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Kim Ung-yong
Milestone (age 7)
Was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for highest recorded IQ (above 210) and was invited by NASA to work as a researcher at approximately age 7-8, both well before age 26.
Kim Ung-yong was born in Seoul, South Korea, to a physics professor father and a teacher mother. By age 1 he had learned the Korean alphabet and 1,000 Chinese characters. At age 3 he allegedly published a bestselling book of essays. At age 5 he appeared on Fuji Television in Japan solving differential equations. At approximately age 7-8 he was invited to work at NASA.
Think your path resembles Kim Ung-yong's?Compare the visible ingredients, then see exactly where the comparison stops working.
Am I the next Kim Ung-yong? →Starting point
Born in 1962 in Seoul, South Korea to a physics professor father (Kim Soo-Sun at Konkuk University) and a teacher mother (Yoo Myung-Hyun); raised in an academic household.
Current position (2025)
Professor of civil engineering at Shinhan University in South Korea; previously worked at Chungbuk National University; living in South Korea.
How this path compounded
01 Starting advantages
8/24 starting-position score
Strongest documented signals: Elite institution pipeline, Prodigy / innate ability, Parent / family domain.
Describes the starting position, not what the person later made of it.
Cohort percentile: 74
02 Built or converted leverage
10/25 multiplying-capacity score
Strongest observed levers:Started serious reps before 20, Prior reps, Scarce skill depth.
Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
Cohort percentile: 10
03 Compounding trajectory
5 documented steps
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.
Milestone at age 7
04 Observed career standing
T3 · Domain-recognized
Notable and widely recognized within the domain. The tier summarizes documented career recognition through the data cutoff—not Kim Ung-yong's worth or future potential.
Question four · where did the leverage come from?
Kim Ung-yong's leverage provenance
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.
Started serious reps before 201/1
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Parent / family domain (1/2)Rare early tools (1/2)Dedicated mentor / coach (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)
Prior reps2/3
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Parent / family domain (1/2)Rare early tools (1/2)Dedicated mentor / coach (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)
Scarce skill depth2/3
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Parent / family domain (1/2)Rare early tools (1/2)Dedicated mentor / coach (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)
Elite ecosystem network2/3
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Parent / family domain (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)Frontier geography (1/2)
Concentration intensity2/3
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Dedicated mentor / coach (1/2)
Domain proximity1/2
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Parent / family domain (1/2)Frontier geography (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)
This is a bounded inference from the current annotations—not a claim about private effort, merit, or the percentage of Kim Ung-yong's outcome attributable to any origin.
Luck is not a leftover score.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.
Within Researchers / independent engineers, Kim Ung-yong's starting-advantage total is at the 74th percentile. Separately, their built or converted leverage total is at the 10th percentile. Other T3 profiles average 7.0 / 24 starting advantage and 11.7 / 25 leverage. Similar scores appear in other tiers, so these figures describe positioning—not a cause.
Trajectory
- 1967 · age 5
Appeared on Fuji Television in Japan solving differential and integral calculus problems
Demonstrating fluency in multiple languages.
- 1969 · age 7
Was invited to work at NASA in the United States
Becoming a child researcher.
- 1978 · age 16
Left NASA and returned to South Korea.
- 1981 · age 19
Enrolled at Chungbuk National University
A civil engineering major.
- 2014 · age 52
Appointed as a full-time professor
Shinhan University in Gyeonggi Province.
Primary leverage engine
Prodigy cognitive ability
Scarce technical / intellectual depth
Secondary engine
Parental academic environment
Built/converted leverage
10 / 25
evidence: Medium
Built or converted leverage
Multiplying capacity documented later in the path. Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
Started serious reps before 20
1/1
Elite ecosystem network
2/3
Structural wave / timing
0/3
Concentration intensity
2/3
Starting-advantage scores (0–2 each)
Access or conditions documented near the beginning of the path. Zero means "no clear evidence in reviewed sources," not "advantage was absent."
Family financial platform
0/2
Parent / family domain
1/2
Inherited audience / network
0/2
Elite institution pipeline
2/2
Dedicated mentor / coach
1/2
Exceptional peer / cofounder
0/2
Direct domain exposure
0/2
Prodigy / innate ability
2/2
Adversity / constraint catalyst
0/2
Family context
Father Kim Soo-Sun was a physics professor at Konkuk University; mother Yoo Myung-Hyun was a teacher. The academic household provided early intellectual stimulation.
Parent / family domain
Father was a physics professor and mother was a teacher, creating an academically enriched home environment that supported early learning.
Archetype & tags
Prodigy / physical edgehighest recorded IQNASA invitation at age 7Guinness World Recorduniversity enrollment at age 3academic parents
Evidence summary
Kim Ung-yong was recognized as a child prodigy with the highest recorded IQ (above 210 on the Stanford-Binet scale), listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. His father was a physics professor and mother a teacher, providing an academically enriched environment. By age 5 he appeared on Japanese television solving calculus, and by age 7-8 he was invited to NASA. Note: some details of the NASA period are disputed by family testimony. The CSV lists birth year as 1963, but Wikipedia and most sources indicate 1962.
advantage confidence: Medium · source count: 4 · audit: not_independently_audited · status: subagent_researched_beta
Sources
Related — same primary engine