William James Sidis


William James Sidis was an American child prodigy whose exceptional abilities in mathematics and languages made him one of the most famous intellectual prodigies of the early 20th century. Born to Boris Sidis, a prominent psychiatrist, and Sarah Mandelbaum Sidis, a physician, Sidis demonstrated extraordinary intellectual capabilities from infancy. Enrolled at Harvard University at age 11, he delivered a widely publicized lecture on four-dimensional geometry at age 12 and graduated cum laude in 1914 at 16.
Despite his early academic success, Sidis deliberately withdrew from public attention following his imprisonment during the First Red Scare and spent the remainder of his life working in anonymity while pursuing private scholarly interests. His extensive writings under various pseudonyms covered topics ranging from cosmology and mathematics to Native American history and urban transportation systems. His unsuccessful privacy lawsuit against The New Yorker magazine in the 1930s established important precedents in American privacy law. Sidis has become, in the words of historian Ann Hulbert, "a cautionary tale in every debate about gifted children," representing both the potential and perils of exceptional intellectual precocity.

Early life and family background

Birth and family

William James Sidis was born on April 1, 1898, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Jewish immigrant parents who had fled the Russian Empire. His father, Boris Sidis, had emigrated in 1887 to escape political and antisemitic persecution. His mother, Sarah Sidis, and her family had fled the pogroms in the late 1880s. She attended Boston University and graduated from its School of Medicine in 1897. Sidis was named after his godfather, Boris's friend and colleague, the American philosopher William James. Boris was a psychiatrist and published many books and articles, performing pioneering work in abnormal psychology. Boris was also a polyglot.
The Sidis household was intellectually stimulating and multilingual. Boris spoke Russian, German, and English fluently, while Sarah was proficient in several languages including Hebrew and Yiddish. Both parents were deeply committed to educational reform and believed in maximizing human intellectual potential through early and intensive education.

Early development

Sidis' parents believed in nurturing a love of knowledge, although their methods of parenting were criticized in the media and retrospectively. Sidis could read the New York Times at 18 months. At age three, he was typing letters on a typewriter and had taught himself Latin. By age six, he had mastered advanced mathematics including algebra and geometry. By age eight, he was reportedly creating mathematical theorems and had taught himself eight languages and invented another, which he called "Vendergood".
Contemporary psychologists and educators were divided about Sidis's development. While many marveled at his extraordinary memory and analytical abilities, others questioned whether the intensity of his upbringing was psychologically healthy. This launched what historian Joseph F. Kett later termed "the first modern debate over precocity" in American educational circles.

Vendergood language

Sidis created a constructed language called Vendergood in his second book, the Book of Vendergood, which he wrote at age 7. While biographer Amy Wallace briefly described the language and manuscript, the whole work is not publicly available. The language was mostly based on Latin and Greek, but also drew on German, French, and other Romance languages. It distinguished between eight moods: indicative, potential, imperative absolute, subjunctive, imperative, infinitive, optative, and Sidis' own "". One of its chapters is titled "Imperfect and Future Indicative Active". Other parts explain the origin of Roman numerals. It uses base 12 instead of base 10:
  • eis – 'one'
  • duet – 'two'
  • tre – 'three'
  • guar – 'four'
  • quin – 'five'
  • sex – 'six'
  • sep – 'seven'
  • oo – 'eight'
  • non – 'nine'
  • ecem – 'ten'
  • elevenos – 'eleven'
  • dec – 'twelve'
  • eidec – 'thirteen'
Most of the examples are presented in the form of tests:
  1. 'The bowman obscures.' = The toxoteis obscurit.
  2. 'I am learning Vendergood.' = disceuo Vendergood.
  3. 'What do you learn?'. = Quen diseois-nar?
  4. 'I obscure ten farmers.' = Obscureuo ecem agrieolai.

    Harvard University (1909–1914)

Admission and early challenges

Boris Sidis first petitioned Harvard University to admit his nine-year-old son in 1907, but the faculty committee, while impressed by Sidis's abilities, felt he was too young socially and emotionally for university life. They suggested waiting until he was older and more mature. Boris renewed his petition two years later, and after extensive testing and evaluation, Harvard agreed to admit Sidis as a "special student." Sidis was admitted in September 1909 at age 11, becoming the youngest person to enroll at Harvard University.
The transition to university life was challenging for the young prodigy. Despite his intellectual abilities, Sidis struggled with the social aspects of university life. He was physically small for his age, shy, and had difficulty relating to classmates who were typically six to eight years older. Faculty members were initially skeptical about teaching such a young student, but most were eventually impressed by his mathematical abilities and serious approach to learning.

