After A Violent Assault, This Alcoholic Became A Math Genius

Seventeen years ago, there was a weird incident that made the life of a man change forever. Jason Padgett, the man in the story, was an indifferent salesman who could spend the whole night drinking. Strikingly, Padgett then turned into a math genius, especially in theoretical mathematics. The former alcoholic now has God-given math abilities that everyone might think his destiny has been chosen to devote mathematics.

So, what did happen to him? In fact, Padgett was hit on the head really, really hard. The violent attack leading to a drastic transformation was traced back in 2002 as Jason Padgett was a directionless man like a bunch of young adults surrounding him: a repeating chronicle which orbited around parties, girls, drinking then starting his new day with a hangover.

In an interview, Jason Padgett told BBC that he paid no attention to math as he considered that math was useless and stupid, and he even thought himself smart enough for realizing that. The young man was quite comfortable with his not-uncommon cyclical existence until Friday 13^th in September 2002, when he started to see his life change completely.

On that day, Padgett was hanging out with his friends but they suddenly were assaulted and robbed outside a karaoke bar. Padgett had to sustain a hard punch to his gut, and even a harder one to the head. After escaping from the robbers, he tried to drag himself to a nearby hospital and was diagnosed with a bleeding kidney besides suffering a concussion, also known as traumatic brain injury.

His concussion was very serious, resulting in a couple of harms Padgett had to face after the unfortunate incident. He began to undergo a few common symptoms of Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD), and then lived a reclusive life other than the sparkling life in the old days.

Soon after, everything started to change for the young man, and for the better. When the reality was a far cry from his thinking, the mind stumbled upon deeper and weirder questions like the way he saw the world. His mind was triggered to dive into everything: the Universe, life, and mathematics. Padgett, the hermit, shifted his whole day from drinking and flirting girls into reading books about physics and mathematics.

Fractals then became his obsession after he found them struck a deep chord in his mind. He drew fractals all the time with the belief that they’re the key to all Universe secrets. He kept these drawings wherever he went outside the home for foods to keep moving on his mathematics idea about fractals. One day, a stranger saw his working and curiously asked him about it.

Luckily, the stranger was not a robber but a physicist. He was strongly impressed by Padgett’s abilities and encouraged Padgett to seriously participate in mathematics classes. This might be the most precious advice in Padgett’s life, which also changed his fate, once again. He later enrolled in a college, got OCD treatments, and then met the woman whom he would marry. His fate finally treats him well after years of being away from the meaningful life of a human. When reminiscing about these quirky old days, Padgett expressed:

Interestingly, Padgett's story became a phenomenon, so he was invited to demonstrate his life and his love for mathematics at TED. Now, let's listen to his personal theory of math, fractals, and everything he has experienced since "Friday-the-13th" of 2002.