After being identified early as a science prodigy, Zhao Bowen raced through China’s special programs for gifted students and won a spot in Renmin, one of the country’s most elite high schools. Then, to the shock of his friends and family, he decided to drop out when he was 17. Now, at 21, he oversees his own research project at BGI Shenzhen—the country’s top biotech institute and home to the world’s most powerful cluster of DNA-sequencing machines—where he commands a multimillion-dollar research budget.
Zhao’s goal is to use those machines to examine the genetic underpinnings of genius like his own.
Read the full article here: Science Prodigy Zhao Bowen Wants to Crack a Genetic Mystery: What Makes Some People So Smart