Documented path
Born in Sweden, Hastad won an IMO gold medal at 17, earned his BS from Stockholm University and MSc from Uppsala, then completed his PhD at MIT in 1986 under Shafi Goldwasser.
Born in Sweden; family background not documented.
Professor of Theoretical Computer Science at KTH Royal Institute of Technology; member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Where the conditions came from
Each is placed on a −1 to 3 scale from documented evidence, and the three are never added together. A combined total would rank Johan Hastad against other people. Held apart, they explain why this path ran differently from another one—which is the only comparison this project supports.
The marble itself
+3Tailwind
What capability, drive, or early skill is documented in the person rather than their surroundings?
Won IMO gold medal in 1977 at age 17 (also silver in 1979, bronze in 1976 and 1978). ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award. Rare, trajectory-changing competition achievement at the highest level.
Where it was dropped
0Neither way
What money, family standing, network, or permission was already in place before the work began?
Swedish background. No evidence of special family wealth, academic connections, or domain-specific advantages. Ordinary Swedish upbringing.
The shape of the track
+2Tailwind
What place, timing, institution, or peer group made the next step available?
Stockholm University (BS), Uppsala University (MSc), MIT PhD under Shafi Goldwasser. The MIT theoretical computer science ecosystem under Goldwasser was exceptional for complexity theory.
A −1 is a documented headwind, not a missing value; a 0 means the sources record nothing notable either way. Annotation confidence: High. These are analyst readings of what the sources record, not measurements of merit, talent, or effort. The twenty-two scored dimensions remain available inside the deeper research detail.
What moved through the conditions
Silence in a biography is not evidence that perseverance was absent.
A successful-only archive cannot recover all encounters, avoided setbacks, or alternative outcomes.
Strongest documented signals: Elite institution pipeline, Frontier geography, Dedicated mentor / coach.
Describes the starting position, not what the person later made of it.
Strongest observed levers: Scarce skill depth, Domain proximity, Started serious reps before 20.
Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
The timeline below shows the sequence of work and transitions around the selected early milestone. It is evidence of a path, not proof that every step was necessary.
Dominant figure at the top of a field. The tier summarizes documented career recognition through the data cutoff—not Johan Hastad's worth or future potential.
Question four · where did the leverage come from?
Each non-zero lever gets a best-supported origin, evidence signals, and confidence. Unresolved is the honest default when the biography cannot distinguish self-built, advantage-enabled, earned, external, or mixed.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
A structural wave is external to the person, even when their position improved access to it.
This is a bounded inference from the current annotations—not a claim about private effort, merit, or the percentage of Johan Hastad's outcome attributable to any origin.
Structural luck, Encounter luck, Event luck, Outcome variance can change every arrow in the path. This successful-only dataset cannot observe the near-identical paths that did not break through, so luck stays visible and unscored.
Multiplying capacity documented later in the path. Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
Access or conditions documented near the beginning of the path. Zero means "no clear evidence in reviewed sources," not "advantage was absent."
Born in Sweden; family background not detailed.
Not documented in reviewed sources.
Hastad won an IMO gold medal at 17 in 1977. He completed his PhD at MIT in 1986 at age 26 under Shafi Goldwasser, winning the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award.
advantage confidence: Medium · source count: 3 · audit: source_verified · status: subagent_researched_beta