Daniel Tammet is an autistic savant. He can carry out mind-boggling mathematical calculations at fantastic speeds. Unusually for a savant, Tammet can describe how he does it. He speaks seven languages and is even devising his own language. An estimated 10% of the autistic population (and 1% of the non-autistic population) have savant abilities, but no one knows exactly why.
Autistic savants have displayed a wide range of talents. For example, the blind American savant Leslie Lemke played Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 after he heard it for the first time and he had never had so much as a piano lesson. And the British savant Stephen Wiltshire was able to draw a highly accurate map of London from memory after a single helicopter trip over the city. Wiltshire’s pictures are world famous and he has had a number of successful art gallery shows.
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