7 examples of famous savants with incredible talents

People who have or have had a unique brain, capable of allowing them to do extraordinary things.

Imagine a person capable of memorizing a page of a book in 10 seconds, who is also capable of learning 8,000 books by Heart and memorizing all the zip codes of a country as big as the United States. He would have prodigious mental capacities, wouldn't he?

Well, such a person exists, and along with other people we are going to talk about in this article, he has savant syndrome (or the "savant" syndrome).

The famous savants we are going to see have extraordinary abilities or talentsThey are mostly related to the overdevelopment of the right hemisphere: artistic abilities (music, painting, sculpture), visual, mathematical calculations, mechanical and spatial skills, etc.

Examples of famous savants

Although surely there are many famous savants that we are going to leave to comment, we will realize a recapitulation of those who are possibly the best known worldwide.. We must clarify that only one female savant is included in this list, since at epidemiological level women have this syndrome much less frequently.

1. Kim Peek

Surely the most famous savant in the world, in fact, the movie Rain Man was made in his memory to publicize the case. Kim Peek possessed an immeasurable capacity for memory that allowed him to perfectly remember the nearly 10,000 books he had read (it took him barely an hour to memorize them), as well as memorizing all the maps of the United States in detail. In addition, he could use each eye to read a different page. Paradoxically, he was highly dependent on others, as he was not able to take care of himself and needed the help of others for basic activities of daily living.

As a curious fact, in 2004 NASA became interested in Kim Peek's case and wanted to study the functioning of his brain and brain structure through MRI scans. In the end, it was concluded that Peek most likely suffered from a rare genetic was suffering from a rare X-linked genetic syndrome that is related to macrocephaly. which is associated with macrocephaly and hypotonia. In 2009, Kim Peek died of a heart attack.

2. Daniel Tammet

This Briton has become a famous savant due to his great ability to learn multiple because of his great ability to learn multiple languages with astonishing ease. (he learned Icelandic in a single week and speaks 11 languages, including Spanish), as well as his facility in carrying out really complex mathematical calculations.

Tammet has acknowledged in his memoirs (Born on a Blue day) that he has Asperger's, epilepsy and synesthesia. This character holds the record in Europe for memorizing the number Piand has recited some 22,514 digits in less than five hours.

As a curious fact, Daniel Tammet has created his own language, called "Manti", similar to Finnish.

Matt Savage

This 25-year-old American with Asperger's Syndrome learned to read before he was 18 months old. He is known throughout the state for his musical talents, both as a performerHe is known statewide for his musical talents, both in performance and in musical composition. Several albums have been released by him solo and also as part of the Matt Savage Trio and he has appeared on multiple well-known American television shows, such as Late Show with David Letterman.

4. Stephen Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a renowned London artist who has a great ability to draw landscapes and urban ability to draw landscapes and urban or architectural buildings having only seen them once.. According to Wiltshire, drawing has always been his preferred means of communication, since he had difficulty communicating as a child (he was 3 years old and could not speak) and began to use the artistic medium to express himself.

On one occasion he accurately drew the old town of London after flying over it in a helicopter. His work became so famous that even famous writer Oliver Sacks wrote a chapter about him in one of his books. in one of his books: An Anthropologist on Mars.

5. Tony Deblois

Tony Deblois was born blind in 1974, and began playing the piano at the early age of 2. He was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and is is considered a "savant" because of his incredible musical gifts.. Although he claims to specialize in the Jazz music genre, he is capable of playing any type of music.

He knows how to play more than a dozen instruments, so he has a great versatility at a musical level in all its precision. In addition, he has the ability to play more than 8,000 songs from memory thanks to his prodigious thanks to his prodigious abilities. He is currently touring internationally, both solo and with his band Goodnuf.

6. Temple Grandin

This American woman is a psychologist, zoologist, ethologist and university professor at the University of Colorado. He has publicly acknowledged that he has Asperger's Syndrome and has shared his subjective experience about it worldwide, always fighting for the rights of people with this syndrome. As in the case of Stephen Wiltshire, Oliver Sacks dedicated a chapter of the same book to the story of Temple Grandin, being one of the first first-person accounts of someone with Asperger's Syndrome..

He has always been concerned about animal exploitation in the United States and the cruel killing methods employed on American farms and ranches. He has worked to maximize animal welfare by devising ways to reduce the pain and cruelty in the killing of animals for meat consumption, applying his prodigious abilities to re-engineer slaughterhouses and ranches.

7. Alonzo Clemons

As a child, Alonzo Clemons suffered a brain injury that affected his normal development, but he possesses an extraordinary ability to create highly detailed and precise animal sculptures. He is considered a great sculptor of animal figurines, which can sell for as much asHe is considered a great sculptor of animal figures, which can sell for $45,000.

Clemons can reproduce an animal in a clay sculpture in less than an hour after only seeing it once. At the same time, he also makes life-size sculptures, among which the horse versions stand out.