A gifted 12-year-old boy who was born in Guadalajara has become the youngest ever person to study for a degree at the capital’s Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), the largest university in the country.
In a press conference held earlier this week, a confident Carlos Antonio Santamaria, who will study Biomedical Physics in the university’s Science Faculty over the next four years, revealed that he does not consider himself a “genius” by any stretch of the imagination.
“I don’t like to use that word,” he told reporters bluntly.
Before he reached the age of 10, Santamaría had tired of regular classes and became self-taught in calculus and physics via the Internet. He then began to participate in university programs covering themes such as chemical analysis, biochemistry and biology.
Despite his rapid academic advancement, Santamaria still finds time to enjoy simple childhood pursuits. While not a fan of futbol (soccer), he says he likes baseball and messing around with Lego and video games. (He added that he is developing a “biochemical” video game in the style of Mario Bros.)
Santamaria, who lives in the state of Morelos, thanked his family for their support in his learning endeavors.
One project that he dreams of starting is to create a mitochondrion to cure disease. Santamaria also said he is keen to form a group of gifted children of his own age at the university.
Despite his young age, Santamaria is a close observer of the political scene. He expressed the hope that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico’s incoming president, won’t make the same errors as previous chief executives and provoke unrest due to his “style” of governing. He urged the new president to “think more about minorities and Mexico as a whole.”
Santamaria was one of 144,000 young men and women who applied to study at the UNAM this semester. Nine percent were accepted.
Just one in 23 applicants were accepted into his biomedical course.
Santamaria started classes on August 6.