Лоуренс Ким Пик: Жизнь и феноменальная память "Мегасаванта"

American savant (1951–2009)

Laurence Kim Peek (November 11, 1951December 19, 2009) was an American savant. Known as a "megasavant", he had an exceptional memory, but he also experienced social difficulties, possibly resulting from a developmental disability related to congenital brain abnormalities. He was the inspiration for the character Raymond Babbitt in the 1988 movie Rain Man. Although Peek was previously diagnosed with autism, he is now thought to have had FG syndrome. The Utah Film Center's Peek Award honors his legacy.

Laurence Kim Peek was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, a condition in which the bundle of nerves that connects the two hemispheres of the brain is missing; in Peek's case, secondary connectors such as the anterior commissure were also missing. According to Peek's father, Fran (Francis) Peek, Kim was able to memorize things from the age of 16–20 months. Peek read books, memorized them, and then placed them upside down on the shelf to show that he had finished reading them, a practice he maintained all his life. He could speed through a book in about an hour and remember almost everything he had read, memorizing vast amounts of information in subjects ranging from history and literature, geography and numbers to sports, music and dates. Peek read by scanning the left page with his left eye, while reading the right page with his right eye. According to an article in The Times newspaper, he could accurately recall the contents of at least 12,000 books. Peek lived in Murray, Utah, and spent a considerable amount of his time reading at the Salt Lake City Library and demonstrating his capabilities at schools, with great help from his father. Peek did not walk until he was four years old, and even then in a sidelong manner. In his adult life, Peek attended the Columbus Center and earned $40 a week doing payrolls for 86 employees at the Salt Lake City School District. His father did not fully appreciate Peek's talents until 1979 when Peek correctly predicted that the plummeting Skylab space station would land near Perth, Australia.

Peek died of a heart attack at his home on December 19, 2009, aged 58.