10 times Young Sheldon was smarter than adults

Young Sheldon is a television show about the early childhood of Sheldon Cooper, a beloved character from The Big Bang Theory. Young Sheldon tells the tale of how the precocious nerd becomes the eccentric individual we meet as an adult.

Sheldon Cooper is a prodigy whose intelligence is off the charts and often makes up for his lack of social skills. As a little kid, Sheldon frequently outwits the adults in his life. Here are ten instances where Young Sheldon was smarter than the adults in the situation.

Correcting His Teachers

From the first episode of Young Sheldon, it’s clear that Sheldon is not an average kid. He skips at least two or three grades, landing in high school at the tender age of nine. When the high school teacher makes a mathematical error during class in season 1, Sheldon can’t conceal his disbelief.

The teacher pressures Sheldon to stop making a fuss, but Sheldon refuses to back down. When he straightforwardly answers the question again, doing the math on the board, it turns out that he was right and the teacher was wrong.

From the show’s inception, viewers understand that this dynamic with professors would never change. Sheldon’s teachers are initially dismissive of his prankishness, ego, and subsequent impatience. Over the course of the series, they come to respect his expertise and agree with his decisions.

College Classes

In the third season of the Young Sheldon, he begins taking a weekly college physics course. Sheldon is the youngest in class, and within a couple of episodes, he becomes the star of the course because of his intelligence.

In one episode, for example, the class is given an extraordinarily difficult problem. The rest of the class can’t quite work it out, but Sheldon does and also figures out a way of doing it that the professor finds impressive.

The jealousy of the students is palpable, but it is also clear that Sheldon's grasp of physics exceeds that of an average nine-year-old boy.

Sheldon's caliber to join College (Image via Netflix)

Young Sheldon invests in stocks

Sheldon’s brilliance is not just conceptual. At one point in the series, impressed by a guest lecture about financial markets, Sheldon decides to invest in stocks. He does his homework, purchases a good stock, and makes a killing on it.

When Sheldon’s father George learns of this, he is impressed and a bit ashamed at the same time, since he has been underperforming at these things.

Another thing that viewers learned from Sheldon is that he can be an effective storyteller. Once portrayed as a master of storytelling, Sheldon reinforces the viewers' understanding of his impressive cognitive abilities.

Young Sheldon solves physics problems

In another scene in Season 5, a physics professor is entangled in a problem. Suddenly, Sheldon wades into the classroom and gives a solution with a lot of confidence, leaving the professor and other people in the class in surprise.

The professor later appreciates that some of Sheldon’s thoughts can form the basis for new academic papers, showing that even experienced teachers can gain knowledge from this young talent.

Sheldon's versatility (Image via Netflix)

Building a nuclear reactor

At the beginning of the show, viewers saw Sheldon trying to build an atomic reactor, which would serve as a charge-free electricity source for the community if he succeeded.

This attempt was cut short by the law enforcement agencies, which was a great relief to his relatives and friends. But the fact that he knows the theory and gathers almost all the components proves his exceptional knowledge of nuclear engineering.

Computer Hacking

Young Sheldon is also a skilled computer science professional. In an episode, he was shown hacking into the school’s computer system to adjust it, when he could not contain his frustration over rigid school timings.

Many adults find it hard to navigate through complex computer systems, but this didn't bother Sheldon, as he managed to alter his school schedule at the click of a button.

On a lighter note, the school’s IT department was not sharp enough, since they were easily hacked by a little boy, which goes to show how much he knows about technology.

Sheldon doing computer coding (Image via Netflix)

Psychological Insight

Despite being socially awkward, Sheldon, once in a while, shows an unbelievable sense of how people feel and think. During an episode in season 4, he manages to help his sister Missy handle a bully by examining their actions and coming up with a strategy to blow the bully’s mind.

Sheldon bonding with Missy (Image via Netflix)

Chess Mastery

In the series, Young Sheldon is also shown to be interested in chess. He competes against players who are older and more experienced than him and defeats them often.

He joined the neighborhood chess club one day, and within no time, became the best player. His great intuition about the opponent's actions and tactics while playing chess tells viewers about his analytical skills.

Sheldon being Sheldon (Image via Netflix)

Medical Knowledge

Sheldon knows much more than just maths and science. For example, in one episode of Young Sheldon, he made the correct diagnosis, which left the local doctor puzzled for quite a long time.

If anyone near him had an unexplainable sickness and decided to ask the Cooper family for help, Sheldon could easily identify the disease based on what he had read in medical journals and books, showing the wide range of his knowledge.

The astronaut Sheldon (Image via Netflix)

Legal Savvy

Sheldon’s intelligence even extends to the monetary legal domain. In an episode of Young Sheldon where his acquaintances face a lawsuit, Sheldon manages to give better legal counsel than the attorney they hired.

He is confident when interpreting legal documents and understanding procedures. His mom, Mary, and dad, George, are often astonished by how much he knows.