Kim Peek vs Zerah Colburn
Two savants, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Kim Peek | Zerah Colburn | |
| Field | Science | Mathematics |
| Sub-field | Biology | Mathematician |
| Born | 1951 | 1804 |
| Died | 2009 | 1839 |
| Country of birth | - | - |
| Star sign | Scorpio | Virgo |
Who they are
Kim Peek
Kim Peek is a savant from United States. American 'megasavant' who was the inspiration for the main character Raymond Babbitt in the 1988 film Rain Man.
Zerah Colburn
In the winter of 1810, in a one-room farmhouse in Cabot, Vermont, a labourer named Abia Colburn overheard his six-year-old son chanting numbers by the fire. The boy — who had barely six weeks of schooling and whom the family had quietly assumed was slow — was reciting his multiplication tables. His father, half disbelieving, set him a problem: multiply 13 by 97. The child answered at once, and correctly. Within two years Zerah Colburn would be standing before audiences in London, extracting roots and naming the factors of large numbers faster than the mathematicians…
Full biography of Zerah Colburn →
What they share
- Both are documented on this site with a verified biography.
Where they part
- Different fields: Science for Kim Peek, Mathematics for Zerah Colburn.
- 147 years separate their births (1951 and 1804).
- Their lifetimes never overlapped.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Kim Peek or Zerah Colburn?
- Zerah Colburn. Kim Peek was born in 1951, Zerah Colburn in 1804.
- What field is each of them in?
- Kim Peek is filed under Science (Biology). Zerah Colburn is filed under Mathematics (Mathematician).
- Were they contemporaries?
- No - their lifetimes do not overlap.