Daniel Tammet
Daniel Tammet
================
Full Name and Common Aliases
--------------------------------
Daniel Tammet was born on January 31, 1979, in Kent, England. He is commonly known as "The Mathematical Savant" due to his exceptional abilities in mathematics and language.
Birth and Death Dates
-------------------------
January 31, 1979 - Present (alive)
Nationality and Profession(s)
---------------------------------
Daniel Tammet holds dual British and French citizenship. His profession spans a wide range of areas including mathematician, savant, author, and speaker.
Early Life and Background
------------------------------
Growing up in England, Daniel struggled with autism and synesthesia, a neurological condition where he sees numbers and words as having specific colors and textures. Despite these challenges, his exceptional abilities in mathematics became apparent at an early age. He developed strategies to cope with his autism, which allowed him to excel academically.
Major Accomplishments
---------------------------
Calculated the value of pi to 22,514 digits within five hours and forty minutes in 2004.
Set a new Guinness World Record for reciting the decimal expansion of pi from memory to 25,000 digits in 2005.
Authored several books on mathematics, language, and his experiences with synesthesia, including "Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant" (2006).
Has been featured in various media outlets, such as The New Yorker, BBC News, and NPR.
Notable Works or Actions
------------------------------
Tammet has published several books that explore his unique experiences with mathematics, language, and synesthesia. "Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant" is a memoir that offers insight into his early life and struggles with autism. "Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind" (2009) delves deeper into his experiences as a savant and explores the nature of consciousness.
Impact and Legacy
-------------------------
Tammet's work has expanded our understanding of synesthesia, language, and mathematics. His dedication to sharing his unique abilities with others has inspired numerous people around the world. He continues to be an advocate for individuals on the autism spectrum and has used his platform to promote greater acceptance and inclusion.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
--------------------------------------------
Daniel Tammet's exceptional talents in mathematics and language, combined with his willingness to share his experiences with others, have cemented his place as one of the most fascinating individuals in modern times. His work has not only expanded our understanding of synesthesia but also provided a unique perspective on the nature of consciousness and creativity.
Quotes by Daniel Tammet
Gottfried Leibniz wrote that music’s pleasure consisted of “unconscious counting” or an “arithmetical exercise of which we are unaware.
We will always have more to discover, more to invent, more to understand and that’s much closer to art and literature than any science.
When I achieved the European record for reciting pi in 2004, this captured the imagination of Professor Simon Baron-Cohen in Cambridge, and he finally diagnosed me with Asperger’s that year.
I hate textbooks. I hate how they shoehorn even the most incongruous words – like ‘cup’ and ‘bookcase,’ or ‘pencil’ and ‘ashtray’ – onto the same page, and then call it ‘vocabulary.’ In a conversation, the language is always fluid, moving, and you have to move with it. You walk and talk and see where the words come from, and where they should go. It was in this way that I learned to count like a Viking.
Life is going to be complex, and the only way we’re able navigate our way through it at all is by living as best we can and absorbing those experiences and somehow making intuitive responses in future situations that resemble them in some way.
Change appears to us mysterious because it is invisible. It is impossible to see a tree grow tall or a man grow old, except with the precarious imagination of hindsight. A tree is small, and later it is tall. A man is young, and later he is old. A people are at peace, and later they are at war. In each case, the intermediate states are at once infinitely many and infinitely complex, which is why they exceed our finite perceptions.
I can well imagine that certain writers, even writers that we’d consider today very great writers, may not necessarily have tested highly on IQ just because of their numerical skills, or maybe they may not be very good at memory, and are not particularly good at these kinds of tests.
Fischer, the great American chess champion, famously said, ‘Chess is life.’ I would say, ‘Pi is life.’
I love music. I have a fondness for Chopin, and I very much like his ‘Raindrop Prelude.’