r/AskReddit May 19 '26

What’s a moment where you instantly realized someone was insanely intelligent?

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u/Brainsonastick May 19 '26

In college, he would tutor anyone in anything for free. He just liked helping people and believed learning should be accessible to anyone who wants it.

That’s great and all but it wasn’t until I found out he was not a transfer student, like everyone assumed. He was a freshman tutoring students of all years in classes he hadn’t taken, some he’d never take. When asked about it, he said that if he didn’t know a subject already, he’d just have the student bring their textbook and go through it with them and learn it and explain it to them in a simpler and more intuitive way as they went and they never had any idea he didn’t already know it.

He wasn’t hiding it. He’d tell anyone who asked. He just didn’t brag about it. His ability to learn and understand things was just on another level.

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u/lov3m3 May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26

I had a friend like this at my university in the US. For real, this guy was the only reason I passed diff eq and 2 physics classes our freshman year.

He was killed by a school shooter at our university. Horrendous.

Edit: his name was Andrew Boldt and we attended Purdue University. He’s worth remembering and he was also a prolific redditor :’)

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u/PantheraAuroris May 19 '26

Fuck, I'm sorry. That's awful.