William James Sidis personal archive

William James Sidis (1898-1944), an author, was born to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants Boris and Sarah Sidis. Sarah (Mandelbaum) Sidis was among the first women to graduate from the Boston University School of Medicine. Boris Sidis, a psychotherapist and philosopher of education, completed several degrees at Harvard University and was known for his educational theories to encourage precocity in children. Named after his godfather William James, William James Sidis was often described as a child prodigy and became the youngest entrant of Harvard College at the age of eleven in 1909. In his first year at Harvard, Sidis impressed scholars by presenting a two-hour lecture to the Harvard Mathematics Club on "Four-Dimensional Bodies." Sidis graduated in 1914 when he was sixteen years old. Sidis garnered the attention of the news media throughout his childhood for his mathematical knowledge and intelligence. The Boston Theosophical Society claimed that he was the reincarnation of the mathematician Euclid.

After Harvard, Sidis became a mathematics teaching assistant at William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Letters, Science, and Art (now Rice University) in Houston, Texas. He left after a year and entered Harvard Law School, from which he ultimately withdrew, wishing to live outside the public eye. Shortly after leaving Harvard Law School, Sidis was arrested in 1919 for participating in a socialist May Day parade in Boston and was sentenced to eighteen months in prison. Before his appeal went to trial, his parents arranged with the district attorney to remove him to the Sidis Psychotherapeutic Institute, their sanitorium in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; William later wrote that his parents held him there against his will. Sidis separated from his parents a few years later and relocated to New York City.

Sidis's intellectual curiosity was not confined to one field. He delved into various topics, leaving his mark on each. His writings covered diverse subjects such as transfer collecting, poetry, philosophy, science, Native American and American colonial history, the use of transit guides for cities across the United States, pacifism, and conscientious objection during wartime. In 1925, he published The Animate and the Inanimate, a work that presented his unique theory of life "as a reversal of the second law of thermodynamics." He also wroteNotes on the Collection of Transfers, published under the pseudonym Frank Folupa in 1926. These works, among others, stand as a testament to Sidis's intellectual prowess and his significant contributions to various fields.

Despite his intellectual achievements, Sidis's life was not without its challenges. He worked as a clerk in several businesses and Civil Service offices in New York and Boston, interacting with many who shared his interests. To maintain control over his public image, Sidis wrote under at least four pseudonyms (Frank Folupa, Parker Greene, John W. Shattuck, and Jacob Marmor). The Library of Congress now acknowledges five pseudonyms for Sidis. In 1938, he sued the New Yorkerfor invasion of privacy and malicious libel, a case that was dismissed in part. Shortly before his death, Sidis received a settlement for the libel portion in 1944.