For 12-year old astrophysics prodigy, the sky’s the limit

[dkf]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110329/ts_yblog_thelookout/for-12-year-old-astrophysics-prodigy-the-skys-the-limit
Tue Mar 29, 12:55 pm ET

In some ways, Jacob Barnett is just like any other 12-year-old kid. He plays Guitar Hero, shoots hoops with his friends, and has a platonic girlfriend.

But in other ways, he's a little different. Jake, who has an IQ of 170, began solving 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzles at the age of 3, not long after he'd been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism. A few years later, he taught himself calculus, algebra, and geometry in two weeks. By 8, he had left high school, and is currently taking college-level advanced astrophysics classes—while tutoring his older classmates. And he's being recruited for a paid researcher job by Indiana University.

Now, he's at work on a theory that challenges the Big Bang—the prevailing explanation among scientists for how the universe came about. It's not clear how developed it is, but experts say he's asking the right questions.

"The theory that he's working on involves several of the toughest problems in astrophysics and theoretical physics," Scott Tremaine of Princeton University's Institute for Advanced Studies—where Einstein (pictured) himself worked—wrote in an email to Jake's family. "Anyone who solves these will be in line for a Nobel Prize."

[upi402]

1. What causes this?

How can some brains be so perceptive, and others more like me?

[sakabatou]

2. What causes autism such as this is still being researched

[elleng]

5. This?

'Aspergers individuals can be so successful mainly because they are more focused and persistent, they do not get distracted, and they are not interested in outside society as much as the “average” individual. Many grown-ups with Aspergers have the ability to function effectively in mainstream jobs and live independent lives. Additionally, people with Aspergers may make wonderful intellectual contributions to society in general. Studies suggest an association with achievements in art, music, engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics, and many more.'

http://www.myaspergerschild.com/2010/10/potential-genius-of-aspergers.html

[CTyankee]

16. I have a good friend whose two sons both have aspergers. The sons finally moved out

of their parents house when they were in their 30s and bought a house which they share. They work in computers. While they are both very attentive to their parents, my friend knows she will never have a grandchild and it saddens her, much as she loves her boys.

but she always has a computer expert to help her out!

[elleng]

29. Well, you know yank, computer experts are important!

Interesting that you say they have aspergers and they're in this situation. Sounds more like autism to me, tho I know its a spectrum thing.

Seen/heard of Temple Grandin?

http://www.templegrandin.com/

She's wonderful. LOTS of possibilities. Daughter Amy met her, and helped her drive out of Philly after a lecture at Amy's school.

[CTyankee]

36. She sounds phenomenal! Amy must be happy to meet her.

A nice thing she did...

[elleng]

38. She was very happy to have met her,

and to learn more about the disability vis a vis a 'high functioning' person with it who needed help relaxing and negotiating maps etc to get out of Philly.

The bio-movie about her is excellent, won awards. Check it out 'when you can.' And her lectures.

[CTyankee]

39. Thanks. That's really nice...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

40. The vegans at DU hate her.

After the video of the cruelty of factory farms was posted. I mentioned Temple Grandin and they said she was "horrible" and should not be given any publicity for trying to make slaughterhouses more humane.


Goddamn hippie vegans. Holier than thou.

:shrug:

[elleng]

41. Silly. There are a lot 'better' people to hate.

[Hawkowl]

44. I think she's great

And I'm a vegetarian. Mitigating the suffering of animals is very, very important. I would prefer no slaughter of animals, but every step to this end goal is important.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. There are prices to be paid for having Asperger's, though. My son has

Asperger features and we have dealt for years with some "Rain Man" OCD behaviors, and he has trouble with unexpected transitions, frustration, sensory perception, and so forth.

If only we could be so perceptive without having to pay a price! I heard some years ago that scientists had a way to bypass the shut off for the super-learning gene that enables humans to learn so much up through the age of 3 or so. Downside is that it seems to lead to strokes and other issues. If they can work it out to leave the gene on without consequences, we could find ourselves much much smarter someday!

[roguevalley]

15. I taught aspergers kids. They are socially -usually- really regressive

but sometimes they are so focused on something they are actually quite accomplished. The two I have taught however aren't. One of them is living at home with his asperger mother and that probably is why he is not making progress. It is a hard syndrome to have and anyone who can find a normal path or near normal is a hero in my book.

