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Nine-year-old set to become world's youngest university graduate
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His mother, Lydia Simons, said Laurent’s gifts had been first discovered by his grandparents. (Shutterstock/99Art)
A 9-year-old boy from Belgium is set to become world’s youngest university graduate by the end of this year.
Laurent Simons is currently in the final stage of completing his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE), Netherlands. He previously completed what was worth five years of study in a matter of 12 months.
“Laurent is the fastest student we have ever had here. Not only is he hyper-intelligent, but also a very sympathetic boy. Simply extraordinary,” the education director of TUE’s bachelor’s program in electrical engineering, Sjoerd Hulshof, said as quoted by CNN.
His mother, Lydia Simons said Laurent’s gifts were first realized by his grandparents. The teachers concurred, and they soon did numerous tests to determine the extent of Laurent’s mind.
“They told us he is like a sponge,” father Alexander Simons said of his son, whose hobbies include playing phone games and hanging out with the family dog.
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The child prodigy, who has an IQ of at least 145, plans to embark on a PhD program in electrical engineering while also pursuing a degree in medicine. At 9 years of age, he has worked out what he wants to do in life: Develop artificial organs.
Despite being sought by prestigious universities around the world, Laurent has not decided on an alma mater yet.
“We don’t want him to get too serious,” his father said. Their number one aim is to help Laurent find balance between working on his talents and simply being a child.
Expected to replace Michael Kearney as the world’s youngest university graduate in December, the parents only have one theory about their son’s intelligence.
“I ate a lot of fish during pregnancy,” Lydia joked. (vel/kes)
