In his target article, Sternberg (2017) quite rightly criticizes the approach to identifying giftedness that was initiated by Terman's (1925-1959) classic prospective study of high-IQ children. Sternberg then recommends a number of novel approaches to both identification and education. Nonetheless, this commentator recommends that future researchers follow Terman's example in conducting not just a long-term prospective investigation into these approaches but also a retrospective inquiry such as that conducted by Cox (1926), which constituted the second volume of "Genetic Studies of Genius" (Terman, 1925-1959). A retrospective study can determine whether eminent exemplars of Sternberg's desired adults displayed the expected characteristics and experiences much earlier in childhood and adolescence. Prospective and retrospective approaches should converge, but they may not.