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A young boy that will be able to help robots Navigation: Main page Author: Moon Hae-won Eight-year old physics genius, still a kid at heart SEOUL, March. 14 (Yonhap) -- Spring always comes with a new start, be it a new semester, new friends or new school supplies. Song Yoo-geun, an eight-year old physics genius, is also taking a new step this year, but unlike kids his own age, he is starting the new school year as a freshman at college. Eight-year old physics genius, Song Yoo-geun and his mother, Park Ok-sun. Born in 1997, the wonder kid became a national figure and the focus of media attention when he completed the elementary, junior-high and high school curricula in just nine months, a progression that normally takes 12 years for most South Koreans. He accelerated by passing the nation wide qualification exam for his middle school diploma in May and high school diploma in August last year. The prodigy also made headlines earlier last year when he obtained the legal Information Professor's certificate, normally attained by students in their 20s and 30s with aspirations in the data processing industry. And now, the nation is once again blown away by the eight-year old's admission to an university after an interview with the faculty which required him to answer questions on topics such as the Schroedinger equation, a central tenet in quantum mechanics theory. In this highly education-driven country, many parents are intrigued by his mental capabilities and engrossed in learning how Yoo-geun is being raised compared to their own children. The media responded to the frenzy and KBS-TV aired a week long TV series revealing the boy's extraordinary talent in physics last November. But although he may be solving Calculus and Algebra problems while others his age are struggling with arithmetic, his parents are reluctant to refer to him as a prodigy. "Many people say he is a genius but we just think he has been gifted with a special talent in comprehension and concentration," said Song's mother Park Ok-sun in an interview with Yonhap News Agency at Song's Inha University dormitory room in Incheon, west of Seoul, where he is enrolled as a freshman. "When it comes to physics and math, he can stay focused for hours, even up to 15 hours, but other than that, he is just an ordinary child," the former elementary school teacher said. "And although he is capable of understanding college level text books in English such as Quantum Physics or Quantum Mechanics, he can't read ordinary English novels," said the father, Song Soo-jin, also a former teacher. Throughout the interview, Song behaved like any kid his age, throwing football-shaped pillows around, yawning and playing with his drum-sticks which he recently took up. "I like Quantum Physics... it's my favorite subject, but I also like the Harry Potter series... I've read all of them," said Song. Inha University was one of a handful of top universities in South Korea that extended an invitation to the eight-year old boy. The parents decided on Inha University because it was a place where "he could be a kid." "I didn't want him in a classroom full of some 100 students, he's too young for that" said Song's dad. "He is very fragile since he is only a kid and needs special care because he can be easily daunted," added the father. "He will loose interest in studies if he is criticized for not knowing something." "When he studied with me before, most of the material were new to me as well, so we worked on the problem together as a team... and such was the kind of environment that Inha was willing to provide," said the father. The university devised a special program this year specifically for Song. He receives an one-on-one tutorial session from seven different professors in three disciplines ― math, physics and mechanics― during his first semester. And instead of the 140 credits required for graduation, Song has been waived of 20 credits, allowing him to graduate with 120 credits. To ensure he is not estranged from kids his own age, Song attends Gym, Fine Arts and Music classes at a nearby elementary school once a week. Park Jea-nam, professor of mathematics and the Dean of Admissions Office at Inha University, who first met the boy at a prodigy school two years ago, says Song is indeed very "special." "He has a talent for math, physics and computers but most of all, he has a gift for perceiving everything in a logical way. He even perceives language logically and his attention span is marvellous... and this is why kids like Song must be educated under a special system," Park said. Song addresses the professor as Ajeossi, a familiar pronoun in Korean for an older male, demonstrating just how comfortable he is around the professor. Song Yoo-geun and his parents, Song Soo-jin (L) and Park Ok-sun (R) pose in front Inha University where he is enrolled as a freshman. Song's parents said they were lucky to find Professor Park, especially after all the hardships they went through raising a gifted child in a nation with an absence of an educational system for gifted children. The eight-year old left elementary school in 2003 after showing a lack of interest in school work and delved into math and science books and computers for 12 to 14 hours at a time, showing tremendous focus and concentration capabilities. After just six months of learning, Song was able to solve pre-calculus problems at the age of five. But Song's parents encountered legal conflicts with the school authorities when the school refused to accelerate Song and issue an elementary school diploma on the basis of the nation's education law which mandates the minimum period of years a student needs to stay in school to qualify for graduation. The boy's father said that although the heavy media focus is burdensome at times, he hopes South Korea's education system will change as a result of his son's experience. "I don't want Yoo-geun to grow up and be disappointed about his past, for taking a different road. But through this publicity, I hope people with kids like Yoo-geun can benefit from a new system," he said. Song, who has taken up drumming with some of his fellow college "friends", says university life is fun at the moment. "All the big kids are nice to me, I want to join the Kendo team as well," said Song. For future plans the eight-year old boy dreams of doing research at CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory located near Geneva in Switzerland. "I want to study superstring theory and make flying cars," said the little boy. The theory is an attempt by science to unify all theories concerning the nature of particles and forces by representing them as vibrations of tiny strings. "But I want to go to Switzerland, France, New York, even South Africa before that," said Yoo-geun while pointing at all the countries on the huge world map covering an entire wall in his room. He may want to build flying cars and defy Newton's law of gravity, but for that moment, he was just an eight-year old boy exhilarated about playing basketball in Gym class next week and excited for the publication of new Harry Potter series. contact the author of the article : angelamoon@yna.co.krGo to ROBORAMA.info homepage to watch lifelike robots video clips! |
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