Kim Ung-yong

This is a Korean name; the family name is Kim.
Kim Ung-yong
Hangul 김웅용
Hanja 金雄鎔
Revised Romanization Gim Ung-yong

Kim Ung-yong (born March 7, 1963[1]) is a South Korean civil engineer and former child prodigy. Kim was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ"; the book gave the boy's score as about 210. [2] Guinness retired the "Highest IQ" category in 1990 after concluding IQ tests were too unreliable to designate a single record holder.[3]

Early life

Kim Ung-Yong was born in Hongje-dong, Gangneung, Gangwon, South Korea.[1] His father is Kim Soo-Sun,[1] a professor.[4] He started speaking at the age of 6 months and was able to read Korean, Japanese, English, German and many other languages by his third birthday. By the time he was four years old, his father claimed Ung-Yong had memorized about 2000 words in both English and German. He was writing poetry in Korean and Chinese, and wrote two short books of essays and poems (less than 20 pages).[4]

Early life

At age four he scored over 200 on an IQ test normally given to seven-year-olds.[4]

An article was published about him in Look magazine. After reading the article, a teacher and students at Grant High School in Los Angeles began writing to him. In February 1967 his father applied for Kim to be enrolled at Grant High School.[4]

In November 2, 1967, at the age of 5, he appeared on Fuji TV in Japan and amazed guests by solving Differential Equations. During that show, he wrote poems in different languages including English, Mandarin, Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Japanese and Korean.

On November 5, 1977, Kim solved complicated differential and integral calculus problems on Japanese television.

Later on, he entered Chungbuk National University. He has majored in civil engineering and received a Ph.D.

As of 2007 he served as adjunct faculty at Chungbuk National University. In March 14, 2014, he became associate professor in Shinhan University, and became vice president of North Kyeong-gi Development Research Center.

Personal life

He is father to two sons. He claims that even his coworkers did not know that he was a prodigy. In an interview with MBC on September 8, 2012, he claimed that the media had exaggerated many facts about his life.

On September 30, 2014, he appeared on a quiz show 1 vs 100 in KBS 2TV.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Kim, Ung-Yong". Marquis Who's Who in America. 2012.
  2. ↑ "What ever became of 'geniuses'?". Time. December 19, 1977. Retrieved 2011-05-14. South Korea's Kim Ung-Yong, a 14-year-old prodigy who was speaking four languages and solving integral calculus problems at age four, is said to tip the mental scales at 210, worth a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.
  3. ↑ Knight, Sam (10 April 2009). "Is a high IQ a burden as much as a blessing?". Financial Times (Financial Times Ltd). Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Korean genius, 4, poses problem for high school". The Washington Post. AP. April 10, 1967.

External links

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