The four-dimensional geometry lecture

On January 5, 1910, Sidis' mastery of higher mathematics was such that he lectured the Harvard Mathematical Club on four-dimensional bodies, attracting nationwide attention. Sidis covered topics including non-Euclidean geometry, four-dimensional space, mathematical visualization techniques, and advanced calculus applications. The audience included professors, graduate students, and members of the press who had heard about the boy genius. Notable child prodigy and cybernetics pioneer Norbert Wiener, who attended Harvard at the time and knew Sidis, wrote in his book Ex-Prodigy: "The talk would have done credit to a first or second-year graduate student of any age...talk represented the triumph of the unaided efforts of a very brilliant child."

Academic performance and graduation

Despite the media attention, Sidis focused seriously on his studies. He concentrated in mathematics and philosophy, showing particular interest in:
Sidis completed Harvard's AB curriculum in four years, graduating cum laude in June 1914 at age 16, earning a mixture of A, B, and C grades. His thesis, written on a topic in mathematical philosophy, explored the relationship between mathematics and reality.

Early academic career

Rice Institute appointment

In late 1915, Rice Institute in Houston, Texas, offered Sidis a graduate position as a mathematics teaching assistant while working on his doctorate. At 17, he became one of the youngest college instructors in American history.
Sidis taught three classes: Euclidean geometry, non-Euclidean geometry, and freshman mathematics. His lectures were often too abstract and advanced for his students to follow. Faculty colleagues found him brilliant but socially awkward and difficult to relate to. The isolation and frustration of the teaching experience deeply affected Sidis, who had hoped to find intellectual companionship among academic peers. After less than a year, frustrated with the department, his teaching requirements, and his treatment by students older than himself, he left his position and returned to New England. When a friend later asked him why he had left, he replied, "I never knew why they gave me the job in the first place—I'm not much of a teacher. I didn't leave: I was asked to go."

Harvard Law School and political awakening

After resigning from Rice after just two semesters, Sidis returned to Massachusetts and enrolled at Harvard Law School in the fall of 1916. Initially, he seemed to find the study of law intellectually stimulating, particularly enjoying courses on constitutional law and legal philosophy.
The entry of the United States into World War I in 1917 had a profound effect in altering Sidis's worldview. Influenced by his parents' socialist leanings and his own growing pacifist convictions, he became increasingly involved in anti-war activities. He was particularly disturbed by what he saw as the war's nationalism and militarism, which conflicted with his internationalist and humanitarian values. By 1919, his political activities had become more important to him than his legal studies, and he withdrew from law school without taking a degree.

Politics and arrest (1919–1921)

The 1919 May Day incident

Sidis's politics led to his participation in Boston's socialist May Day demonstration on May 1, 1919. The event, organized by socialist and anarchist groups, was intended as a peaceful protest against the Red Scare persecutions and in support of workers' rights. However, the demonstration had not received official permits, and tensions between protesters and police were high.
When the peaceful march devolved into scuffles with police, Sidis was among those arrested. Witnesses later reported that he had been attempting to calm the situation rather than inciting violence, but in the anti-radical hysteria of the time, his arrest made national headlines as "Harvard Prodigy Arrested in Red Rally."

Trial and sentencing

Sidis was charged under the wartime Sedition Act of 1918, which had criminalized various forms of anti-government speech and activity. The trial became a media sensation, with newspapers portraying him as either a dangerous radical or a misguided young idealist. His parents hired prominent defense attorneys, but the political climate made a fair trial difficult.
In May 1919, Sidis was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison under the Sedition Act of 1918 by Roxbury Municipal Court Judge Albert F. Hayden. The harsh sentence shocked many observers, particularly given his youth and the non-violent nature of his involvement. However, his parents successfully negotiated with prosecutors for a suspended sentence on the condition that Sidis spend a year at a New Hampshire sanatorium they supervised, followed by a year of exile in California under their supervision.