computational mathematics
Computational mathematics is an area of mathematics devoted to the interaction between mathematics and computer computation.National Science Foundation, Division of Mathematical ScienceProgram description PD 06-888 Computational Mathematics 2006 ...
in 1988, at age 11. At the time, he was the youngest college graduate in U.S. history, a record that was later broken in 1994 by
Michael Kearney
Michael Kevin Kearney (born January 18, 1984) is an American college teaching assistant and game show contestant. He is known for setting several world records related to graduating at a young age, as well as teaching college students
while sti ...
. His early achievements may have been more due to endless hard work than to inherent intellectual capabilities.
Father's beliefs
Adragon was the only child of Cathy Gunn and Agustin Eastwood De Mello (1929–2003). His father planned an ideal life for a "boy genius" before Adragon was born; it included not only graduating from college early, but also getting a doctorate in physics by age 12, winning the Nobel Prize in Physics by age 16, being elected a senator by age 20 ( US senators must be at least 30 years old), becoming president of the United States by age 26 (the minimum age set by the US Constitution is 35), then head of a world government by age 30, and chairman of an intergalactic government after that. Since his father had set the goal that his son would become a Nobel Prize winner by age 16, he obsessively pushed his son in mathematics and other academic subjects from an early age. For example, when doing math homework, his father insisted that he solve an equation five times, even when he got the correct answer on the first attempt.
His father also sought publicity for his son. In 1987, while at university, Adragon and his father were interviewed by Morley Safer on ''
60 Minutes II
''60 Minutes II'' (also known as ''60 Minutes Wednesday'' and ''60 Minutes'') is an American weekly primetime news magazine television program that was intended to replicate the "signature style, journalistic quality and integrity" of the origina ...
''. They also appeared on '' 48 Hours'' and '' The Tonight Show''. During these interviews, Adragon would repeat the goals his father had chosen, saying he wanted to get a Ph.D. in physics and win a Nobel Prize by age 16 or 17.
When his father enrolled him in Popper-Keizer, a school for gifted children, standardized tests Adragon took suggested he was around the 85th percentile for students his age, where most students enrolled in such schools were in the 95th percentile. His father removed him from the school for gifted students "after tests showed the boy was less gifted than his father believed".
Schools
In 1981, Adragon joined Mensa. He has also been a member of Intertel, another organization for people with high intelligence.
After attending seven different elementary schools in the space of just three years, Adragon enrolled in Cabrillo College for two years starting in 1984. After that, he transferred to UC–Santa Cruz. While he did graduate from university in 1988, some of his math teachers later claimed that his grades were borderline.
Adragon was accepted into a graduate program at the Florida Institute of Technology, but did not enroll.
Teenage years
After graduating from university and being legally removed from his father's custody, he opted to enroll in Sunnyvale Junior High School (now Sunnyvale Middle School) under the assumed name of James Gunn – James after the fictional spy, James Bond, with his mother's last name. He took all of the classes except math, and played in
Little League Baseball
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization He found it "nice because no one knew who ewas" and was "upset" when local papers identified him after his graduation. Being outed as a math genius led to social problems. In 1994, he graduated from Homestead High School.
Family
The elder De Mello was a karate master, flamenco guitarist, and former weightlifting champion. He was obsessed with his son's academic achievements and was prone to "scary" fits of anger. Sometimes, if his partner or his son did not comply with his demands, the father threatened suicide.
In July 1988, the parents separated, and their son was eventually placed in the custody of his mother, Cathy Gunn. His mother alleged
psychological abuse
Psychological abuse, often called emotional abuse, is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another person to a behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic ...
from the elder De Mello, saying that he pushed their son too hard and did not permit her to use the telephone or to be present during interviews.
On March 15, 2001, the elder De Mello ended up in an armed standoff with Santa Cruz police and was charged of
assault with a deadly weapon
An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...
. The elder De Mello, who had bladder cancer, was released to the custody of his son. The father died on May 30, 2003.
Career
In 2000, De Mello was training to be an estimator for a commercial painting company.
See also
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Child prodigy
A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...