Mexico’s National University admits 12-year-old for physics

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s National Autonomous University says it has admitted a 12-year-old student to its undergraduate degree program in biomedical physics.

The university, better known by its Spanish initials as the UNAM, said Thursday that Carlos Santamaria Diaz is the youngest such student in the university’s roughly century-long history.

Santamaria Diaz passed the entrance exam and has already done preparatory study at the university’s school of chemistry in its genetics sciences centre.

At the age of nine, he participated in university programs in analytical chemistry, biochemistry and biology.

The UNAM said he would be treated like any other student, with no special privileges or benefits.