Genius  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Hands of God and Adam (1500s) is a detail of the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo. It is a detail from Adam and Eve cycle

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

A genius is someone who has exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight. There is no scientifically precise definition of genius, and the question of whether the notion itself has any real meaning has long been a subject of debate. The term is used in various ways: to refer to a particular aspect of an individual, or the individual in their entirety; to a scholar in many subjects (e.g. Isaac Newton or Leonardo da Vinci) or a scholar in a single subject (e.g., Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking). Research into what causes genius and mastery is still in its early stages, and psychology offers relevant insights.

Etymology

In ancient Rome, the genius (plural in Latin genii) was the guiding spirit or tutelary deity of a person, family (gens), or place (genius loci). The noun is related to the Latin verb gigno, genui, genitus, "to bring into being, create, produce." Because the achievements of exceptional individuals seemed to indicate the presence of a particularly powerful genius, by the time of Augustus the word began to acquire its secondary meaning of "inspiration, talent."

See also

• Intelligence
• Aptitude
• Creativity
• Genius (literature)
• Genetic Studies of Genius
• Intellectual giftedness
  • Child prodigy
    • List of child prodigies
      • List of child music prodigies
  • Gifted education
  • List of chess prodigies
  • Savant syndrome
• MacArthur Fellows Program
  • List of MacArthur Fellows
• Nobel Prize
  • List of Nobel laureates
• Polymath

Namesakes

• If I Had Known I Was a Genius