Nine-year-old child genius Laurent Simons has dropped out from the Eindhoven University of Technology, ending his chances of becoming the youngest graduate at age 10.
Laurent was pulled out of his university following a dispute between his parents and the Dutch institution over his expected graduation date after it was postponed.
The family has not revealed when their son will start at the U.S.-based university or where Laurent will study for his Ph.D. in electrical engineering, as Simons said the family will only share his progress at the end of any given course.
The Belgian kid, who has an IQ of at least 145, was expected to graduate from the Eindhoven University of Technology at the end of December after only starting his studies in March before his planned exam schedule changed.
Laurent, inspired by Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla, has said he wants to research artificial organs, and ultimately to develop an entirely plastic body in his laboratory.
Laurent gained widespread media attention in November when news emerged that he was due to finish his studies in electrical engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE) in the Netherlands in December.
What led to Laurent’s withdrawal
The dispute that resulted in the removal of Laurent started as a result of his parents wanting him to graduate before his birthday on 26 December so he could be the first university graduate under 10.
Eindhoven University on Monday told his parents that a later graduation date would be set, because of the numbers of exams he still needed to complete before December 26. The university added that it would still be in every way a phenomenally fast calendar.
However, Laurent’s parents decided not to accept the offer and immediately ended his study in Eindhoven.
Alexander Simons, Laurent’s father, argued that until last week thing was excellent with the institution before they suddenly presumed a delay of six months.
According to Alexander, the exact date of Laurent’s graduation has never really been an issue for the family, but the university attitude towards the boy has aroused a negative feeling.
He added that the university original plan seemed achievable, but the postponement would have seen him end his course in mid-2020, which was unacceptable.
The University in a press release said the decision to leave is regrettable but maintained that they never try to keep the student from progressing.
The University said:
As a university, we have delivered a great deal of custom work to facilitate Laurent’s fast study path. This has required a major investment from teachers and employees who are already dealing with a high workload.
Other young prodigies
Currently, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the youngest person to obtain a college degree is Michael Kearney, who achieved the feat in June 1994 at the age of 10 years four months.
This record boy wonder, Laurent Simons, intends to break.
A notable young genius that has excelled includes 18-Year-Old Alia Sabur, who is the World’s Youngest College Professor in Materials Science and Engineering.
Jeremy Shuler, who could read English and Korean before he was two years old, began studying engineering at Cornell University in 2016, at age 12.
Sho Yano, also earned his bachelor’s degree at Loyola University at age 12, which took him only three years. Then, at 21, he earned his MD from the University of Chicago.
Tanishq Abraham, at age 11, had earned three associate’s degrees, and at 14, is currently a senior studying bio-engineering major at UC Davis.
