| Ganesh Sittampalam | |
| Birth Date: | 11 February 1979 |
| Birth Place: | Croydon, U.K. |
| Alma Mater: | University of Surrey University of Oxford |
Ganesh Sittampalam (born 11 February 1979) is a British computer specialist and former record holder youngest person to pass an A-Level.[1] [2] [3]
Sittampalam was born on 11 February 1979 in Croydon.[4] He is the son of Arjuna Sittampalam, a Tamil, and Nela, a Sinhalese, originally from Sri Lanka.[5] [6] He is the grandson of Ceylonese government minister C. Sittampalam.[7] [8] He is from Surbiton.[9]
At the age of eight Sittampalam received an A grade in O-Level mathematics, becoming the youngest person to receive an A grade at O-Level.[9] [10] A year later in June 1988, aged nine years and four months, he received A grades in A-Level mathematics and further mathematics, becoming the youngest person to pass an A-level, which is typically taken at age 18.[9] [11] [12] Sittampalam received official recognition from the Guinness Book of World Records in April 1989.[12]
Sittampalam became Britain's youngest university student when he joined the University of Surrey aged 11.[7] [13] He studied for just one day a week at the university, spending the remaining four days continuing his education at King's College Junior School.[10] [14] Sittampalam graduated from the University of Surrey in July 1992, aged 13 and four months, with a first-class bachelor's degree in mathematics.[5] [10] He was Britain's youngest graduate for several years.[5] [10] He went on to receive a master's degree in computing and a doctorate in intentional programming from the University of Oxford in his 20s.[9]
Sittampalam works on GitHub Copilot as a software engineer and lives in Cambridgeshire.[7] He is married to Amanda and has a son, Alexander, and a daughter, Heather.[9] [15]
. Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon. 1997. 197–198. S. Arumugam.