Singapore - Ainan Celeste Cawley is a 7-year-old child prodigy currently looking for a place at a university. The search has proven difficult because no university so far seems willing to accept the young "wunderkind," an apparent budding genius in the field of chemistry.
"Ainan promises to be one of the great thinkers of our time," said his 38-year-old father, Valentine Cawley.
Ainan, who is of mixed Irish-Singaporean heritage, successfully sat chemistry O levels earlier this year, an exam devised for 16-year-olds.
"We gave him a chemistry O level book one evening. I found it on his night table the next day, he had read through all of its 460 pages and even scribbled notes in its margins," said Cawley.
While his regular school's curriculum currently comprises learning the alphabet, Ainan studies at home for chemistry A levels, the university entry exam, for which he wants to sit this year.
Ainan's miraculous story began two weeks after his birth on November 23, 1999 when the infant uttered his very first word, according to his father. He uttered the word "water," as he became thirsty.
At the age of 2 months, he had learned how to read the watch to determine at which time his mother Syahidah Osman (28), an artist, would return home.
At 4 months old, he started to crawl about, and at 6 months he could walk.
He enjoyed drawing three-dimensional paintings at age 3, composed songs on the piano as he turned 6, and Ainan is currently discovering the chemical structures of molecules.
As his dad distributes copies of Ainan's curriculum vitae to interested bystanders, his genius offspring explores the features of Singapore's National Library.
He pulls at strings to lower or raise window shutters and examines the insulation of a window frame, after which he boringly drinks green tea from a tetra pack, which he then carefully and with obvious interest takes apart.
"He is rather shy, though," said his father.
To the question whether he likes going to school, the boy silently shakes his head.
"Regular school is no challenge for him. He's bored there" answered dad on Ainan's behalf.
Tim White is the head of the division of Material Sciences at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.
He has welcomed Ainan in his laboratory on several occasions. "Ainan would have a very bright future as a chemist," said White. "He is a child with exceptional capabilities."
But safety issues in the laboratory posed a problem, according to White. The high lab tables were a literal hurdle, for example, and there also were equipment and chemicals which could be dangerous to a young boy who had never had any experience with them.
"The issue is how much time can we devote to him. That is a full-time job," said White.
Ainan's father Valentine said he would fill that gap. "I will be with him all the time. That takes care of the safety issue," he said. But for that to be possible Cawley is looking for a sponsor to finance the family of five.
Valentine claimed he was a child prodigy himself when, as a 17-year-old, he engaged in scientific research at Britain's National Physics Laboratory.
But he eventually gave up when the elite university Cambridge displayed a hostile attitude towards him.
"I want to spare my son from an experience like that," he said, adding that today he mainly is occupied with writing books.
"Ainan's interest in chemistry is contagious and, who knows, some day I just might return to physics again," he said.
In the meantime, Valentine Cawley apparently has his hands full rearing an entire clutch of child prodigies.
His said his two other children, 4-year-old Fintan Nadym and 21-months-old Tiarnan Hasyl, also have shown promising talents - in art, music, acting and logical thinking.
