About Daniel Tammet

Daniel Tammet, born in 1979 in London, is an English writer, linguist, and educator who has been widely recognized as a high-functioning autistic savant. His life and abilities have made him a subject of scientific study and media attention. He is known for his extraordinary feats of memory and numerical computation, which he attributes to his unique form of synesthesia.

Synesthesia and Savant Abilities: Tammet experiences synesthesia, a rare neurological phenomenon where the stimulation of one sense automatically triggers an experience in another sense. For him, numbers up to 10,000 each have a unique shape, color, texture, and feel. This allows him to "see" numerical calculations as landscapes of shapes and colors. He claims this sensory connection makes it possible for him to perform complex mental arithmetic with ease and speed. His most notable feat was in 2004, when he recited the mathematical constant pi to 22,514 decimal places from memory, a European record that took him over five hours.

Life & Work: Tammet's memoir, Born on a Blue Day (2006), offers a personal account of his life with Asperger syndrome and savant syndrome. The book, which became a bestseller, describes his childhood, his struggles with social interactions, and how he came to understand his unique mind. It has been translated into more than 30 languages.

Beyond his autobiography, Tammet has written several other books, including:

• Thinking in Numbers: A collection of essays exploring how mathematics influences our lives.

• Every Word is a Bird We Teach to Sing: A book about the mysteries and meanings of language.

  His work has been featured in a number of documentaries, including the award-winning film The Boy with the Incredible Brain (2005), which brought his story to a global audience. He continues to be a subject of fascination for neuroscientists and the public, serving as a "Rosetta Stone" for researchers studying the brain's unique capabilities.