-born prodigy Wang Pok-lo included, show age is no barrier
Whether they have graduated from university at the age of 13, spoken at TEDxTeen, or been able to name world’s 196 countries before starting school, these five prodigies hope to use their talents to make the world a better place
In 2002, Richard Lynn, a British professor of psychology, and Tatu Vanhanen, a Finnish professor of political science, released IQ and the Wealth of Nations.
The controversial study of more than 80 countries and territories concluded that their average IQ was roughly linked with national wealth. It did this by averaging and adjusting existing studies, and found that Hong Kong had the highest estimated average IQ – 107 – followed by South Korea.
Why was Hong Kong ranked so high? Nobody knows. Perhaps a brains trust should investigate. In the meantime, here is a look at some of the world’s top whiz kids – prodigies who just might just blossom into future Albert Einsteins.
Wang Pok-lo
Hong Kong-born, British-based teenager Wang Pok-lo graduated from university at the age of 13. While at Queensferry High School near Edinburgh, Wang pursued an Open University course in the United States during his spare time and aced it, graduating with a first-class honours degree. He even scored 100 per cent in one module. He has now enrolled at Sheffield University in northern England to read statistics with medical applications for his master’s.
Wang began doing sums when he was little more than a baby. He passed his Advanced Higher Maths exams when he was just 11. He moved to Scotland from Hong Kong in 2006.
“I enjoy doing maths but it is getting very challenging. It started to get more difficult as it became more about concepts which are a lot more abstract and it’s mostly logic and reasoning,” Britain’s Express newspaper Wang as saying.
