Students: A Bachelor at 16

Don Zagier, a short (5 ft. 4 in.), amiable youth, graduated last week at 16. That may sound only mildly interesting and not at all rare until is it said that Don's diploma was not from high school but rather from M.I.T.—and that he picked up not one, but two bachelor of science degrees.

Don, whose mother is a psychiatrist and whose father is dean of instruction at The American College of Switzerland, is not the customary introverted boy genius. He enjoys skiing and bridge, makes friends easily, dates a 20-year-old coed. Like most students, he prefers eleventh-hour cramming to term-long...