Meet Indian genius who completed PhD at 21, became IIT professor at 22, was sacked from job after few years due to...

Tathagat Avatar Tulsi, once celebrated as a child prodigy, is now grappling with unemployment, an unexpected situation for the brilliant physicist. Born on September 9, 1987, in Bihar, Tulsi completed his schooling by the age of 9. By 11, he earned a BSc degree from Patna Science College, and at 12, he completed his MSc from the same institution. He went on to pursue a PhD at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, earning the degree at the age of 21.

In 2010, Tulsi secured a contract position as an Assistant Professor at IIT Mumbai. However, his career faced a setback in 2019 when, as Tulsi claims, his employment was terminated after a prolonged medical leave.

Tulsi's health issues began in 2011 when he developed a high fever, which was later diagnosed as an allergy. This led to a four-year leave from IIT Mumbai, and by 2013, he had moved back to Patna. In 2019, he was officially dismissed from his role. Now unemployed, Tulsi has shifted his focus to studying law.

Tulsi's academic journey was remarkable from the start. At 17, he applied for a PhD program, earning admiration from the IISc physics department dean, who described him as a "good boy, very lovable, and determined to reach his goals." His PhD thesis was on "Generalizations of the Quantum Search Algorithm," and he co-authored a research paper with Lov Grover titled "A New Algorithm for Fixed-point Quantum Search," although it was never published.

Once considered among Asia's most gifted children, Tulsi was dubbed "Superteen" by Science, "Physics Prodigy" by The Times, and "Master Mind" by The Week.