20 People Who Accomplished More Before the Age of 20 Than Most People Do in Their Entire Lives

By the age of eighteen, he had already commanded a battalion and contributed to the victory at the Battle of Chaeronea. He could undoubtedly have rested on his laurels, but he also became king of Macedonia at the age of twenty. His early successes paved the way for one of the greatest empires the ancient world had ever known.

Not content with merely inspiring the French people, this young strategist led the kingdom’s army into battle during the Hundred Years’ War. At the age of seventeen, she already exercised total control over the armed forces and single-handedly won the siege of Orléans. Her influence changed the course of French history.

At sixteen, most young people are simply trying to pass their math class, but this French prodigy had already set out to write a groundbreaking treatise on conic sections. Years later, he invented the first calculator to help his father file his tax return. We owe the foundations of modern probability theory to him, even though he wasn’t even old enough to vote at the time.

Ruling an empire is no small task, even for an adult. Tutankhamun became king of Egypt at the age of nine and managed to reverse most of his predecessor’s reforms. Not only did he stabilize the empire, but he is also remembered as one of the most influential pharaohs of ancient Egypt, even though he died prematurely.

Publishing a book that goes on to become famous around the world is impressive under any circumstances. By the age of nineteen, Shelley had already written the first draft of Frankenstein. After coming up with the idea during a rainy vacation, she created the world’s first science-fiction monster while she was still a teenager.

He broke world records by becoming a chess grandmaster at the age of just fifteen. A year earlier, Bobby had become the youngest U.S. chess champion of all time and was renowned for his extraordinary intelligence. Even today, his rise to prominence is considered one of the most meteoric in the history of chess.

Even before she turned sixteen, Malala was fearlessly advocating for the right to education around the world. After surviving an assassination attempt by an extremist regime, she won the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of seventeen. Malala is the youngest recipient of this prize in history.

Most people do not give professional piano recitals until they are at least eight years old. Mozart, however, was already touring Europe as a performer at the age of six and had composed his first symphony two years later. Before he even turned twenty, Mozart had already composed enough works to establish a legendary reputation.

If you didn’t know him before, you certainly discovered him after he scored two goals in the FIFA World Cup while he was still just a teenager. Pelé is the youngest player ever to win that tournament, and that match brought him worldwide fame. Since then, he has revolutionized the way soccer is played at every conceivable level.

Before becoming known for her social commentary, Austen spent her teenage years writing hilarious parodies and sketches. It was while she was still living with her parents, toward the end of her teenage years, that she wrote the first drafts of what would become her most famous novels. Her sharp wit and keen insight into human nature were already fully developed even before she reached adulthood.

The Marquis de Lafayette risked his life by leaving France to support the American Revolution. At the age of nineteen, he convinced George Washington to let him serve on the front lines as a general. His influence on America was felt immediately, and he became a national hero before he had even reached adulthood in his native country.

In front of a stunned audience at the 1976 Olympic Games, Nadia became the first gymnast to receive a perfect score of 10.0. She ultimately earned seven perfect scores that year thanks to her revolutionary technique in competition. It was unprecedented for a young gymnast to perform routines with such precision.

Losing one’s sight at a young age is a major challenge, but Louis was able to turn this ordeal into an opportunity to help millions of people. He was only fifteen years old when he developed the raised-dot system that allows blind people to read and write effectively. His invention proved so effective that it remains the primary method used by the visually impaired around the world to this day.

Even before Wonder began writing his soul hits, he had been offered a contract with Motown at the age of eleven. By the time he turned thirteen, he was already at the top of the Billboard charts and had demonstrated incredible talent on several instruments. By the age of twenty, he had already released several hit albums and was redefining the Motown sound.

Even as a teenager, Clara was considered one of the best pianists in Europe. She began composing her own pieces at the age of nine and was already touring by the time she was thirteen. At her concerts, critics regularly compared her talent to that of Germany’s finest male musicians.

The golf world realized something extraordinary was happening when Tiger, at age fifteen, became the youngest winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. He went on to win that same title three times in a row, a feat that had never been achieved before. His dominance on the greens was already well established long before he donned the green jacket at the Masters.

Having grown up in India with virtually no formal education, this mathematical genius was already discovering complex theorems by the end of his teenage years. He spent his youth filling notebooks with original mathematical identities that would later prove a challenge even to the greatest minds at the University of Cambridge. His innate talent for numbers was so exceptional that he, so to speak, reinvented modern mathematics in his spare time, while he was still just a child.

While most high school students were simply trying to get through their freshman year, this 16-year-old girl was busy leading a student strike that would eventually shake the entire country. In 1951, she rallied more than 450 of her classmates in Virginia to protest the dilapidated condition and overcrowding of their segregated school. Her courageous fight led to a court case that was ultimately incorporated into the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.

This young Shoshone woman was about sixteen years old when she joined the Lewis and Clark expedition as an interpreter and guide. She traversed treacherous terrain and helped negotiate with Native American tribes while carrying her newborn son on her back. Her presence was essential to the success of this journey across the American West, even though she was barely a teenager.

Philo was only fourteen years old when he first conceived the idea of electronic television. By the time he was eighteen, he had already drawn up the plans for his high school chemistry teacher and had set to work on the project. By the age of twenty-one, he had succeeded in transmitting the very first electronic image ever captured.