by Tom Clynes
15. ROOTS OF PRODIGIOUSNESS
[>] Definitions of giftedness vary: Joan Freeman, “Teaching Gifted Pupils,” Journal of Biological Education 33 (1999): 185–90.
[>] between autism and prodigiousness: Joanne Ruthsatz and Jourdan B. Urbach, “Child Prodigy: A Novel Cognitive Profile Places Elevated General Intelligence, Exceptional Working Memory, and Attention to Detail at the Root of Prodigiousness,” Intelligence 40 (2012): 419–26.
[>] “significantly ahead of their year group”: UK Department for Children, Schools, and Families, Identifying Gifted and Talented Learners—Getting Started (Nottingham, UK: DCSF Publications, 2008), 1.
[>]35 to 10 percent: Louise Wheeler, “Is Your Child Super Smart?,” SheKnows, December 20, 2010, http://www.sheknows.co.uk/parenting/articles/821475/signs-your-child-is-gifted.
[>]Turkey: Erisa Dautaj Şenerdem, “Turkish Ministry Examines Education Options for Gifted Children,” Hürriyet Daily News, January 18, 2011.
[>]India: Summiya Yasmeen, “Wasted Potential of India’s Gifted Children,” Education World, http://www.educationworldonline.net/index.php/page-article-choice-more-id-862.
[>]prodigy has a distinct form of giftedness: Ellen Winner, “The Miseducation of Our Gifted Children,” Education Week, October 16, 1996, http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1996/10/16/07winner.h16.html.
[>]neuroscientist Francisco Xavier Castellanos: Francisco Xavier Castellanos, telephone interviews with the author, February 8, 2014, and December 29, 2014. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes attributed to Francisco Xavier Castellanos are from these interviews.
[>]responses to pharmacological or behavioral treatments: See http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(14)00967-2.
[>]gray matter that makes up the brain’s outer layer: P. Shaw et al., “Intellectual Ability and Cortical Development in Children and Adolescents,” Nature 440 (2006): 676–79.
[>]between the parietal and frontal lobes: Ker Than, “New Theory: How Intelligence Works ,” LiveScience, September 11, 2007, http://www.livescience.com/1863-theory-intelligence-works.html.
[>]average in the 140 range: Ruthsatz and Urbach, “Child Prodigy.”
[>]“frightening ease”: James Gleick, Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (New York: Vintage), 129.
[>]hold information in our minds in a highly active state: Randall W. Engle, “Working Memory Capacity as Executive Attention,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 11 (2002): 19–23.
[>]99th percentile for working memory: Ruthsatz and Urbach, “Child Prodigy”; Elizabeth J. Meinz and David Z. Hambrick, “Deliberate Practice Is Necessary but Not Sufficient to Explain Individual Differences in Piano Sight-Reading Skill: The Role of Working Memory Capacity,” Psychological Science 21, no. 7 (2010): 914–19; Joanne Ruthsatz and Douglas K. Detterman, “An Extraordinary Memory: The Case Study of a Musical Prodigy,” Intelligence 31, no. 6 (2003): 509–18.
[>]no solid scientific evidence to back up these promises: See http://longevity3.stanford.edu/blog/2014/10/15/the-consensus-on-the-brain-training-industry-from-the-scientific-community/.
[>]working-memory capacities: Emily Finn, “When Four Is Not Four, but Rather Two Plus Two,” MIT News, June 23, 2011, http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2011/miller-memory-0623.
[>]reinvent modern culture: Harrison J. Kell, David Lubinski, and Camilla P. Benbow, “Who Rises to the Top? Early Indicators,” Psychological Science 24 (2013): 648–59.
[>]Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth: D. Lubinski and C. P. Benbow, “Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth After 35 years: Uncovering Antecedents for the Development of Math-Science Expertise,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 1 (2006): 316–45.
[>]to a great extent heritable: Than, “New Theory”; Jonathan Wai, “Experts Are Born, Then Made: Combining Prospective and Retrospective Longitudinal Data Shows That Cognitive Ability Matters,” Intelligence 45 (2014): 74–80.
[>]than on innate ability or talent: K. Anders Ericsson, Ralf T. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Römer, “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance,” Psychological Review 100 (1993): 363–406.
[>]“differences in the recorded amounts of deliberate practice”: Ibid.
[>]“experts are always made, not born”: K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely, “The Making of an Expert,” Harvard Business Review (2007): 1–8.
