Child Prodigies

1. Sukanya Roy

While you may still need to remind yourself about that “i before e” business from time to time, 14-year-old Sukanya Roy is breezing through words like “cymotrichous,” the final word that won her the 84th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee Championship title as well as $40,000 in cash and prizes.

2. Jacob Barnett

When Jacob was eight, he jumped from 5th grade to college. Now the 12-year-old studies electromagnetic physics at Indiana University, where his professors are lining him up for a Ph.D research role. Despite having Asperger’s Syndrome, Jacob has an IQ of 170 (higher than Einstein’s!) and is currently working to expand Einstein’s work on the theory of relativity.

3. Cecilia Cassini

Although many may not think of high intelligence when thinking of the fashion industry, there’s no denying this little 11-year-old fashion designer has some major business-savvy smarts. At just six years old, she began sewing and designing her own clothing creations, and within just a few years has created a name for herself, designing high fashion pieces for celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Rachel Green from Twilight.

4. Autumn de Forest

Many kids say they want to be an artist when they grow up, but eight-year-old Autumn already is one! She’s been churning out beautiful visual masterpieces since age four, and her paintings sell for as high as $250,000. Inspired by Warhol, Dali, and Picasso, hearing this little girl talk about her favorite artists and techniques shows she has the brains behind the talent, too.

5. Kieron Williamson

Nicknamed, the “mini Monet,” this eight-year-old artist creates gorgeous paintings far beyond his years. He started out by asking his parents for pencils and paper four years ago, and now his artwork sells for over $200,000!

6. Rockford Ramirez

Toddler genius? There’s an app for that! Rockford Ramirez, a two-year-old from San Diego, has memorized dozens of history and geography facts from a kid-friendly app on his parents’ iPhone. He can recite all 44 American presidents (in order), name every state plus their capitals, and can identify all the countries on a map of the world. Can you?

7. Oscar Wrigley

Most two-year-olds spend their free time navigating playgrounds and chewing on random objects. Not this little tyke! In his early years, Oscar Wrigley would much rather discuss ancient Rome or conduct along to classical music in the car, so his parents were only a little surprised when at just two years, five months, and eleven days, Oscar became the youngest person from Britain to be accepted as a member of Mensa.

8. Brianna Kahane

At just nine years old, this young violinist has already been accepted to Juilliard, appeared on Oprah’s episode on “World’s Smartest Kids,” and was recently named the head of VH1’s Save the Music Foundation Student Advocate Program. Despite all the attention and meeting celebrities like Donald Trump and Jordin Sparks, Brianna told Oprah her dream is “to make the world a better place, one song at a time.”

9. Adora Svitak

Adora was first discovered for her far-advanced and eloquent writing skills at the young age of seven, when her blog began to gain a following and press took notice. By age ten, she became an internationally published author with her first full-length novel Yang in Disguise and has since published two more books, Flying Fingers and Dancing Fingers.

10. Ben Sherman

Another young author, nine-year-old Ben Sherman, is using the power of books to save lives. After learning about slavery and sex trafficking in Cambodia, Ben decided to take action by writing Gregory’s Paper Airplane. Not only does the beautiful picture book raise awareness for human rights issues, but Ben will also donate proceeds from its sales to Agape International Missions. He told CNN, “You don’t have to wait ten years, twenty years, even five years … you can make a difference at any age.” Sounds like a pretty smart young man to us!

11. Raúl Chávez Sarmiento

Many kids dream of becoming an Olympic medalist, but this Peruvian child prodigy actually did it, mathlete-style. At eleven years old, Raúl won a bronze medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad, becoming the second youngest medalist in IMO history.

12. Priyanshi Somani

At age twelve, this little girl is a human calculator. Last summer, as the youngest competitor in the Mental Calculation World Cup of 2010, Priyanshi won the overall combination title, competing in categories such as extracting square roots from six digit numbers and mentally multiplying eight digit numbers. Think about that the next time you whip out your smart phone to calculate how much to leave for a tip ...

13. Ainan Cawley

His handwriting may still look childish, but this young Brit has scientific and mathematical knowledge far beyond his years. At seven years old, Ainan was the youngest in the world to pass O-level Chemistry (a very advanced level of the subject), and he currently can recite Pi up to 518 figures, something few adults have ever achieved.

14. Aman Rehman

Beginning at three years old, Aman began making animated movies and has since produced over 1,000. At age eight, he set the record for the youngest college-lecturer in the world and currently teaches computer-generated animated film at Dehradun’s College of Interactive Arts in India.

15. Colin Carlson

Colin started reading on his own as a toddler and by age four had finished Harry Potter. At age nine, he began taking classes at the University of Connecticut and is now enrolled full-time as a 14-year-old junior studying for a dual degree in evolutionary biology and ecology. He has also recently been named a Truman Scholar and been awarded by the Barry M. Goldwater scholarship program.

16. Moshe Kai Cavalin

Moshe is an even younger college student than Colin Carlson. In 2009, Moshe graduated from East Los Angeles College at age eleven with a degree in Astrophysics and a perfect GPA. He says he wants to use his knowledge to better the world and says he doesn’t like video games because “it’s not helping humanity in any way.

17. Ethan Bortnick

This summer, ten-year-old pianist Ethan Bortnick will become the youngest musician to headline his own national concert tour. Baby Einstein might not turn all kids into geniuses, but it worked for this one, as Ethan learned how to play piano by mimicking the music he heard on the series. Eventually he moved onto more complicated pieces, from classical to jazz to current chart-toppers, and he even composes some of his own music.

18. Emily Bear

At five years old, while most kids are still plunking out "Chopsticks" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb," Emily Bear was performing a 40-minute concert at Ravinia Music Festival, playing classical, jazz, and original pieces she composed. Since then, she has performed at the White House, on Dancing with the Stars and on the Ellen Degeneres Show, as well as receiving a slew of awards and honors.

19. Kayden Troff

This young chess prodigy was being tutored by Grandmaster Igor Ivanov at six years old and is now the reigning North American youth champion for the 12-and-under category.

20. Adi Putra Ghani

At age ten, Adi became the CEO of not one but TWO companies. Now a 12-year-old, he’s stopped school to study business and track foreign stocks from home, and he is frequently invited by universities to give lectures on business.