Who never dreamt to become a genius in a particular sector? Behind that question, there is the underlying assumption that genius can be made.
I guess the real question here is: can one be born as a genius? Or do they become one? That is the exact same question that Laszlo Polgar managed to answer through an experiment.
Laszlo was deeply convinced that person could become a genius. The experiment he did aimed to confirm such theory.
But before head diving into the experiment and its results, allow me to set the stage free for you to understand the context.
Background context
Polgar is a psychologist and researcher based in Hungary. His profession enabled him to study the biographies of hundreds of the greatest minds of mankind.
From such research, he pinpointed some commonalities. Commonalities like their early and intensive specialization in their chosen subject.
To test if his theory was good, Polgar married Klara, a Ukrainian language teacher, willing to partake in such experiment. Klara soon gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Susan.
They chose to homeschool the child, as Polgar thought the public school was excellent at producing mediocre minds.
Making such choice also enabled Polgar to test his theory and start his experiment.
The recipe to become a genius.
Polgar had to pick an area for his daughter to specialize. The choice he made in that regards was chess. In fact, Susan later testified that she is the one who chose chess.
Polgar began teaching chess to Susan as of age four. She practiced intensively with her father and was surrounded with plenty of chess-related books.
Studying and practicing chess was so intense that by age five, Susan won a local chess competition with a perfect score. 10 – 0. Needless to say, she was the youngest participant.
Polgar was blessed with two other daughters, Sofia and Judith, with whom he repeated the experience. And the results were similar.
Results of such upbringing
At age 14, Sofia won an event with a score of 85%. Several grandmasters of chess had participated at that event.
Sofia not only won several competitions, tournaments, and medals, but she is amongst the top 10 female chess player in the world.
One thing important to note. Amongst the Polgar sisters, Sofia was the worst in chess. Now let’s introduce the third daughter achievements, shall we? 😉
Judith was the youngest player to ever break into the world’s top 100 players. She broke that record at the tender age of 12.
At age 15, Judith became the grandmaster of chess, regardless of the gender. She later defeated chess world renowned champions like Gary Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, etc.
As a matter of fact, with such records and achievements, Judith became the best female chess player in history.
Polgar’s conclusion
The experiment was successful. Three times. Not only the results confirmed Polgar’s theory, but the world acknowledged the greatness of his daughters in chess playing.
Polgar made his daughters become three geniuses in chess playing. In fact, he concluded that any child has the innate capacity of becoming a genius in a chosen field. As long as they start learning and specialize very early in age.
In fact, he stated the following:
A genius is not born but is educated and trained. When a child is born healthy, it is a potential genius.
As I stated in a previous post, if we upbring children on the way they should go, they will not turn from it – even when they are old. Not only Polgar did that with his daughters, but he ensured that the working conditions for each of them to become a genius were met.
What about you? Do you think like Polgar that one can become a genius? Or do you believe one can be born as a geniuses? I’d love to read your thoughts and feedback in the comment section.
This post aimed to share a point of view in the matter of becoming a genius through an experiment. Feel free to comment and share.