Sidis’ parents set out to make a genius child, and a genius child they made with an IQ over 250. His mother, Sarah, was a doctor (female doctors being nearly unheard of in the late 1800’s), and his father, Boris, was a college professor. Boris and Sarah starting grooming their child to be a prodigy. William was speaking in simple words like “door” by six months old. By age 7, he spoke seven different languages and was studying High School level subjects. Unfortunately, this left no time for William to be a child. He was accepted by Harvard at 9, but they would not allow him to attend until 12 years old due to “emotional immaturity.” As an adult he traveled from city to city taking random jobs and changing his name often. He wrote several books, most of which are terrible and boring, but one touches on what we now know as black hole theory. He was said to be very child like and unhappy and died of a stroke at just 46 years old. His life is a cautionary tale to parents who want to push their children to hard.