I believe you, and I have many examples from my own life where girls are outsmarting guys because they are forced to use their brains. Guys sometimes doesn't because we can just use strength instead, like you said.
And being smaller and more agile is a huge plus in most situations as well.
Pretty much agree 100%.
Specially the part about him not doing it for money. He was just intellectually curious and wanted to see if he could do it. Same reason a lot of us enjoy programming at home.