ILLUSTRATIONS Iuri Araújo and Guilherme Araújo
People who develop incredible skills after an accident or a neurological disorder. Does it look like something from HQ? That nothing: they exist in real life, they are called savants and they fascinate science. On the one hand, they have far above average gifts in areas such as mathematics or music. On the other hand, they have disabling difficulties in simple activities, such as relating to other people.
The first scientist to diagnose savantism was J. Langdon Down, whose surname gave Down syndrome. He called the carriers “idiot savant” (“wonder idiot” in French), but the expression became politically incorrect.
1) THE MAN-LIBRARY
savant Kim Peek (1951-2009)
Country USA
He was born mentally handicapped and his IQ tests have always been below average. Simple actions like buttoning a shirt were next to impossible for him. On the other hand, Peek has read over 12,000 books – and he could remember every word in all of them. Peek inspired the movie rain man (1988), which won Dustin Hoffman the Academy Award for Best Actor.
2) PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY
savant Stephen Wiltshire (1974-)
Country England
Born with autism, this Englishman is capable of drawing, from memory, complex landscapes that he has only seen once. He was made a Member of the Order of the English Empire for his work and secured a permanent exhibition at the Royal Opera Arcade in London. Click here and see Stephen use his gift to draw Tokyo
3) JUKEBOX MAN
savant Leslie Lemke (1952-)
Country USA
Birth defects meant doctors had to remove Lemke’s eyes, and so he was abandoned by his mother. Adopted by a nurse, he demonstrated at age 16 that he was able to play any song perfectly after listening to it just once.
4) THE BAT WOMAN
savant Ellen Boudreaux (1957-)
Country USA
Blind and autistic, Ellen has the same musical ability as Leslie Lemke. She can also accurately tell what time it is without checking her watch. And she is able to move without bumping into objects, using a noise she makes with her mouth, like bats echolocation.
5) ZOOGENIA
savant Temple Grandin (1947-)
Country USA
This autistic woman overcame the barriers of her disorder and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s degree in zoology, and a Ph.D. in the same field. Her innovations improved the treatment of animals on farms and slaughterhouses. As a young woman, Temple created a hugging machine that soothed her in more stressful situations.
6) THE SUPERARTIST
savant Henriett Seth F. (1980-)
Country Hungary
Autistic, Henriett possesses exceptional abilities in literature, painting and music. Though she has won numerous awards for her work, none of these areas stuck with her for long: she gave up music at 13, creative writing at 25 and painting at 27.
7) LORD 3D
savant Alonzo Clemons (date of birth undisclosed)
Country USA
When he was 2 years old, Clemons fell on his head and suffered brain damage. The accident changed his life: he is unable to perform simple mechanical activities, but he became capable of perfectly sculpting any object or animal after seeing it just once. Check it out in action at bit.ly/Senhor3D
8) CAPTAIN PI
savant Daniel Tammet (1979-)
Country USA
You know the number pi only as 3.14. But this autistic can recite more than 22,000 digits after that comma! He suffers from synesthesia, a condition that makes him «feel» each number up to 10,000 as a unique shape, texture, and color. And he’s still multilingual: he learned Icelandic in a week and speaks ten other languages.
9) HUMAN CALCULATOR
savant Jedediah Buxton (1707-1772)
Country England
It was one of the first and best known cases of savantism. He could do calculations with numbers of up to 39 digits and he accurately measured the extent of the village he lived in just by walking through it. It became so famous that it received the nickname «Human Calculator».
10) THE KING OF MATHEMATICS
savant John Nash (1928-2015)
Country USA
He suffers from schizophrenia, but the disease has not prevented him from having an exceptional career. He studied game theory, differential geometry and partial differential equations, works for Princeton University and inspired the film A brilliant mindfrom 2001.
11) NUMBER VISION
savant Jason Padgett (1972- )
Country USA
During a robbery, Jason received several kicks to the head. Not only did he survive, but he acquired the ability to see mathematics in everything. “Each curve, tree or spiral is part of an equation,” he says. Watch him create complex fractals and diagrams clicking here.
CONSULTANCY Darrin M. McMahon, professor, historian and author
SOURCES Books Divine Fury: A History of Geniusby Darrin M. McMahon, and Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativityby Galenson, and websites Telegraph, Mental Floss, Brain & Mind, Focus: Science and Technology, How Stuff Works, Neatorama, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, Encyclopedia Britannica, Wisconsin Medical Society, Alonzo Clemons, popular science, Academy of Achievement It is Brain Pickings