[>]The duffer, who started at 30 over par, told the BBC: Ben Carter, BBC News, February 28, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26384712.
[>]highly related to cognitive ability: Wai, “Experts Are Born, Then Made.”
[>]practice time explains only 20 to 25 percent of performance differences: David Z. Hambrick et al., “Deliberate Practice: Is That All It Takes to Become an Expert?,” Intelligence 45 (2014): 34–45; Brooke N. Macnamara, David Z. Hambrick, and Frederick L. Oswald, “Deliberate Practice and Performance in Music, Games, Sports, Education, and Professions: A Meta-Analysis,” Psychological Science 25, no. 8 (2014): 1608–18.
[>]has led several studies: Dean Keith Simonton, “Career Landmarks in Science: Individual Differences and Interdisciplinary Contrasts,” Developmental Psychology 27 (1991): 119–30; Dean Keith Simonton, “Leaders of American Psychology, 1879–1967: Career Development, Creative Output, and Professional Achievement,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 62 (1992): 5–17; Dean Keith Simonton, “Creative Productivity: A Predictive and Explanatory Model of Career Trajectories and Landmarks,” Psychological Review 104 (1997): 66–89; Dean Keith Simonton, “Talent and Its Development: An Emergenic and Epigenetic Model,” Psychological Review 106 (1999): 435–57.
[>] “no such thing as innate talent”: Scott Barry Kaufman, “Talent Versus Practice,” Beautiful Minds, July 15, 2014, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/2014/07/15/talent-vs-practice-why-are-we-still-debating-this-anymore/.
[>]“why exceptional talent is so rare”: Dean Keith Simonton, interview with the author, July 17, 2014. Unless otherwise noted, other quotes attributed to Dean Keith Simonton are from this interview.
[>]personal attributes that lead to extraordinary performance: David Lubinski, telephone interviews with the author, July 15, 2014, and December 30, 2014. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes attributed to David Lubinski are from these interviews.
[>] smart peers who didn’t have these opportunities: Gregory Park, David Lubinski, and Camilla P. Benbow, “When Less Is More: Effects of Grade Skipping on Adult STEM Accomplishments Among Mathematically Precocious Youth,” Journal of Educational Psychology 105, no. 1 (2013): 176–98; Jonathan Wai et al., “Accomplishment in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and Its Relation to STEM Educational Dose: A 25-Year Longitudinal Study,” Journal of Educational Psychology 102, no. 4 (2010): 860–71.
16. THE LUCKY DONKEY THEORY
[>] “Bussard is a fictional character”: Tom Ligon, telephone interview with the author, July 29, 2010. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes attributed to Tom Ligon are from this interview.
[>] mainline fusion program: Tom Ligon, “The World’s Simplest Fusion Reactor Revisited,” Analog Science Fiction and Fact, January–February 2008.
[>] “Einstein’s famous formula”: Ibid.
[>] exponential efficiency improvements: Robert W. Bussard, “Inertial Electrostatic Fusion Systems Can Now Be Built,” Fusor.net forums, accessed February 22, 2007.
[>] Jamie had not decisively achieved fusion: See http://www.fusor.net/board/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9292.
[>] Inside Steve’s Brain : Leander Kahney, Inside Steve’s Brain (New York: Portfolio, 2009).
[>] blowing things up with chemistry sets: Steve Silberman, “Don’t Try This at Home,” Wired, June 2006.
[>] “stinks and bangs and crystals and colors”: Ibid.
[>] National Science Board: “Higher Education in Science and Engineering,” National Science Foundation. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/index.cfm/chapter-2.
[>] “wit
h or without an Erlenmeyer flask”: Silberman, “Don’t Try This at Home.”
[>] “explore the world with their hands”: Ted Selker, telephone interview with the author, December 16, 2014. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes attributed to Ted Selker are from this interview.
[>] “big science has the special problem”: Steven Weinberg “The Crisis of Big Science,” New York Review of Books, May 10, 2012, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/may/10/crisis-big-science/?pagination=false.
[>] “low-hanging fruits (like Newton’s apple) have been plucked”: George Johnson, “Hills to Scientific Discoveries Grow Steeper,”New York Times, February 18, 2014.
17. TWICE AS NICE, HALF AS GOOD
[>] “and stir up mischief”: Susan Freinkel, “IQ Like Einstein,” http://www.greatschools.org/print-view/parenting-dilemmas/7562-profoundly-gifted-child-story.gs.
