Daniel Tammet vs Leslie Lemke
Two savants, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Daniel Tammet | Leslie Lemke | |
| Field | Science | Science |
| Sub-field | Biology | Astronomy |
| Born | 1979 | 1952 |
| Died | living / not documented | living / not documented |
| Country of birth | ENG | - |
| Star sign | Aquarius | Aquarius |
Who they are
Daniel Tammet
On 14 March 2004 — Pi Day — Daniel Tammet sat down in the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford and began to recite. For five hours and nine minutes he spoke the digits of pi, one after another, while observers checked him against the printed value. He stopped at 22,514 digits, a European record. To Tammet it had not felt like recall in the ordinary sense. He was not retrieving a list. He was, he said, describing a landscape he could see — pi as a rolling sequence of shapes, colours and…
Full biography of Daniel Tammet →
What they share
- Both are held here under Science.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
- Both Aquarius.
Where they part
- 27 years separate their births (1979 and 1952).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Daniel Tammet or Leslie Lemke?
- Leslie Lemke. Daniel Tammet was born in 1979, Leslie Lemke in 1952.
- What field is each of them in?
- Daniel Tammet is filed under Science (Biology). Leslie Lemke is filed under Science (Astronomy).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.