Alia Sabur: The youngest college professor in history

Alia Sabur

Ali Sabur who started talking and reading when she was just 8 months old has been clearly ahead of the learning curve since an early age. She is from New York city in New York. From the report at hand, Sabur had elementary school finished at age 5. She made the jump to college at age 10. She earned a bachelor’s of science degree in applied mathematics from Stony Brook University at age 14 making her the youngest female in U.S. history to do so. She continued her education at Drexel University, where she earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering.

With endless future ahead of her, Sabur directed her first career choice to teaching. She was just three days short of her 19th birthday in February, 2008 (She is of age 26 now) when she was hired to become a full time faculty professor at Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea. Children are considered to be 1 year old when they are born, and add a year to their age every New Year instead of their actual birthday (In traditional Korean culture), so in Korea Sabur was considered 20.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this distinction made her the youngest college professor in history, beating the previous record held by Colin Maclaurin, who was a student of physicist Isaac Newton in 1717. At the time of her appointement, she said she will take part in classroom instruction, but will also focus on research into developing nanotubes for use as cellular probes that could aid cures for diseases.

In addition to her unprecedented academic achievements, Sabur is a music prodigy, she has been playing clarinet with orchestras since her solo debut at age 11, playing with recording artist Lang Lang and Smash Mouth. She also has a black belt in the Korean martial art of tae kwon do at the age of 9.

In Alia Sabur's wildly advanced studies she came across a famous quote from a German writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which says "Knowing is not enough. We must apply."That could serve as explanation for what prompted the 19-year-old to become the youngest college professor in history.