To see someone excel at an early age is fascinating. We tend to think that education and maturity is essential to genius. But every once in a while a child comes along who is so gifted, we call them prodigies.

Read on to learn about nine of these child geniuses.

1. Jacob Bennett

Jacob was born in 1998 and when he was 2 years old, doctors told his parents he had autism and would never read or talk again. He shocked everyone when he not only talked again, he able to speak in four languages.

At the age of 8, he was auditing physics classes at Indiana University. The next year, he astonished experts with his groundbreaking expansion on Einstein’s field of relativity. Jacob became the youngest researcher to be accepted to Waterloo, Ont.’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics when he was 15.

2. Akrit Jaswal

Akrit Jaswal was born in 1993 as an exceptionally gifted child. He could read and write by the time he was 2 years old.

He developed an interest in medicine which led him to perform his first surgical intervention when he was 7 years old before any academic training.

By 11, he was enrolled in a university. His IQ is estimated to be 146.

3. Onafujiri Remet

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Onafujiri Remet was born in 2010 in Nigeria and is a child prodigy and artist.

At 3 years old he started shooting photographs of the streets of Lagos and made his first photographic exhibition before he was 4 years old.

4. Dakota Fanning

Dakota Fanning is now a famous actress and model. But her career started early on.

When she was 7 years old, Fanning was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in I am Sam, making her the youngest actress to receive a nomination in that category.

5. Judit Polgár

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Hungarian chess player, Judit Polgár, is one of the world’s best chess players in history.

When she was 15 years old, she earned the title of Grand Master, making her the youngest person to have received the distinction. She defeated the famous chess player Garry Kaspárov in 2002.

She retired from chess competitions in 2014 and is now raising her two children.

6. Taylor Wilson

Born in 1994, Taylor Wilson developed a passion for nuclear physics.

He built his first nuclear fusion reactor when he was 14, making him the youngest person in history to do so.

The project won first place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

7. B-Girl Terra

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Born in 2007, the United Kingdom’s B-Girl Terra  showed great talent for dancing when she was young.

Part of the UK break dancing troupe Soul Mavericks, she was only 6 years old when she won best dancer in her category at a breakdance competition known as “Chelles Battle Pro” outside of Paris.

8. Quvenzhané Wallis

Quvenzhané Wallis was born in 2003. In 2012, when she was 9 years old, she starred in the movie Beasts of the Southern Wild.

She set a record as the youngest actress to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Actress category and won a number of other acting awards for her performance.

She also acted in 12 Years a Slave and Fathers and Daughters.

9. Alma Deutscher

Born in 2005 in England, Alma Deutscher is a pianist, a violinist and a songwriter.

She began playing the piano at age 2 and the violin at age 3. By the age of 4, she was composing. At the age of 7, she produced an opera called The Sweeper of Dreams.

Since then, she has composed sonatas and operas and is often compared to Mozart.

These kids are not only going places, they are already at stardom level. It will be interesting to see what they will accomplish throughout their lives.

Did you discover your gifts and talents in childhood? Tell us about it in the comments.