I would like to raise a quite controversial topic -- Zhang Haidi, the heroine in the 80s of the last century.

Here are some of her achievements and contributions.

-- She read more than 1,000 books in all fields, including philosophy, medicine, math and sciences, ...);
-- She taught herself 3 (at least) foreign languages: English, German and Esperanto (maybe plus Japanese);
-- She treated more than 10,000 patients;
-- She translated a novel from English to Chinese
-- She helped so many young;
...... and lot more.

Above all, she did all these in only a couple of years and, in part, in her spare time.

Just make a long story truly short -- she published an article titled: "I will NEVER confess" in the Shandong Youth Monthly in early 90s, in answering the calls from the people caring about her.