Meet Akrit Pran Jaswal, ‘youngest surgeon’ at 7, ‘youngest university student’ at 12, joined IIT to find cure for…

At the tender age of 7 when most children are still learning the basics in primary school, a boy from Himachal Pradesh’s Nurpur gained widespread attention for reportedly performing a surgery on the hands of an 8-year-old burn victim. He was dubbed as the “world’s youngest surgeon” at the time.

The child prodigy then again grabbed headlines when he became the country’s ‘youngest university student’ at just 12 years of age. At 13, he had one of the highest IQs for his age group at 146. Jaswal’s improbable act of operating as a child brought him international fame too as he featured on the world famous talk show hosted by the legendary Oprah Winfrey.

Akrit reportedly showed early signs of rarity when he was already walking and talking by the age of 10 months. At two, he had already begun to read and write. By 5 he was reading English classics and at 7 he stunned everyone with the extraordinary feat.

Known as a medical genius, Akrit received guidance and backing from the Chairman of Secondary Education in Dharamshala. He joined Chandigarh University to study science at just 12. At 17, he was pursuing a master’s degree in applied chemistry.

From an early age, Akrit has been focused on the goal for finding cancer on which he is reportedly working at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. He joined IIT-K to study bioengineering. 

Photo credit: Oprah.com