I don't know very many stories about ultra-smart children, so I can't speak for all of them. I only know the story of one man, so that is the one I will share. It has a happy ending, I think. Kim Ung-yong , the 'Forgotten Genius' He held the Guinness World Record for highest IQ at 210 [1]. He could absorb languages like a sponge-- not just rote memorization but also thoroughly grasping grammar and nuance. At age 3, he was attending physics lectures at Hanyang University. He could read Korean, Japanese, German, and English by the time he was 4. When he was 8 he was invited to the U.S. by NASA, where he earned his masters and PhD at Colorado State. Afterwards, he worked as a nuclear physicist and researcher at NASA for 5 years until the ripe age of 16, upon when he suddenly wrapped up his life overseas and returned to Korea. To everyone's curiosity (and dismay) he enrolled in a 'no-name' university and studied civil engineering. He originally...