From time to time, there are reports in the media about unusual children, extremely gifted from birth. Pavel Konoplev, Nika Turbina, Nadya Rusheva, Andrei Khlopin, Evgeny Kisin - their talents make the whole world applaud, and their IQ levels sometimes exceed those of the average adult. But what happens to geeks when they grow up? They rarely talk about their future fate.
Pasha Konoplev at the age of 5.
Unfortunately, the fate of many geeks is tragic, especially when the press shows an increased interest in their persons. Many do not withstand the test of fame, but more often than not they do not cope with the burden of responsibility in front of the inflated expectations of society. "Syndrome of the former child prodigy" - this is how psychologists call a specific neurosis, which is expressed in painful vanity, a desire to constantly demonstrate their abilities, to continuously assert themselves.
In this photo Pasha Konoplev is 6 years old. IQ level - 169.
In the 1980s, newspapers often wrote about Pasha Konoplev. At the age of 3, he learned to read and perform complex calculations in his mind, at the age of 5 he independently learned to play the piano, at the age of 8 he solved complex physical problems. At 15 he was already a student at a Moscow university, at 18 - a graduate student. Unfortunately, the young man's psyche could not stand the overload - he ended up in a psychiatric hospital, from where he never came out. He died of pulmonary thrombosis when he was only 29 years old.
Nika Turbina.
According to statistics, gifted people live 10-15 years less. Genius is often accompanied by ailments such as autism, schizophrenia, nervous disorders and insomnia. There are more suicides among geeks than among ordinary teenagers. Child prodigies are often unable to adapt to their environment. This is confirmed by the tragic fate of Nika Turbina. At the age of 4 she wrote poems that were not for children, at the age of 9 she released her first collection of poetry “Draft”, translated into 12 languages, with a circulation of 30,000. She was known not only in the USSR, but throughout the world. But the grown-up Nika never found her place in society and at the age of 27 threw herself out of the window.
Nika Turbina.
Promotional video:
Nadya Rusheva.
Nadya Rusheva started painting at the age of 5. She illustrated children's fairy tales, works of classical literature, ballets invented by her. In total, she left behind more than 10 thousand drawings. The first solo exhibition took place when she was 12. In the next 5 years, 15 more exhibitions took place. At the age of 17, her life was unexpectedly cut short by a cerebral hemorrhage - it turned out that Nadia had a congenital defect in one of the cerebral vessels.
Andrey Khlopin.
Unfortunately, the successful realization of a child prodigy in adulthood is rather an exception to the rule. But there are also such cases. They started talking about Andrei Khlopin in 2007, when he got into the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest author of three scientific hypotheses - "The third hypothesis of the origin of the asteroid belt", "Phaeton was inhabited", "Tunguska meteorite - space iceberg". At that time, the boy was only 10 years old. Now he speaks of astronomy as a child's hobby. In high school, Andrei began to engage in boxing, became interested in history and law, entered the Faculty of Law. “And the Guinness book only helps me to improve my personal life,” says Andrey. “It’s interesting for a girl to find out that among the celebrities there is a guy she sees in front of her.”
Zhenya Kissin.
Evgeny Kissin.
Only 10% of geeks can develop a secondary, adult talent. Evgeny Kissin became famous at the age of 10, having performed the 20th concert of Mozart with the orchestra. A year later, he gave his first solo concert. In 1985, Kissin went abroad with concerts for the first time. Now he is 44 years old, he lives in Paris and conducts intensive concert activity in Europe, Asia and America, invariably collecting sold out.
Evgeny Kissin.
Evgeny Kissin.