Letter: Lost talents

Sir: Whatever happened to . . ? If there have been 5,000 families with gifted children during recent history (30 November), where are these exceptional adults now? Are they outstanding leaders, Nobel prize-winners, professors of their specialism, acknowledged brains? Have any of them taken a interest in engineering or economics?

This is a story for us all. Was their learning curve abnormally steep between birth and 12 years old, before flattening to be within a standard deviation of the normal?

Yours sincerely,

DAVID CHADDERTON

Southampton

30 November