World-Famous Savants and Their Superhuman Skills

Savants are some of the most fascinating cognitive phenomena in human history. The rare but extraordinary condition occurs when those with mental disabilities, including autistic disorders, are able to do things most would consider impossible. Whether it’s remembering 22,500 decimals of Pi or sketching an entire city landscape after one helicopter ride, the abilities shown by these select individuals are out of this world.

The reason why some individuals have savant abilities is not known. There are many theories, but little evidence to support any of them. The question we can answer – what kind of feats can these brilliant people accomplish?

Musical Savant Derek Paravicini Can Play Any Song In Any Style [Wimp]
Archit Tripathi
Video (14 minutes)
“Derek was excited to show us the skills that make him so exceptional – his ability to instantly call up any piece of music he has ever heard…”

Daniel Tammet: The Boy With The Incredible Brain
Video (48 minutes)
“I experience numbers in a very visual way using colors, texture, shape and form. Sequences of numbers form landscapes in my mind. It just happens – it’s like having a fourth dimension…”

Kim Peek, The Real Rain Man [Psychology Today]
Article (8 minutes)
“Kim Peek’s special abilities started early, around the age of a year and a half. He could read both pages of an open book at once, each with a single eye, while retaining 98% of the information on the pages…”

Stephen Wiltshire Draws Tokyo From Memory
Video (7 minutes)
“After a short discussion, he was ready to start the 10-meters-long panoramic illustration. From this moment, Stephen had only his exceptional memory to recall and draw the full landscape building by building. And the marathon drawing began…”

Different Ways of Knowing [TED]
Daniel Tammet
Video (11 minutes)
“Daniel has linguistic, numerical and visual synesthesia — meaning that his perception of words, numbers and colors are woven together into a new way of perceiving and understanding the world…”