18-year-old becomes professor in Guinness Book

Nathan Thomas, a young engineering teacher from Florida, USA, has been named the youngest male professor in the world by Guinness World Records. He achieved this feat by joining a college as a teacher before turning 19.

According to Guinness World Records, Nathan Thomas joined Miami Dade College as a teacher of engineering at the age of 18 years and 346 days. Through this, he was recognized as the youngest male professor in the world.

Previously, this record was held by Scottish mathematician Colin Maclaurin for 306 consecutive years. He became a professor at the age of 19.

Nathan achieved this record at the age of 16 days younger than the current world's youngest female professor, Alia Saboor. Alia Saboor became a professor in 2008 at the age of 18 years and 362 days.

In August 2023, Nathan began teaching the ‘C for Engineers’ course (COP 2270: C for Engineers) at Miami Dade College. Interestingly, many of his students were the same age as him.

Nathan told Guinness World Records that everyone comes to the classroom to learn. So age doesn’t really matter there.

He said that his goal is to do his job well and be as supportive as possible to his students. That’s what matters most to him when someone is genuinely trying to learn.

As a teacher, Nathan teaches his students the complexities of computing and programming.

Nathan, who has extraordinary talent, was dual-enrolled at Miami Dade College at the age of 10. Later, at the age of 14, he enrolled at Florida International University. Within the next four years, he completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees with honors in electrical engineering.

Nathan, who grew up in a family of engineers, said that math seemed easy to him from a young age. He said that his mother could explain even difficult topics very simply, which had a profound impact on his learning.

About teaching, Nathan said, “When a student suddenly understands a difficult topic after a lot of effort, that moment is the happiest for him.”

Source: NDTV