World’s youngest male professor pranks students by posing as classmate

The Florida native, now 21 and pursuing a law degree at the University of Miami, began teaching engineering at Miami Dade College in August 2023 at 18 years and 346 days old.

Thomas said he initially expected his age to create challenges in the classroom, particularly because many of his students were older than him. Instead, he said they treated him with respect.

"I’m not sure how my experience would be elsewhere — I’m sure I could’ve run into problems — but at Miami Dade, I never ran into any problems," he told People magazine. "Everyone was super respectful."

"I made it clear the first day that, yeah I’m a little young, but let’s not make that part of the classroom experience," he added.

Thomas, who now teaches online classes at the college, said he generally avoids drawing attention to his age. But during one of his first semesters, he decided to prank his students.

Before class began, he sat in the front row and pretended to be a student, remaining there until five minutes after the scheduled start time. With no one realizing who he was, he said, "Oh, where’s this professor at? It’s 10:05, like, he’s not here. He probably sucks."

He then walked to the front of the room, turned on the computer and revealed that he was their professor.

"‘Oh yeah, by the way, I’m the instructor.’"

Nathan Thomas, the world’s youngest male professor. Photo from Guinness World Records

He was recently recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's youngest male professor, breaking a centuries-old record held by Scottish mathematician Colin Maclaurin, who became a professor at 19 in the 18th century.

He was also 16 days younger than Alia Sabur when she became the world's youngest female professor in 2008 at 18 years and 362 days, according to Guinness World Records.

His academic path began unusually early. After earning a perfect score on his kindergarten readiness assessment, he was homeschooled from age five. He enrolled in dual-enrollment courses at Miami Dade College at 10 and earned an associate degree in mathematics at 14, becoming the college's youngest graduate at the time.

That record stood until April 2025, when his younger brother, Noah Thomas, graduated at an age three months younger than Nathan had, according to the college newspaper The Reporter. Thomas went on to earn bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering with honors from Florida International University before turning 19.

He is now studying law with a focus on STEM and plans to enter corporate law, but said he leads a normal life outside academics. "People don’t expect that. They’re expecting me to be some depressed kid that reads calculus in his free time. I don’t do any of that stuff."

Outside his studies and teaching, he plays sports and spends time with friends. He encourages young people not to compare their progress with other people's paths.

"Everyone has dreams and everyone’s path to get to those dreams is different," he said. "Hard work allows any dream to be possible if you just stay in your lane and stay focused."