12-Year Old Boy to Prove Einstein Wrong?

So, someone on Twitter re-tweeted a link from TIME magazine earlier on today, claiming that a boy of merely 12 was on the way to proving Einstein's Theory of Relativity wrong. You can imagine I did a kind of double-take at this, and decided to investigate further.

The article on Time.com explains how Jacob Barnett from Hamilton County, Indiana has a talent for maths and physics, so much so that he's challenging Einstein. Y'know, not just your average physicist, only Albert Einstein. This man is the scientist of all scientists!

My God... I mean, the boy left school when he was eight years old to attend college level advanced astrophysics classes. I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHERE BABIES CAME FROM AT THE AGE OF EIGHT. Seriously, I don't know whether it's just me, or that we're just hearing about these space aged whizz-kids more today, but there seems to be so many young children that are years ahead of themselves.

So what is it? Is it something they're being fed? Something in the water? WHAT MAKES THESE KIDS SO BRAINY.

Even when I googled Relativity I couldn't really get my head round it. Even though it was there in plain English right in front of me! Feelin' kind of stupid over here, guys.

And that's not all, whizz-kid Jacob has taught himself calculus, algebra and geometry in 2 weeks, can already solve around 200 numbers of Pi and was solving 3,000 piece puzzles when he was 3. My head hurts.

It's just incredible. I mean, when I was 12, my concerns were secondary school and trying to avoid forgetting my pen or calculator. My life would be a whooole different story had it been, "Oh, bugger. I've got a number wrong in my EQUATION THAT MAY PROVE EINSTEIN WRONG. BRB WHILST I CHANGE IT AND LIVE OFF MY OWN AWESOMENESS. BY THE WAY, WHY AM I HERE. I LEFT SCHOOL AT 8 TO BE A SUPAH-SCIENTIST, I DON'T NEED YOU DUMB BITCHES!" (Just for clarification, I'm sure he is nothing like this. He is a standard brainy 12 year old, guys.)

However, I do think that it's great that he's got a massive opportunity at such a young age. It's not every day that you get to leave school at 8 because you're so damn smart, to pursue a career in advanced astrophysics. Physics alone is bloody confusing, let alone advanced astrophysics.

What do you guys think about the tiny Einstein? Pretty mind blowing, right?

xoxo