ベルギーの天才児、９歳で大学卒業へ　夢は人工臓器作り

【アムステルダムＡＦＰ＝時事】オランダに住むベルギー人少年のローラン・シモンズ君は、他の9歳児と同じく、テレビや家族の飼い犬が好きだ。だが一方で、人工臓器を作りたいとも思っており、間もなくその道に進むための学位を手にする見込みだ。（写真はオランダの首都アムステルダムの自宅で写真撮影に応じるローラン・シモンズ君）
　ローラン君は来月、オランダのアイントホーフェン工科大学から電気工学の学士号を授与され、世界で最も若くして大学を卒業した人物の一人となる予定。通常３年間かかる学士課程の修了にかかった期間はわずか９か月だ。
　オランダの首都アムステルダムでＡＦＰの取材に応じたローラン君は、自分の偉業に浮かれた様子を見せず、「普通」のことだとする一方で「すごい」ことであるとも語った。また「ゴーカートが大好き。あとは僕の犬と遊んだり、ネットフリックスを見たりすることも好き」だとも語った。
　父親のアレクサンダーさん（３７）と母親のリディアさん（２９）はオランダでの仕事が忙しかったため、ローラン君は今年初めまでベルギーの港湾都市オステンドで祖父母に育てられていた。ローラン君は４歳で入学した小学校を１年半で卒業。小学校から大学の修了までにかかった年数はわずか５年となる。
　アレクサンダーさんは「最終的に大事なのは、息子が人生を楽しみ、子どもでいること、いたずら好きでいることができるようにバランスを取ること」だと述べた。リディアさんは「息子が他の子たちよりずっと頭がいいことは、息子を育てていた祖父母から既に聞いていた。（中略）学校に行く年齢になると、息子はより高いレベルのテストを与えられ続けた」と説明した。
　アレクサンダーさんはベルギー人の歯科医で、オランダの港湾都市ロッテルダムで歯科医院を経営。リディアさんはオランダ人で、夫の歯科助手として勤務している。２人はローラン君に「完全に専念する」ため、医院を売却する予定だ。ローラン君は一人で大学に通うには年齢が低すぎるため、毎日大学への送迎が必要となる。
　両親は、ローラン君にとっては簡単な科目でも自分たちには「まったく理解できない」と認めている。ローラン君が飼い犬以外でいつもそばに置いているものには、ノートパソコンと集積回路に関する本がある。
　１２月の大学卒業後の目標は、「延命のための人工臓器を作る」こと。その理由は、自身の祖父母のような心臓病患者を助けたいからだという。「どうやるのかは、まだこれから考えてみないと。まだ始めたばかりだから」とローラン君は語った。
　両親は現在、ローラン君のさらなる進学を視野に、複数の米大学と連絡を取っている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/11/25-08:31）

Like many other nine-year-olds, Laurent Simons likes TV and his pet dog. But he also wants to make artificial organs, and is about to get the qualifications to set him on his way.
The Belgian boy will in December receive a degree in electrical engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, which will make him one of the world's youngest graduates.
Far from being fazed by his achievements, which also saw him complete the course in just nine months instead of the usual three years, Laurent says it's normal -- although he adds too that it's cool.
I'm currently studying electrical engineering. It's about designing circuits and things like that. So chips, actually, the mop-haired youngster told AFP in the Dutch capital Amsterdam.
He adds that I really like karting. And I like playing with my dog and watching Netflix.
His teachers run out of superlatives to describe him.
Laurent's qualities are all simply extraordinary, says Sjoerd Hulshof, programme director for electrical engineering at the university, a course that itself is considered particularly difficult.
The boy is the quickest student we've ever seen. And he's not just hyper-intelligent, but very nice, Hulshof told AFP.
- 'Being a child' -
While Laurent is studying in the labs of the university, his best friends are playing tag in the playground of his old school in the Belgian coastal resort of Ostend.
Laurent, wearing a rollneck jumper, jeans and trainers, himself says that I don't really miss primary school, but I still have friends there.
He was raised in Ostend by his grandparents until the start of this year, as his parents Alexander and Lydia were busy with work in the Netherlands.
Starting school at four, he completed primary in a year and a half. It has taken him just five years to go through primary and secondary school and university.
In the end, it's about finding a balance for the child so that he enjoys life, being a child and being mischievous, says Alexander, 37, a Belgian dentist who has a practice in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam.
His grandfather and his grandmother, who raised him, told us already: he is very intelligent, more than the others... Then, when he was old enough to go to school, they kept doing tests on him from higher levels, adds Lydia, 29, who is Dutch and works as a dental assistant for her husband.
- 'I've only just started' -
They are now selling the Rotterdam surgery so they can completely dedicate themselves to Laurent, who must be taken to university every day because he is too young to go by himself.
He can't take the train himself, says Alexander, whose Amsterdam home features a huge black and white artwork of the faces of himself and his son.
His parents admit they don't understand at all the subjects that come so easily to Laurent, whose closest companions apart from his dog are his laptop and a book on integrated circuits.
Laurent says his goal now after receiving his degree in December is to make artificial organs to prolong life.
The reason? He wants to help heart patients -- like his grand-parents.
I still have to see how I'll do it. I've only just started.
His parents are now already in contact with universities in the United States as they eye another degree for their son.
Aware of the media attention that has recently surrounded his son, Alexander says his son is growing up in a healthy environment unlike singers and pop stars.
If, one day, we realise he's becoming big-headed, that he's becoming pretentious or arrogant, we'll put his feet back on the ground.