anyone remember the child prodigy spanish helmet episode?

i only saw it once way back in the 90s. it featured a kid who was a genius with a super high iq. in the scene he said that a picture in a museum with spanish helmet was misidentified. there are 2 similar looking pictures involving Spaniard headgear and the museum was wrong and he gave the correct one.

anyway that was way back in the 90s. what was his name and what's he doing now?

anyone remember the child prodigy spanish helmet episode?

i only saw it once way back in the 90s. it featured a kid who was a genius with a super high iq. in the scene he said that a picture in a museum with spanish helmet was misidentified. there are 2 similar looking pictures involving Spaniard headgear and the museum was wrong and he gave the correct one.

anyway that was way back in the 90s. what was his name and what's he doing now?


His name was Philip Pauli I believe but not sure what he's up to now

His name was Philip Pauli I believe but not sure what he's up to now


He's on facebook. I don't know what he's doing, but he appears to have not outgrown his awkwardness. :-(

He's on facebook. I don't know what he's doing, but he appears to have not outgrown his awkwardness. :-(

maybe asperger's?

did he go to college?

maybe asperger's?

did he go to college?


No idea, I tried adding him and felt that saying I'd seen him on TV as a kid was kinda odd.

No idea, I tried adding him and felt that saying I'd seen him on TV as a kid was kinda odd.

personally i wish UM featured asperger's syndrome in the 80s

maybe asperger's?

did he go to college?

This 2011 article says he studied theology and philosophy at Oxford. I don't know if he graduated.

The article focuses mostly on pre birth memories and uses Philip's claim to have seen his mother before he was conceived and him choosing her to be his mother as an example.

http://www.examiner.com/article/pre-birth-memories

I think I'm one of the few people on the board who actually liked this kid's segment. Nearly 20 years ago, as a child, he predicted that the US would have a fate worse than the Roman empire. I think we my be beginning to see that prediction come true.

This 2011 article says he studied theology and philosophy at Oxford. I don't know if he graduated.

The article focuses mostly on pre birth memories and uses Philip's claim to have seen his mother before he was conceived and him choosing her to be his mother as an example.

http://www.examiner.com/article/pre-birth-memories

I think I'm one of the few people on the board who actually liked this kid's segment. Nearly 20 years ago, as a child, he predicted that the US would have a fate worse than the Roman empire. I think we my be beginning to see that prediction come true.

oh i thought he was a genius who would be like the next einstein and study physics math or internet/computers

what was his prediction and how is it coming true?

oh i thought he was a genius who would be like the next einstein and study physics math or internet/computers

what was his prediction and how is it coming true?


Like the US, the Roman empire had been a world superpower. For one thing, it got so big it overstretched it's resources. It had a corrupted government, high taxes, frequent wars, erosion of traditional morals, and overspending, among other things. These led the way for even worse things to happen, such as invasions where seriously devistating attacks were committed on their own soil, and the empire eventually fell.

It's just my (and apparently Pauli's) opinion that the US is engaging in those same things, is following the same path, and if we don't do something to correct these things, the results will be the same.

Call me skeptical, but Philip Pauli struck me more as a child with an absolutely extraordinary penchant for recall rather than a so-called child prodigy. That "fate worse than the Roman empire" prediction is a concept that's been parroted for nearly two centuries. With an interest in history as strong as that child had, I think he may have well read that somewhere and simply regurgitated it without perhaps understanding the fullness of that statement.

Call me skeptical, but Philip Pauli struck me more as a child with an absolutely extraordinary penchant for recall rather than a so-called child prodigy. That "fate worse than the Roman empire" prediction is a concept that's been parroted for nearly two centuries. With an interest in history as strong as that child had, I think he may have well read that somewhere and simply regurgitated it without perhaps understanding the fullness of that statement.

Yes, this. Also, every great empire either dies out completely or is drastically reduced in size at some point. The U.S. is no different. Though I'm not sure if the U.S. qualifies as an "empire."

