Bookworm: University Professor Loses Memory After Obtaining 145 Degrees In 30 Years

He reportedly finds it difficult how to recognize people’s faces and routes to places he’s been dozens of times. Bookworm

In this era, man is hardly able to live beyond 100 years. That is why it is mindboggling what anyone would want to do with even five university degrees, let alone 145 before their time is due to die. Professor VN Parthiban, who teaches in Chennai, India, has obtained 145 degrees over the last 30 years and has no plans to stop studying anytime soon. Professor Parthiban had to move mountains to obtain his first degree, and one would have thought that he would have rested after eventually obtaining the first one. He simply was not a smart student prior to his first degree. After eventually graduating, Parthiban got a job working for the Judiciary Department, but the university professor was insatiable. He went back to school to pursue his second degree. And then a third. And then 142 more. His unending desire for degrees in almost every specialty begged the question of whether the Professor was decisive about his ambition in life.

How did he even do it? Professor Parthiban explained in an interview with Sunday Indian that he “started to apply wherever they do not require a transfer certificate for registration so that I could study different courses at the same time. In the last thirty years I have been continuously in the process of preparing for exams and applying for new degrees or diploma courses.” His list of achievements include, but are not limited to, 3 Master of Science degrees, 8 Master of Law degrees, 8 Master of Commerce degrees, 9 Master of Business Administration degrees, 10 Master of Arts degrees, and 12 various research degrees! When asked if there was a subject that he did not typically enjoy studying, Parthiban answered definitively with “mathematics.” However, the constant and excessive study, probably coupled with accumulation of too much knowledge has taken a real toll on Parthiban’s memory. He reportedly finds it difficult now to recognize people’s faces and routes to places he’s been dozens of times. Guess what. The 65-year-old professor would not give in to any of these setbacks. He still studies while also conducting lectures on multiple subjects at several universities. The indefatigable Parthiban also has a family – wife and two kids – all of whom take education just as seriously as he does. No wonder his wife has 9 degrees of her own.