In 1724, the King of Denmark had Christian Heinrich Heinecken brought to Copenhagen in order to see the German genius for himself. He was not disappointed. Heinecken, a veritable tourist attraction, had developed a knowledge of Biblical events, universal history, and geography, and had learned to speak Latin and French.

Sadly he soon fell ill, predicted his own death, and died the following year -- at the age of five.

[According to Chambers's Book of Days: "He spoke, we are told, and spoke sensibly too, within a few hours after his birth; when 10 months old, he could converse on most subjects; when a year old he was perfect in the Old Testament and in another short month he mastered the New... His feeble constitution prevented him from being weaned until he was five years old, when he died in consequence of this necessary change of diet."]

[At the age of four, Korea's Kim Ung-Yong published poetry, spoke four languages... and performed integral calculus on The World Surprise Show in Tokyo! Kim's Estimated IQ? 210. Among those with IQs of about 200: Emanuel Swedenborg, Goethe, John Stuart Mill, and former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer. (The IQ of author Marilyn vos Savant was once estimated to be as high as 228.)]