[>] “reach upper primary or junior secondary school”: See http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-education/article/1412655/academy-helps-students-overcome-challenges-being-gifted.
[>] “industrialized model”: Ken Robinson, “How Schools Kill Creativity,” TED Talks, February 2006, http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en.
[>] one long-term study: Kell, Lubinski, and Benbow, “Who Rises to the Top?”
[>] as high as 5 percent: Larisa Shavinina, ed., International Handbook on Giftedness (New York: Springer, 2009).
[>] nearly half of gifted children are underachieving: Ellen Winner, “Exceptionally High Intelligence and Schooling,” American Psychologist 52, no. 10 (1997): 1070–81.
[>] “reinforce that they belong there”: See http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/03/15/the-poor-neglected-gifted-child/rJpv8G4oeawWBBvXVtZyFM/story.html.
[>] “gifted programs have suffered”: John Cloud, “Are We Failing Our Geniuses?,” Time, August 16, 2007.
[>] U.S. students compared to their global counterparts: See http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-javits-program-20140317,0,4576118.story#ixzz2xAKX8RAC.
[>] U.S. performance had changed little: Motoko Rich, “American 15-Year-Olds Lag, Mainly in Math, on International Standardized Tests,” New York Times, December 3, 2013.
[>] outscored the United States impressively in math and science: Stephanie Simon, “PISA Results Show ‘Educational Stagnation’ in U.S.,” Politico, December 3, 2013, http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/education-international-test-results-100575.html#ixzz30JaivozY.
[>] average or below-average children: Robert Theaker et al., “Do High Flyers Maintain Their Altitude? Performance Trends of Top Students,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute, September 20, 2011, http://edexcellence.net/publications/high-flyers.html.
18. ATOMIC TRAVEL
[>] experiments affecting the final design of the bomb that leveled Nagasaki: David Hawkins, Edith C. Truslow, and Ralph Carlisle Smith, Manhattan District History, Project Y, the Los Alamos Story (Los Angeles: Tomash, 1963), 203.
19. CHAMPIONS FOR THE GIFTED
[>] asked thirteen thousand kids in seven states: June Kronholz, “Challenging the Gifted: Nuclear Chemistry and Sartre Draw the Best and Brightest to Reno,” Education Next, March 22, 2011, http://educationnext.org/challenging-the-gifted.
21. A FOURTH STATE OF GRAPE
[>] “Talent doesn’t make you gritty”: Angela Duckworth, “The Key to Success? Grit,” TED Talks , April 2013, http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit?language=en.
[>] “If we can secure interest”: John Dewey, Interest and Effort in Education (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913).
[>] New studies have reinforced Dewey’s theories: Paul A. O’Keefe and Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia, “The Role of Interest in Optimizing Performance and Self-Regulation,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 53 (2014): 70–78.
[>] make learning more efficient and facilitate creativity: Todd M. Thrash et al., “Mediating Between the Muse and the Masses: Inspiration and the Actualization of Creative Ideas,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 98, no. 3 (2010): 469–87.
[>] boost one’s fortitude to persevere: Hong Jiewen and Angela Y. Lee, “Be Fit and Be Strong: Mastering Self-Regulation Through Regulatory Fit,” Journal of Consumer Research 34, no. 5 (2008): 682–95.
22. HEAVY METAL APRON
[>] “At the little-c level”: Karen Kersting, “What Exactly Is Creativity?,” American Psychological Association Monitor (November 2003), http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov03/creativity.aspx.
[>] “Beethoven’s music”: Norman R. Augustine, “Educating the Gifted,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 12, no. 1 (January 2011): 1–2.
23. BIRTH OF A STAR
[>] “Hey Guys”: Taylor Wilson, “Archived—Plasma,” Fusor.net, March 5, 2009, http://www.fusor.net/board/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7819&p=56500#p56500.
24. THE NEUTRON CLUB
[>]“like bringing a Ferrari to a go-cart race”: Judy Dutton, Science Fair Season (New York: Hyperion, 2011), 29.
25. A FIELD OF DREAMS, AN EPIPHANY IN A BOX
[>] “awash in 2,000 metric tons”: Editorial Board, “Increased Security for Nuclear Materials,” New York Times, January 10, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/11/opinion/increased-security-for-nuclear-materials.html?src=recg.
