From college at 9 to PhD at 18: The journey of US prodigy Elliott Tanner

Elliott Tanner, an American child prodigy whose exceptional abilities led his parents to homeschool him, entered college at nine and is now pursuing a doctorate in physics at 18, researching the mysteries of dark matter.

The Minnesota native is a fourth-year PhD student at the University of Minnesota, where he works alongside an international team of scientists investigating one of the universe's greatest unanswered questions, according to a September report by Normandale Community College.

His extraordinary academic journey began long before most children enter elementary school.

By kindergarten, he was already reading independently, solving fourth-grade math problems and showing a strong interest in science, his mother, Michelle Tanner, told People magazine in an October interview. His advanced abilities made conventional schooling difficult. Unable to find an educational environment suited to his learning pace, his parents eventually decided to homeschool him.

"I just couldn't quite fit into any ordinary schooling system," he said.

He completed his high school education at eight and enrolled full-time at Normandale Community College just three weeks after his ninth birthday. Despite being considerably younger than his classmates, he excelled academically, graduating in May 2020 at 11 with an associate degree in mathematics, high honors and a perfect 4.0 GPA.

He subsequently transferred to the University of Minnesota, where he earned a bachelor's degree in physics with a minor in mathematics in May 2022, aged 13. That same year, he was accepted into the university's physics doctoral program, becoming one of its youngest students.

He continued his academic progress, earning a master's degree in physics in December 2023 at 15. Although he initially intended to pursue mathematics, a physics course at Normandale changed his career ambitions.

"It was basically only after I started taking the physics class that I decided to switch to physics," he said.

Now 18, Elliott is working with the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) collaboration, an international scientific project seeking to detect dark matter, an invisible substance believed to account for approximately 85% of all matter in the universe.

The project uses highly sensitive detectors installed about two kilometers underground in Canada to search for particles that scientists have yet to observe directly. His research involves analyzing experimental data and developing methods to distinguish potential dark matter signals from background interference. "We end up collecting a lot of data," he said. "One of the things that we need to do is learn from the data we get."

His accelerated education has also raised questions about whether he "lost his childhood." His mother rejected that suggestion in her recent interview with People, saying her son had maintained friendships and enjoyed ordinary childhood activities despite spending much of his early life studying alongside adults. She said Elliott had always been allowed to pursue his interests at his own pace and enjoyed activities such as going to movies and amusement parks.

"The mental health aspect for gifted people is huge," she said, explaining that the family prioritized his happiness and well-being over following a conventional educational path. "If we can make the sacrifices to keep him healthy and happy in a good mental mindset, we were gonna do whatever we needed to do."

Outside his research, Elliott enjoys playing board games, spending time with friends, traveling and computer programming, according to his personal website. He hopes to pursue a career in higher education after completing his doctorate, potentially becoming a physics lecturer and sharing his passion for science with future generations of students.

Reflecting on his academic journey, he encouraged other students to make time for life beyond their studies. "Take some amount of time to smell the roses," he said. "Don't get caught up entirely in classwork and grades."