Kim Peek, the man also known as "Rainman" as played by Dustin Hoffman in the movie of the same name, is 56 years old but still requires his 81-year-old father's help to get breakfast each morning.

But unlike his father, Peek will spend the second half of his day working with NASA in their Quantum Intelligence Program as the perfect model for super-intelligence.

Named the only mega savant in the entire world, Peek has been determined to be genius in 15 out of 17 categories measured. This may not sound impressive until it is compared to other known geniuses. The "average" genius (if there is such a thing as average) is only brilliant in 1-3 categories.

Peek and his father Fran spoke to an overflow crowd at Alpine's new River Meadows Senior Living Center last Thursday. Both of them make Salt Lake City their home, although much of the work they do for NASA is across the country.

Peek is a domineering presence, a man of large stature and a booming voice. But one quickly learns he is also very childlike in his interaction. As he approaches, he talks in ramblings or quickly approaches without warning for a hug devoid of personal space. However, one quickly learns this gentle giant has an equally big heart.

His message to others which he recites like a third grader giving the Pledge of Allegiance is "Learning to recognize and to respect differences in others and treating them like you want them to treat you will bring the peace and joy we all hope for." This is Peek's message to the more than two million students he has spoken to at universities across the globe.

Peek's story was told by his father Fran. Peek was born with a head one-third larger than most, and as such, was a very difficult labor. His eyes were close together and the doctors could tell something was wrong immediately. He was diagnosed by a neurologist as severely retarded.

When he was 3, his parents were observing him looking at some Golden Books.Fran said, "We looked over at him and he appeared to be reading the books, turning each one upside down when he was finished."

His parents questioned him and quickly learned not only could he read them, but he had an incredible thirst for reading as many as he could as fast as he could. His vocabulary was a match for that of his parents. They took Kim to doctors and began testing him.

Years later, Peek and Fran would take a test side by side. Each was assigned to read eight pages of Hunt for Red October. They were timed on both the reading speed and retention. Fran was able to read the text in 23 minutes and retain an adult average of 43 percent. Peek on the other hand, was able to read the text in 53 seconds, a feat that seemed impossible. Even more incredible was Peek's 98.7 percent retention.

Upon further testing, scientists learned that while most of us use both eyes to assimilate and read one page, Peek was able to use one eye to read each page, scanning both pages simultaneously with complete retention. Twelve thousand books and 6,000 maps later, Kim is able to have perfect recall on everything he has read.

Fran said that as scientists have learned that Peek's brain is missing a thin sheet of tissue-type material that reads what's coming into the brain and decides how the information is redistributed -- what stays and what goes. As a result, information comes into his brain and all of it stays there.

Kathy Leeper, a family friend, described him.

"Most of us are able to figure out when we are hungry in the morning, that we need a spoon, a bowl, and some cereal. Kim will realize he's hungry and he can see and recognize the spoon, the bowl and the cereal, but he will not know what to do with them to ease his hunger."

Perhaps the most fascinating part of this complex person is how his intelligence can help scientists for the future. Peek's perfect ability to give latitude and longitude on objects will allow him to work with NASA as they measure an asteroid that is heading for earth. This asteroid is not expected to hit for 50 years but poses a threat.

In what sounds like something out of a superhero comic book, scientists need Peek's "perfect brain" to help decipher exactly where and how big it is and when it will hit. With this knowledge they will be able to break it up into smaller pieces so it poses no threat. In this case, Peek's brain actually exceeds the capability of any known computer they have.

Fran said, "Even though we hear time and time again from doctors that they don't know how to test anything like Kim, they are constantly amazed at what they learn."

With NASA trying to literally replicate his brain, perhaps someday science will finally understand what cannot be explained today.