[jwirr]

19. I am not sure but from my experience with autism it allows the person

to zone in on a situation, object, problem to a much greater extent than most of us could. In other words he concentrates totally on the problem he is dealing with.

[upi402]

43. I wasn't aware... I only know 1 young person with Asperger's

and the child torments the parents and disrupts class to the detriment of classmates and teacher. This child must be on one end of the spectrum, or something. Autism is different yet again, it seems. I think of Rainman.

[silverweb]

3. Wow.

Remember this kid's name. His career is going to be trailblazing.

[Orrex]

4. I hate this little fink!

Just kidding. What a startling achievement. Best of luck to Mr. Barnett in working out the details!

[dkf]

6. OMG the indy article is even more amazing.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011103200369

[KittyWampus]

17. He found a flaw in the Bang Bang Theory... and is still working on his own. What a great article.

Thanks!

[Raksha]

32. You're right about the indystar article...just mind-boggling. n/t

[Raksha]

8. What a wonderful story! I treasure every source of hope I can get these days.

Jacob Barnett...I will remember his name. For some reason I wasn't able to get the video to play. But just reading the article, I felt sure this wonderful kid came into this world with the soul purpose of solving the challenge he has set for himself. Maybe he's Einstein reincarnated!

[SnakeEyes]

9. Kids parents are apparently religious right types

They were on Glenn Beck this week. Although not stated on the show, it's apparently why he's tackling the Big Bang Theory

[Raksha]

10. Seriously? Then I have a feeling his parents have a big surprise waiting for them.

Somehow, I get the feeling their son isn't going to end up validating creationism!

[dkf]

11. Lol.

I'm just glad they are letting him learn what he wants.

[davidthegnome]

12. Amazing

Thank you for sharing this dkf. It's nice to read something good and optimistic every now and then. I look forward to seeing how his theory turns out.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

13. >>Now, he's at work on a theory that challenges the Big Bang

just when I thought everyone had agreed that everything sprang out of nothing. Now this.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

14. Dupe

[PufPuf23]

18. Maybe the "Big Bang" comes out of the other side black holes

and black holes are ubiquitous on all scales, inclulding those far beyond human imagination?

I have never understood why creation was an issue because why a beginning and and end?

Hope for the best free mind and happiness of this young man. May he be loved intimately and know this.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

21. There are those who believe that black holes are an imaginary construct that

allow us to explain things we don't understand.



http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=wxse6f8q

The Electric Universe is developed upon plasma cosmology, which is a recognized discipline within the practical electrical engineering profession through the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Refereed papers on plasma cosmology are published in the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science. The freewheeling discussion in that journal is reminiscent of the science journals of more than a century ago, not the monoculture of the big bang today. My paper on the electrical nature of supernovae and stars was published there in 2007.
Left and right are reversed, which makes it difficult to see the obvious connection between the electrical power arriving at a star and the star’s color, size and brightness]. Unlike big bang cosmology, plasma cosmology is subject to experimental tests in the laboratory and follows the Lichtenberg experimental tradition. Any ‘bangs’ it creates are real and noisy. Plasma cosmology can demonstrate with simple physical principles the electrical formation and behavior of spiral galaxies and stars without recourse to hypothetical dark matter and black holes.

[PufPuf23]

24. OK. Do not claim to be a physicists.

But mathematics are neat.

One can do Eigen-values (transform unsolvable equations into an orthogonical dimension) and transform back for near perfect answers.

One can do simulating annealing and other algorithmic tricks and solve all sorts of dynamic equations.

Fractals have changed the world in such fields as finance. Look what Mandelbrot and Taleb (Black Swan) say about the ignorance of financial engineers.

I accept being hardwired to even deal with much less comprehend most of existence. But existence is mathematics but mathematics is fuzzy.

Regardless, I do not Believe in Creation in any sense nor the limit of infinity. This is a safe assumption as far as being correct from a human perspective.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

25. Way above my pay grade, but interesting nonetheless. Have you ever looked

at what is said of gravitational lensing and Einstein's cross? You can see it as gravitational lensing or you can see it as something completely different. GL is the accepted theory as of today.

