Youngest People Ever to Achieve a Doctorate Degree

Akshay Venkatesh – 20

Indian-Australian Akshay Venkatesh distinguished himself at an early age. In 1993, when he was 11 years old, he won a bronze medal at the International Physics Olympiad in Virginia. Venkatesh chose to switch his focus to mathematics soon after taking home the bronze, and he went on to win two more Olympiad medals in the subject. He finished high school when he was only 13 and went to the University of Western Australia, graduating with first class honors in Mathematics in 1997 – the youngest student ever to do so.

Even then, Venkatesh didn’t pause for a breath, and a PhD from Princeton University consummated his academic success. At only 20 years old and with a doctorate under his belt, the young scholar already had a solid position in the world of academia. Since completing his PhD in 2002, he has gone from holding a post-doctorate position at MIT to becoming a Clay Research Fellow and, most recently, a professor at Stanford University.

 Erik Demaine – 20

Born in Nova Scotia, Canada, Erik Demaine took a somewhat unconventional route when it came to his education. When he was seven years old, his father – an artist and sculptor – pulled him out of school to travel around North America. From the age of nine, Demaine basically home schooled himself, and an early interest in computers was his gateway into math.

At age 12, even though he didn’t have any academic records or results, Demaine began studying at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, going on to receive his bachelor’s degree when he was just 14. He then set his sights on a PhD, completing pioneering work in computational origami at the University of Waterloo before his 21st birthday.

Demaine, who in 2001 became MIT’s youngest ever professor – at 20 – says, “It’s a pretty awesome position to be able to think about these basic mathematical truths and what’s solvable and not solvable.” His work includes computational origami,