Homeschooled Scientist

• Leonardo da Vinci
• Albert Einstein
• Pierre Curie
• Booker Washington
• Andrew Carnegie
• Thomas Alfa Edison
• Blaise Pascal

Leonardo daVinci
When I hear the name da Vinci, I could only think of Mona Lisa painting, and lately the novel "daVinci code". So I have always thought the man was an artist. He was, but he was also a scientist and an inventor, and he was self-educated, or as you might say he was a homeschooled scientist. More

Albert Einstein
My favorite homeschooled scientist, "When Albert was five, his father showed him a pocket compass, and Einstein realized that something in "empty" space acted upon the needle; he would later describe the experience as one of the most revelatory of his life. Though he built models and mechanical devices for fun, he was considered a slow learner, possibly due to dyslexia, simple shyness, or the significantly rare and unusual structure of his brain (examined after his death). He later credited his development of the theory of relativity to this slowness, saying that by pondering space and time later than most children, he was able to apply a more developed intellect. Another, more recent, theory about his mental development is that he had Asperger's syndrome, a condition related to autism." More

Pierre Curie
"Pierre Curie was born in Paris, where his father was a general medical practitioner, on May 15, 1859. He received his early education at home before entering the Faculty of Sciences at the Sorbonne." More on this homeschooled scientist

Booker Washington
"He went to school in Franklin County - not as a student, but to carry books for one of James Burroughs's daughters. It was illegal to educate slaves. "I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study would be about the same as getting into paradise," he wrote. More

Andrew Carnegie
"Books provided most of his education as he moved from being a Western Union messenger boy to telegraph operator and then to a series of positions leading to superintendent of the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad." More

Thomas Alfa Edison
Another interesting story on a homeschooled scientist and ADHD. "If modern psychology had existed back then, Tom would have probably been deemed a victim of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and proscribed a hefty dose of the "miracle drug" Ritalin. Instead, when his beloved mother - whom he recalled "was the making of me... [because] she was always so true and so sure of me... And always made me feel I had someone to live for and must not disappoint." - became aware of the situation, she promptly withdrew him from school and began to "home-teach" him." More

Blaise Pascal
"Blaise Pascal's father had unorthodox educational views and decided to teach his son himself. Étienne Pascal decided that Blaise was not to study mathematics before the age of 15 and all mathematics texts were removed from their house. Blaise however, his curiosity raised by this, started to work on geometry himself at the age of 12. He discovered that the sum of the angles of a triangle are two right angles and, when his father found out, he relented and allowed Blaise a copy of Euclid." More