William James Sidis (person)

William James Sidis was arguably one of the most intelligent human beings to have ever lived. He was born to Boris and Sarah Sidis in 1898. Both of his parents were extremely intelligent and well educated.

Sidis' IQ is generally estimated to be above 250. He learned to spell in English by the time he was a year old and learned Russian, French, Hebrew, German, Turkish and Armenian by age six. At the age of seven, he passed the Harvard University Medical School anatomy exam, and at eight, passed the MIT entrance exam.

In 1909, Sidis became the youngest person to enroll at Harvard University at age eleven. He graduated in 1914 at age 16, and entered Harvard Law School in 1916.

At age 20, he conducted a study that predicted the existence of black holes years before any other definitive work on the subject. It was at this stage in his life that Sidis began to withdraw from social circles, preferring to conduct his work in private. His social ineptitude was often poked fun at, and his adversaries laughed at what they assumed was a wasted existence.

The publications of Sidis are difficult to determine as he used aliases during his life and a good portion of his work is in fragments. The following is a partial list:

• The Reader : Sidis' first book, a grammar.
• Book of Vendergood : A new language. Comparable but simpler than Esperanto.
• First Book on Calendars : Partial work.
• The Hesperia Constitution : Sidis' behavioral model.
• Unconscious Intelligence
• The Animate and the Inanimate : First publication in the field of physics. His work on black holes is delineated in this work.
• A Remark on the Occurence of Revolution : An article published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
• The Modern Gray Champion : An article.
• A novel on the city of Atlantis - most likely lost.
• Lessons on Social Continuity : A lot of the theory work for The Tribes and the States is worked out in this article.
• Jersey City : An article on the city itself and the roles it has played.
• Translation of An Unwilling Tragedian by Anton Chekhov.
• Translation of On the Harm of Tobacco by Anton Chekhov.
• Notes on the Collection of Transfers
• Various collections of transit guides
• The Peridromophile : Monthly publication.
• The Tribes and the States and The Peace Paths : A 1200 page history of the United States. Only the first page of The Peace Paths survived.
• The Penacook Courier : A newspaper used largely by Sidis for the promotion of his work.
• Continuity News : Published under the pen name "Parker Greene".
• The Orarch : Another periodical.
• The Libertarian : Its motto: "That Government Is Best Which Governs Least". (Jefferson)

He was antagonized by various media sources mainly for his controversial utopian ideals and his experiments with communism and socialism. It caused a great deal of animosity between himself and his parents, particularly his mother. His attempts at reconciling with other people were often difficult as his concepts were too complex for most people to process. William James Sidis died in 1944 at the age of 46.