Optimnen: The Official Website of Daniel Tammet
About Daniel About Daniel
Daniel Tammet is a writer, linguist and educator. A 2007 poll of 4,000 Britons named him as one of the world's "100 living geniuses". He is the creator of 'Optimnem', a website company that has provided language learning instruction to thousands around the globe. His 2006 memoir 'Born On A Blue Day' describing his life with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome was a Sunday Times (UK) and New York Times bestseller. It has sold over half a million copies worldwide, and been translated into 18 languages.
Tammet is the subject of the 2005 award-winning documentary film 'Brainman' which has been shown in more than 40 countries. He has also made appearances on the 'Late Show With David Letterman', 'ABC News', '60 Minutes', and 'Good Morning America', and been featured in the 'Times', 'Guardian', 'Telegraph', and 'Independent' (UK) 'New York Times', 'International Herald Tribune', 'The Advocate', 'Der Spiegel', and 'Le Monde' (front page) among many others.
Tammet set a European record on March 14th 2004 when he recited the famous mathematical constant Pi (3.141...) to 22,514 decimal places from memory in a time of 5 hours, 9 minutes. His remarkable memory, mathematical and linguistic abilities have been studied by some of the world's leading neuroscientists at California's Center for Brain Studies and the UK's Cambridge Autism Research Centre.
His new book, 'Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind', is a personal and scientific exploration of how the brain works and the differences and similarities between savant and non-savant minds. Click the 'books' link in the index on the left to find more.
In a way, one might say Tammet has come back from the country of autism, which is a very difficult place for researchers and for parents to reach.
ABC News, June 2005
Quotes Quotes
Now he is helping scientists to establish how his incredible talent works, and whether we all have latent abilities. A colleague of mine said she thinks he is straight out of science fiction - a prototype for a new human being. He's certainly the most extraordinary person I have ever met.
Richard and Judy, Daily Express, May 2005
Unlike other savants, who can perform similar feats, Tammet can describe how he does it.and is even devising his own language. Now scientists are asking whether his exceptional abilities are the key to unlock the secrets of autism.
Guardian, February 2005
Something in the way that Mr Tammet describes the beautiful, aching, hallucinatory process of arriving at his answers illuminates the excitement of all cogitation.
New York Times, January 2005
