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Alex Mullen (born 3 March 1992) is an American memory competitor, three-time world memory champion, and physician.Jordyn Taylor
"The Person With the World's Best Memory Is a Millennial From the US"
in ''
Mic (media company) Mic is an American internet and media company based in New York City that caters to millennials. Originally known as PolicyMic, it rose to prominence after its on-the-ground coverage of the Tunisian Revolution in 2011. In April 2014, the comp ...
'', March 2016.
The first American to win the world title, he won for three consecutive years the 2015, 2016, and 2017 World Memory Championships and held the
IAM IAM may refer to: Concepts * Identity and access management, a concept that combines business processes, policies and technologies * Indo-Aryan migration, the theory that speakers of Indo-Aryan languages migrated into the Indian subcontinent dur ...
world No. 1 ranking from 2016-2019. He was also the 2022 Memory League World Champion. Along with his wife, he runs ''Mullen Memory'' - a nonprofit which "provides free resources exploring memory palaces as learning tools."


Personal life

Mullen was born in
Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
.Callie Bryant
"World Memory Champion, Oxford Native Alex Mullen Teaches Memorization"
in HottyToddy.com, 2 February 2016.
He grew up in
Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Ox ...
and attended Oxford High School, where he competed on the varsity swimming and tennis teams.Gary Pettus
Memory Serves Alex Mullen, New World Mental Athlete Champion"
in University of Mississippi News, 28 January 2016.
In his senior year, Mullen was a National Merit Finalist and fourth award winner at the
Intel International Science and Engineering Fair The Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is an annual science fair in the United States. It is owned and administered by the Society for Science, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. Each May, more th ...
for a team project with his future wife, Cathy Chen."Oxford High School National Merit Finalists"
2010.
"Intel ISEF 2010 Grand Awards Ceremony"
14 May 2010.
He attended
Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
and studied biomedical engineering and applied mathematics."2014 JHU Engineering Convocation Awards Ceremony"
, 5 May 2014.
He received his M.D. from the
University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...
School of Medicine in 2019. Both he and his wife received the Jim and Donna Barksdale Scholarship to cover the full cost of attendance of medical school. In 2020, he began a diagnostic radiology residency at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established in 1936, the institution became a four-year campus in 1966 and a fully autonomous univ ...
.Rosemary Hutzler Raun
"The Mnemonist"
in Johns Hopkins Magazine, 9 October 2020.


Notable competitions


2015

*''
World Memory Championships The World Memory Championships is an organized competition of memory sports in which competitors memorize as much information as possible within a given period of time. The championship has taken place annually since 1991, with the exception of ...
'' (16-18 Dec., Chengdu, China): 1st place overall. Mullen became the tenth individual, and the first American, to win the world championship since its inception in 1991. He also received the title of international grandmaster of memory, the highest title bestowed by the World Memory Sports Council, at this event.


2016

*''
USA Memory Championship The USA Memory Championship is an annual competition that took place every spring in New York City until 2016, and is currently held in Orlando, Florida, after an online qualifier. It was founded by Tony Dottino, President of Dottino Consulting Gro ...
'' (9 May, Hershey, PA): 1st place overall. Mullen became the ninth individual to win the American national championship since its inception in 1998. *''US Open'' (2–3 July, Los Angeles, CA): 1st place overall. With 8,794 total points, Mullen achieved the highest total score in memory sports history (at the time, taking into account adjustments in scoring standards), giving him the world No. 1 ranking. *''Memoriad'' (8-10 Nov., Las Vegas, NV): gold: speed cards, hour numbers, silver: names and faces, spoken numbers. *''European Open'' (3-4 Dec., London, UK): 1st place overall. With 9,143 total points, Mullen broke his earlier mark for highest total score (at the time). *''
World Memory Championships The World Memory Championships is an organized competition of memory sports in which competitors memorize as much information as possible within a given period of time. The championship has taken place annually since 1991, with the exception of ...
'' (15-17 Dec., Singapore): 1st place overall.


2017

*''
World Memory Championships The World Memory Championships is an organized competition of memory sports in which competitors memorize as much information as possible within a given period of time. The championship has taken place annually since 1991, with the exception of ...
(
IAM IAM may refer to: Concepts * Identity and access management, a concept that combines business processes, policies and technologies * Indo-Aryan migration, the theory that speakers of Indo-Aryan languages migrated into the Indian subcontinent dur ...
)'' (1-3 Dec., Jakarta, Indonesia): 1st place overall. Most world records broken at the event, 4. With 9,061 total points (adjusted), Mullen broke his earlier record for highest total score (at the time).


