Meet India’s youngest IITian, cracked IIT-JEE at 12, earned PhD at 24, his name is…, now working as…

Satyam Kumar scripted history when he cracked the IIT-JEE in his very first attempt, achieving an AIR of 8137, becoming the youngest-ever IITian in history.

Youngest IITian: At the tender age of 12, when most kids are still trying to learn arithmetic in middle school, Satyam Kumar, a child genius from a tiny village in Bihar, earned the distinction of becoming the youngest student to clear the IIT-JEE, one of the toughest entrance examinations in the country, securing an All-India Rank (AIR) of 8137.

However, the child prodigy was not content with his performance and attempted the exam again in 2013, this time bettering his rank to 670, and becoming youngest IITian in the country’s history.

Who is Satyam Kumar?

Born in a farming family on July 20, 1999, in Bakhorapur, an unassuming little village in Bihar’s Bhojpur district, Satyam Kumar displayed his academic brilliance since an early age. His genius-level intellect caught the attention of a family friend who convinced Kumar’s father to send the child to coaching hub Kota in Rajasthan to prepare for the IIT-JEE examination.

How Satyam Kumar became India’s youngest IITian

In 2012, Satyam Kumar scripted history when he cracked the IIT-JEE in his very first attempt, achieving an AIR of 8137, becoming the youngest-ever IITian in history. The genius boy attempted the test again in 2013, and improved his rank to 670, scoring an impressive 292 out of 360 marks.

Satyam was just 13 at the time, thus surpassing the previous record holder, Sahak Kaushik, who had achieved the feat at the age of 14 in 2010.

What is Satyam doing now?

After acing the IIT-JEE, Satyam Kumar earned his way into the prestigious IIT Kanpur where completed a BTech-MTech Dual Degree in Electrical Engineering. Later, at the age of 24, Satyam earned his his Ph.D. at the University of Texas, in Texas, United States, and is now working for a US-based tech major.

According to his LinkedIn page, Satyam Kumar previously interned at Apple as a Machine Learning Intern, and is currently working as a Machine Learning Systems Research Engineer at Texas instruments.