My answer will include Fields Medal winners as well as Nobel Prize winners because there is no Nobel for mathematics and the Fields Medal is comparable to the Nobel Prize.
Nobel Prize in Physics
The average age at which a physicist wins the Nobel Prize is 59 years, so many of the recent winners of the Nobel in Physics, like Peter Higgs, are no longer living. However, among those who are still living are: James Peebles, Roger Penrose, Alain Aspect, Geoffrey Hinton, John Hopfield and Anne L’Huillier, and all of these physicists displayed exceptional intelligence from a young age.
Almost all Nobel laureates in rigorous fields like physics, chemistry and computer science had to display talent early in their careers to gain entrance into the great universities, and then they had to pass stringent examinations to qualify for graduate school and successfully earn a Ph.D. It is rare, but not unheard of, for a person who performed at an average level in school to suddenly “catch fire” and catapult into a career path that leads to a Nobel Prize in the physical sciences.
However, there are people who did not display exceptional intelligence early in life and yet won a Nobel Peace Prize.
Fields Medal in Mathematics
For the reasons described above, almost no one today could achieve a Fields Medal without displaying a exceptional talent at a young age. A list of some of the Fields Medal winners who are still alive include:
Terence Tao, Maryna Viazovska, June Huh, James Maynard and Manjul Bhargava. Among these, Tao might be the only one who would be described as a “child prodigy.”
A Main Reason why Most Nobel Laureates and Fields Medallists showed Exceptional Intelligence early.
Reaching the top of an intellectually challenging field demands the mastery of a great volume of information, mathematical background and deep concepts. Anyone who doesn’t start early to acquire this level of skill and knowledge is unlikely to acquire the background in time to reach the frontiers of a subject. Furthermore, anyone who doesn’t distinguish themselves early, is not likely to gain entry into the university programs and research community in which breakthroughs are made.
