Edith Helen Stern is an American inventor and mathematician and former Vice President for Research and Development at IBM. She holds over 100 US patents and was awarded the ASME Kate Gleason Award. Stern was a child prodigy, who read the Encyclopædia Britannica at the age of 5 and was the youngest ever graduate of Florida Atlantic University at the age of 15.
Early life and education
Stern's father, the scholar Aaron Stern, had been in concentration camps during World War II. He married Stern's mother, Bella, in a ghetto in Warsaw. Aaron Stern suffered from cancer and was treated at the Mayo Clinic because of a request from Albert Einstein.
Aaron encouraged his daughter to become an academic, in a technique he referred to as total education immersion. She used flashcards to communicate messages before she could talk, including expressing her age at 11 months old, had mastered the alphabet by the age of two, and played chess by the age of three. She used a homemade abacus to learn mathematics, and was simultaneously taught ethics and compassion for people from different backgrounds.
Despite her father not supporting IQ tests, Stern's IQ was said to be 205 at the age of 5.
By the age of 6 Stern had read Plato, Freud and Darwin. Stern enrolled in college at the age of twelve, and earned a degree from Miami-Dade Junior College by the age of 15. She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Florida Atlantic University in 1967, and was their youngest ever graduate.
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Stern went on to obtain a master's degree in mathematics at Michigan State University. Her father, who dubbed raising his daughter the Edith project, wrote a book about her upbringing, The Making of a Genius, which was published by Hurricane House Publishers in 1971. He gave a series of lectures at Stanford University about his ideas on education. The pressure of being in the public eye from an early age disrupted her family life.
Career
Stern taught mathematics at Michigan State University before she turned twenty. She joined IBM as an intern in the early 1970s and was eventually promoted to Vice President for research and development.
Edith worked on real-time computing for IBM, and is credited for creating direct dialing and last-call return. Stern worked on health informatics for IBM Watson. She was also involved with a team that won a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for their work on digital commercials for the Warner Bros. Television network.
Awards and honors
Stern has over 120 US patents. Stern was the first woman to be made a full member of the American Society Of Mechanical Engineers ASME. In 1998 Stern was named an IBM master inventor, and was elected to the IBM Academy of Technology in 1999. In 2012 Stern was awarded the AMSE Kate Gleason Award for her lifetime of developing new technologies. She was awarded the Florida Atlantic University Talon Award in 2013.
In 2015 Stern was listed by Business Insider as one of the Smartest People of All Time.
Top questions
Who is Edith Stern?
Edith Helen Stern, born in 1952, is an American inventor and mathematician and a former Vice President for Research and Development at IBM. She holds over 100 US patents and was awarded the ASME Kate Gleason Award. A child prodigy, she was intensively educated by her father.
Is Edith Stern's IQ the highest ever recorded?
That is not established. Her IQ was said to be 205 at the age of 5, although her father did not support IQ tests, and no verified test result has been reported. In 2015 Business Insider listed her as one of the Smartest People of All Time.
How was Edith Stern educated as a child?
Her father, the scholar Aaron Stern, educated her intensively in a technique he called total education immersion, speaking to her constantly even as an infant. She used flashcards to communicate before she could talk and played chess by age three. By the age of six she had read Plato, Freud and Darwin.
How old was Edith Stern when she graduated from college?
Stern earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Florida Atlantic University in 1967, at the age of 15, and was the university's youngest ever graduate. She had enrolled in college at twelve and earned a degree from Miami-Dade Junior College by fifteen. She later earned a master's degree in mathematics at Michigan State University.
What did Edith Stern do at IBM?
Stern joined IBM as an intern in the early 1970s and was eventually promoted to Vice President for research and development. She worked on real-time computing and is credited with creating direct dialing and last-call return. She also worked on health informatics for IBM Watson.
What awards has Edith Stern received?
Stern was the first woman made a full member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She was named an IBM master inventor in 1998, elected to the IBM Academy of Technology in 1999, awarded the Kate Gleason Award in 2012 for a lifetime of developing new technologies, and received the Florida Atlantic University Talon Award in 2013.