[>] “another type of radioactive dispersal device is used”: George M. Moore, “If the Boston Marathon Attack Had Involved Dirty Bombs,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 1, 2013, http://thebulletin.org/if-boston-marathon-attack-had-involved-dirty-bombs.
[>] supplies are quickly running out: Jon Cartwright, “Shortages Spur Race for Helium-3 Alternatives,” Chemistry World, January 12, 2012, http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2012/January/helium-3-isotopes-shortage-alternatives-neutron-detectors.asp.
26. THE FATHER OF ALL BOMBS
[>] “super-high-temperature fireball and a massive shock wave”: Vladimir Isachenkov, “Russia Tests Powerful ‘Dad of All Bombs,’” Washington Post, September 11, 2007.
[>]“a family dynamic that I see too often”: Dona Matthews, telephone interview with the author, December 20, 2014. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes attributed to Dona Matthews are from this interview.
[>] “not just the superstar”: Dona Matthews and Joanne Foster, Beyond Intelligence: Secrets for Raising Happily Productive Kids (Toronto: House of Anansi, 2014).
[>] “dominance-seeking behaviors”: Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (New York: Broadway Books, 2013).
27. WE’RE JUST BREATHING YOUR AIR
[>]“reminds some of the early Bill Gates”: Eamonn Fingleton, “Is This the Bill Gates of Energy?” Forbes.com, November 26, 2012, http://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingleton/2012/11/26/is-this-the-bill-gates-of-energy-meet-nuclear-entrepreneur-taylor-wilson-18/?ss=business:energy.
28. THE SUPER BOWL OF SCIENCE
[>] two-thirds of all nuclear medicine procedures: National Research Council, Medical Isotope Production Without Highly Enriched Uranium (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2009), 68.
EPILOGUE
[>] some domain of expertise: Kaufman, “What Is Talent.”
[>] “promote exceptional youthful promise”: Hulbert, “Prodigy Puzzle.”
Index
A
accelerators, particle, 78–79, 87, 88–89, 109, 130–31, 242
alpha particles, 35, 42, 48, 51, 56, 62, 67, 77–78
americium, 32, 42, 52, 58, 83
art, 48, 113–14, 280
Arthur, Andy, 252–53
Ashlee (sister), 12, 65, 156, 245
astronauts, 18, 23–25, 26, 261
Atomic Energy Commission (U.S.), 95, 122
atoms, 34–35, 51, 67–77, 79
auroras (northern and southern lights), 183
autism-spectrum disorders, 110, 112, 176
B
Baig, Sofia, 162, 164, 180, 193–95, 259
Bauer, Bruno, 170, 176, 191, 208, 250
B
ayo Canyon (Technical Area 10), 147
Bearden, Nell (grandmother), 10–11, 15, 64, 69–70, 91, 93, 96, 134
Bearden, Robert (grandfather), 10, 11, 28
Becquerel, Henri, 39, 48–49, 50
beta particles, 56, 58, 245
The Big Bang Theory (TV show), 261–63
Black Hole, 145–47
bombs. See weapons
Boudreaux, David, 66, 68–69, 71, 97, 246
brain. See neuroscience; psychology
breakthroughs, 106, 107, 108, 130, 131, 189, 269
Brinsmead, Bill, 170–73, 182, 184–86, 195–208, 244, 259, 268–69
Bush, George W., 94, 140
Bussard, Robert, 122–23
Byers, Eben McBurney, 54–55
C
cancer, 11, 41, 43, 57–58, 70, 96–98, 252–53. See also isotopes, medical
Castellanos, Francisco Xavier, 113, 114, 115
Cendrowski, Mark, 262–63
Center for Talented Youth, xiv, 74, 120, 279
cesium, 40, 43–44, 69, 246
chemistry: chemical synthesis, 20; explosives, 126, 165–66, 227–30, 235–36; kits, 126, 127; periodic table, 19, 34, 35, 148; rocket propellants, 19, 20–21, 26, 27, 29
Chesshir, Tom, 84–88
Cline, Wade, 182, 191, 199, 207
Clynes, Tom, xii, xiv, 24–25, 234, 237, 273
cobalt, 59–60, 95, 126
Coca-Cola bottling plant, 6, 11, 12, 19, 79, 84–87, 135
Cold War, 23, 32, 125, 216–17, 277
communicators, science, 239–40, 267
computers, 46–47, 48, 128, 129–30