2021

*''Pan American Open ( Memory League)'' (15-16 May): 1st place overall. Mullen competed alongside 15 other online qualifiers using the Memory League format, which consists of digital, head-to-head matches composed of shorter disciplines. In the final, Mullen defeated Ryo Kobayashi of Japan.


2022

*'' Memory League World Championship'' (16-31 Jan.): 1st place overall. Mullen competed alongside 15 other online qualifiers in the fourth rendition of the Memory League World Championship, first held in 2014 under the name Extreme Memory Tournament. In the final, Mullen defeated 2019 IAM World Memory Champion
Andrea Muzii Andrea Muzii (born October 13, 1999) is an Italian memory competitor, former speedcuber, who became IAM World Memory Champion in 2019 and IAM World No.1 ranked athlete. He was the first memory athlete to achieve the title of Grandmaster of Memor ...
of Italy.


Records

Mullen has held world records in 12 different
memory sport Memory sport, sometimes referred to as competitive memory or the mind sport of memory, refers to competitions in which participants attempt to memorize then recall different forms of information, under certain guidelines. The sport has been formal ...
disciplines, most involving the memorization of numbers or playing cards. He is the first person to memorize the order of a deck of playing cards in under 20 seconds at an official competition. He is also the first to memorize more than 3,000 decimal digits in one hour.


Media appearances

Mullen was a two-time contestant on the final season of the Chinese television program
The Brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ i ...
in 2017, defeating his opponent Wang Feng, the 2010 and 2011 World Memory Champion, by accurately recalling the airline routes, departure and arrival locations, and times of 50 flights. He was also a contestant on Superhuman, the American version of The Brain, winning his episode by memorizing a deck of cards flashed onscreen at two cards per second.Andy Belt
"Magnificent memory means money for Oxford native Alex Mullen"
in OxfordEagle.com, 29 June 2017.
Mullen has been featured in
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
,Ian Frisch
"Lessons from America's First Memory World Champion"
in NewYorker.com, 18 May 2016.
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
,Helen Thomson
"The man who thinks like Sherlock Holmes"
in BBC.com, 12 April 2016.
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
,Michael Nedelman
"Hack your brain to remember almost anything"
in CNN.com, 9 March 2017.
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
,Devin Powell
"This man memorized a shuffled deck of cards in 18.65 seconds. Here’s how."
in WashingtonPost.com, 16 May 2016.
Lifehacker,Melanie Pinola
"Learn How to Memorize Information With This Video From a World Memory Champion"
in Lifehacker.com, 29 March 2016.
Vital Signs with Dr.
Sanjay Gupta Sanjay Gupta (born October 23, 1969) is an American neurosurgeon, medical reporter, and writer. He serves as associate chief of the neurosurgery service at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, associate professor of neurosurgery at t ...
,Sanjay Gupta
"How to memorize a deck of cards under 17 seconds"
in CNN.com, 22 June 2017.
Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...
,A. Pawlowski
"How to remember faces, names and more: Tips from the world memory champion"
in Today.com, 16 June 2016.
Mic,
Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
,Asha Leo
"LIVE: Meet World Memory Champion 2015 - Alex Mullen"
in Facebook.com, 17 October 2016.
Men's Health ''Men's Health'' (''MH''), published by Hearst, is the world's largest men's magazine brand, with 35 editions in 59 countries. It is also the best-selling men's magazine on U.S. newsstands. Started as a men's health magazine by Rodale, Inc. ...
,Tyler Daswick
"How to Build a Better Memory"
in MensHealth.com, 7 August 2017.
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'',Daniel Lavelle
"How to avoid losing your memory in the digital age"
in TheGuardian.com, 13 November 2018.
and ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'',Bryan Clark
"Train Your Brain Like a Memory Champion"
in NYTimes.com, 9 January 2019.
among others.


See also

*
Mnemonist The title mnemonist refers to an individual with the ability to remember and recall unusually long lists of data, such as unfamiliar names, lists of numbers, entries in books, etc. Some mnemonists also memorize texts such as long poems, speeches, o ...
*
Extreme Memory Tournament Memory League is a memory competition platform originally founded and created by Nelson Dellis and Simon Orton under the name Extreme Memory Tournament (XMT). Memory League differs from traditional memory competitions in the fact that it is enti ...
*
List of Johns Hopkins University people This is a list of people affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, an American university located in Baltimore, Maryland. Notable alumni Nobel laureates Academia, science, medicine and technology Athletics Business Gov ...
* List of University of Mississippi alumni


References


External links


Mullen Memory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullen, Alex 1992 births Living people People from Jackson, Mississippi People from Oxford, Mississippi People from Princeton, New Jersey Johns Hopkins University alumni