[davidthegnome]

20. Question

Is it stupid or ignorant for me to think that intelligent design isn't a completely ridiculous concept? I'm not talking about creationism or any of the absurd notions put forth by fundamentalists... but could it maybe be possible that something intelligent played a part in creation? I'm not a follower of any religion - but I don't think the idea can be discarded out of hand. Maybe that's ignorant of me, I don't know.

[dkf]

22. Sure it's possible but I dont know how that validates any religion beyond there possibly being a god

[davidthegnome]

23. Not trying to validate or invalidate anything

It's just that I think it's a possibility - and I've been told that's ignorant in regards to science.

[50000feet]

27. It's neither stupid nor ignorant, David.

All science---all knowledge---concerns order. The concept or idea of order is so subtle, it eludes definition.

An undefinable, therefore---or one might say an a priori or an initial condition for which there is no accounting, something you can't jump behind---underlies all science and knowing. There is no scientific explanation of "that."

Intelligence is but itself a species of order---a way of seeing order, seeing the patterning of order.

"Design" is but another word for order.

The universe is therefore constructed, so far as we can conceive of "construct," of intelligence and design. If it were not so, we would have no concept, no idea, no intelligence, no order.

It's all about order, dude.

[Raksha]

28. I think I understand what you're getting at, and it isn't stupid or ignorant at all.

I believe the intelligence involved in creation is inherent. It comes from within the creation itself, within the Universe itself, and within life itself even before it became organic life. It isn't an outside force "commanding" things into existence, but it is still more intelligent than anything we can imagine.

In the Star Wars movies they call it "The Force" and in one of his novels (I think it was Sirens of Titan) Kurt Vonnegut called it Universal Will to Become, a name I've always been very fond of. But the standard theological term for this belief is pantheism. :)

[50000feet]

30. Right on, Raksha.

: )

[Octafish]

26. IUPUI

Wasn't that Khephra's school? Miss arguing with him. Miss him more as a human being.

Outstanding institutions, IUPUI. And young Barrett -- Wow!

[JDPriestly]

31. What is so Aspergers about this child?

He seems to relate to people very well in my view. But then, . . . .

I was extremely friendly but socially very, very awkward as are many people.

Seems to me that after a while you just learn to accept and love people as they are. He appears to be a brilliant boy. Who needs to be flattered or small-talked all the time when you can converse with someone of this child's intelligence and depth?

I like this boy.

[Raksha]

33. Well, the fact that he didn't talk at all for his first two years, among other things.

My younger sister was like that. She didn't talk until she was close to three, so my mother nicknamed her "Dumbo." But by the time she was in the fifth grade her IQ tested at 154. She skipped one grade after that--I think it was either the sixth or seventh grade, but I can't remember which one.

In a family of neurological freaks and mad geniuses (none to the level of Jacob Barnett, though) my sister was maybe the freakiest, and definitely one of the most gifted. She was never diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, but then neither was anyone else in 1950s and 1960s to my knowledge. The terms ADD and ADHD were not used about anyone either. Many years after my sister's death (prescription drug overdose; possible suicide) I read a description of borderline personality disorder in Dr. Hallowell's first book on ADD and decided it was the best profile of my sister's personality type I had read to date.

It's my understanding that both ADD/ADHD and Asperger's syndrome are now considered part of the "autism spectrum," but I'm certainly no expert on that subject.

[CTyankee]

37. How terribly sad!

My granddaughter has been diagnosed with ADD and at last is on medication that has helped her cope with her life. She is only 15 but so much of her academic life has been marred by her inability to understand her studies. She now has adjusted medication and is doing well in school. We are hopeful.

[JDPriestly]

42. My mother did not talk in her first years. Nobody minded.

She was just listening. Once she started talking you could not shut her up -- still can't. She is very brilliant but very kind and sociable.

[devils chaplain]

34. Thank the stars his mind is being used for this and not quantitative financial analysis...

... for a hedge fund.

[Warren DeMontague]

35. Part of the problem is, the people who write these articles don't understand physics themselves.

For one, Quantum Physics wasn't really Einstein's domain. He fought it tooth and nail.

[Festivito]

45. I hope he has a happy childhood. /nt