At just 18: The young man who broke a 306-year-old historic Guinness World Record
Guinness World Records has officially recognized the young American as the youngest professor in history, after he began teaching at a college before reaching the age of 19, and he continues to set new academic milestones.
While most 18-year-olds are just finishing high school or starting their path in the military or academia, Nathan Thomas was already standing in front of a class as a full-fledged lecturer. The young American recently received official recognition from Guinness World Records as the youngest male professor in history, after he began teaching electrical engineering at Miami Dade College at the age of just 18 years and 346 days.
According to a report by NBC News, Thomas took the position in August 2023 and broke a historic record that had stood for 306 years. Until then, the record belonged to the Scottish mathematician Colin Maclaurin, who became a professor at age 19. Thomas was also just 16 days younger than Alia Sabur, who holds the world record for the youngest female professor.
Thomas's path to this extraordinary achievement began early. At age 10, he enrolled at Miami Dade College, and at age 14, he continued his studies at Florida International University. There, he completed a bachelor's and master's degree in electrical engineering with honors, long before his peers.
According to him, his love for mathematics and science developed at home. Both his parents are engineers, and he says that it was his mother who managed to make even the most complex subjects simple to understand:
«She had a way of making things feel simple even when they weren't, and I think some of that rubbed off on me more than I realized at the time».
He adds that he continues to learn from every class he teaches:
«Teaching something forces you to understand it on a completely different level. So it turns out that I learn from it just as much as the students, if not more».
Today, Thomas continues to combine teaching with his own studies. Alongside conducting online academic courses, he is studying for a law degree at the University of Miami, which he is expected to complete in 2028. Although he has already entered the history books, it seems that the young man who broke a world record is only at the beginning of his academic journey.