I always liked Philip Pauli. Even though I'm not a genius, I was and still am an extremely bookish kid with anxiety about the future. So I could relate to Philip. I do hope he managed to make a happy life for himself. So many child prodigies wind up with massive issues as adults.

I also recall an episode about musical prodigies. They talked about a group called the Constant Trio and a kid named Albert Wong. I have tried and tried but I have had no luck finding out if either are still involved in music or if they washed up or if they walked away and led a more fulfilling life in another field.

I also recall an episode about musical prodigies. They talked about a group called the Constant Trio and a kid named Albert Wong. I have tried and tried but I have had no luck finding out if either are still involved in music or if they washed up or if they walked away and led a more fulfilling life in another field.
http://www.albertwong.org/index.php

Not sure about Jessica Constant, but I imagine she must be doing well enough considering her Julliard track record and studying premed at university at age 14. :)

I wonder what happened to the Message in a Bottle kid? I always thought of these two segments together...

I wonder what happened to the Message in a Bottle kid? I always thought of these two segments together...

The message in a bottle kid was from Ovid, New York, near where my great-grandparents and grandparents lived.

I recently watched this episode and have to admit -- I was not impressed by the "genius," lol.

The spanish helmet thing? Any kid who reads a lot of books about certain topics will likely recall, even more than adults, obscure details about what they are reading. When I was the age of the kid in the segment, I could have pointed-out similar details and I am NO genius.

The "U.S. is becoming like the Roman Empire" thing? That's seen in every history book and he didn't even name a real reason...I do think he was a gifted child who was probably able to recall things on an advanced level compared to his peers, but a "genius?" I think they were really stretching that for a segment, lol.

Maybe it's just me, but I seem to remember the creation and airing of this segment originally coincided with the release on VHS of the film "Forrest Gump," which was huge if you can remember that far back to the 90s. :)

Around that time the media was fascinated with the question of where intelligence comes from, and why some people are born gifted while others are born, well, like Gump. Remember too this was on the cusp of the whole cloning debates, Dolly the Sheep, and the idea that possibly cloning could be done in such a way so that parents could custom select traits they wanted their offspring to have.

Some times UM "rode the wave" and did their own take on stories that were popular in the mainstream contemporary media at the time. So, when I see oddball segments like this, I can't help but wonder if that is what is going on. Some even less subtle examples are the infamous Men in Black and warrior women segments which even gave nods to the Will Smith movie and, in the latter case, Lucy Lawless and Xena, which was pretty popular at that time.

I never understood why this was an "Unsolved Mystery"

Maybe it's just me, but I seem to remember the creation and airing of this segment originally coincided with the release on VHS of the film "Forrest Gump," which was huge if you can remember that far back to the 90s. :)

Around that time the media was fascinated with the question of where intelligence comes from, and why some people are born gifted while others are born, well, like Gump. Remember too this was on the cusp of the whole cloning debates, Dolly the Sheep, and the idea that possibly cloning could be done in such a way so that parents could custom select traits they wanted their offspring to have.

Some times UM "rode the wave" and did their own take on stories that were popular in the mainstream contemporary media at the time. So, when I see oddball segments like this, I can't help but wonder if that is what is going on. Some even less subtle examples are the infamous Men in Black and warrior women segments which even gave nods to the Will Smith movie and, in the latter case, Lucy Lawless and Xena, which was pretty popular at that time.

That is a great point. In the "boy genius" segment Stack even mentions Forrest Gump by name, haha. Totally agree that this segment, the Men in Black segment and the Warrior Women were probably "trending" at the time, which helps explain why these questionable segments got made in the first place, lol.

The message in a bottle kid was from Ovid, New York, near where my great-grandparents and grandparents lived.


"Where the heck is Ovid?"

I always liked that segment because bottles get found every now and then and it is always interesting when they do.

http://therespectabilityreport.org/author/philip-pauli/