The mother of Sean Atitsogbe, the 10-year-old Ghanaian-born American who in recent months put Ghana on the map by featuring on major television programmes in the United States, has told the story behind the young science prodigy.
Speaking in an interview with TV3 on Monday, September 9, 2025, Atitsogbe disclosed that her son is a gifted child.
She indicated that her family realised that Sean Atitsogbe, who is popularly known as “Sean the Science Kid,” was special just after six months of his birth.
“I got to know he was special at about six months, but we got to know for sure when he was nine months, when we realised that he could read at such a tender age.
“Somewhere around six months, I realised that when I gave him kids’ programmes to watch, he wasn’t interested in those programmes, but rather he was interested in the advertisements, which are mostly educational programmes in the US,” she said.
Meet Sean Atitsogbe: The Ghanaian science wonder kid making waves in the US
She said that anytime the ads for the educational programmes ended, Sean would start crying, and she decided to switch and make him watch only the educational programmes.
She disclosed that her son learnt everything on his own, including learning the English and Greek alphabets when he was a toddler.
The mother of Atitsogbe also shared the challenges of having a special kid like her son, disclosing that she had to quit her job in order to be able to take care of him.
She said that quitting her job meant that they had to rely only on the income of her husband, which made life a bit difficult for them.
Sean the Science Kid, who also spoke in the interview, said that he loves science so much because it helps to explain happenings in the world.
“My favourite thing about science is that it allows us to explain the world in a clear and concise way. It also allows us to bring solutions to problems and bring the world to a better place,” he said.
The young prodigy also spoke about his ambition of becoming a special kind of medical doctor, a profession he coined himself as a “neurocardio surgeon,” a surgeon who operates on both the brain and the heart.
He also advised parents to allow their children to study what they want and not force them into their preferred career paths.
The mother disclosed that she and her husband are both Ghanaians. She said that her mum is from Aburi in the Eastern Region and her dad is from Anomabo in the Central Region.
Sean Atitsogbe: Facts about the 10-year-old Ghanaian-born American scientist
The parents of Sean’s father, she said, are from the Volta and Greater Accra Regions.
In a recent interview with Dr Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s multiple Emmy award-winning chief medical correspondent and neurosurgeon, the young prodigy demonstrated his impressive knowledge of the brain, his favourite part of the human body.
Sean explained that if he could change one thing about the brain, it would be to give it “infinite storage.”
“I would make it so you remember anything and everything, and you wouldn’t forget. I could have it downsized, but you would have a pretty sick superpower,” he said.
During the interview, Sean even dissected a brain to show his favourite part, the hippocampus, the section responsible for saving memories.
BAI/VPO
Will Ghana pass the Anti-Witchcraft Bill? Find out in the latest episode of The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV in this conversation with Amnesty International:
