Meet 16-year-old IISc Prodigy Mohd Ali Amir

Bangalore - 13 May 2011:The amazing thing about the cat that can write is not how well it writes but that it can write at all. Sixteen-year-old Mohammed Ali Amir doesn't particularly like being called a 'young genius', and wants to be noted for doing impressive things that are impressive in their own right and not because he did them when he was young.

After Tathagat Avatar Tulsi, Amir is the second teen prodigy to make the elite Indian Institute of Science (IISc) proud. Both, incidentally, are physicists studying at IISc's famous Department of Physics established by none other than Nobel laureate C V Raman.

Amir has been awarded but the young man has his head firmly on his shoulders. "I would like to be an academician. I have another five years of research at IISc. After that, I want to do post-doctoral research and join the academia," he told.

Amir never went to school, preferring to study from home. He cleared his 10th and 12th board exams through the British Council. At the age of 12, he joined St Xavier's College, Kolkata, and finished his BSc at the age of 15.

Later, he appeared for the IISc entrance exam and secured a fourth rank. "There was no problem in getting a seat for the Integrated PhD course at the prestigious Physics department of IISc," Amir said.

Prof Vasanth Natarajan, who was on the IISc panel that interviewed Amir, confirmed this. "He did very well in both the entrance test and the interview. We were sure that despite his age there wouldn't be any coping problems. Unlike maths, physics is more of an empirical science and Amir displayed the aptitude for that," he explained.

When asked why he never went to school, Amir replied, "One goes to school to learn, right? I preferred to learn from home. I appeared for board exams by studying on my own. Before joining St Xavier's College, I convinced the principal about my abilities and he showed faith in me."

The son of an income-tax officer, Amir has no plans to take up any government job after he finishes his course. Instead, he is focused on academics. "I just want to concentrate on physics," he said. Amir is currently working on condensed matter and plans to focus on 'strongly correlated electronics systems' in the future.

For a lad with such exceptional mental skills, life for Amir is not all work and no play. He plays tennis regularly and enjoys swimming. And as his fame spreads, there will also be a fan following - notably female - that he will have to take care of.

Source: Bangalore Mirror