>>20238622Leonardo da Vinci had very little formal education. His parents divorced at an early age, and the environment where he spent his childhood was a rural one. He was sent to an artist's workshop in the city of Florence at the age of 14 precisely because he had innate talent in the arts.
John von Neumann was a child prodigy who, by the age of 6, could converse in ancient Greek and could divide two-digit numbers in his head. He famously had a eidetic memory, a talent, mind you, that most people do not possess. In spite of his lifelong academic achievements, he was also a highly sociable person with an affinity for telling jokes, and could easily talk to anyone from children to professors.
Education does matter, but the extent to which education and training can yield fruits depend on a person's natural talent. A person with natural talent but absolutely no training at all might not have many accomplishments at all, but a person with a lot of training and very little talent will only be as accomplished as the extent of their training.
