Last Sunday, Ninh Thuan province’s Duong Anh Vu officially set four world records for memorization of statistical data.
Vu’s incredible memory was recognized by India’s ASSIST World Records Research Foundation, the High Range Book of Records and the Incredible Book of Records, according to Tuoi Tre.
At the competition in March, the news outlet reports, Vu showed an ability to memorize 108 statistical data systems related to the economic, cultural, political and social affairs of 225 nations and territories worldwide. These systems included a total of 22,248 data entries with 41,725 numbers and 18,725 characters.
In addition, Vu memorized the whole world map, including 2,500 landmarks, and identified physical maps in half a second, demonstrating his phenomenal reflective memory. Vu was also able to remember Pi up to 20,000 digits.
Vu earned his bachelor’s degree from Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City before pursuing his graduate studies at Auckland University in New Zealand with a scholarship. However, Vu shared with Thanh Nien that his academic record wasn’t always so stellar.
Before high school, the Ninh Thuan native said, he struggled academically and often had to retake examinations in order to continue his schooling. The inspiration to take his education more seriously came when Vu’s father, disappointed by his son’s academic performance, suggested he go to vocational school instead of university. Realizing the opportunity he was missing, Vu found his “hunger for knowledge”, as he would later describe it. The young man transferred schools and cycled 40 kilometers to and from his new high school every day in order to improve his grades.
Thanks to Vu’s amazing progress, one of his high school teachers, whom he looked up to as a second father, encouraged him to apply to several prestigious universities. Vu was then accepted into Vietnam National University and has been excelling academically ever since.
According to an earlier article, also by Thanh Nien, Vu was reportedly preparing to defend his doctoral dissertation at Leeds Metropolitan University in Britain.
[Photo via Thanh Nien]
