At age 3, Rahul Nagvekar couldn't put down a globe. This week he turned 14, and his obsession has paid off. He can tell you—under klieg lights and televised pressure—which Bavarian city located on the Danube River was a legislative seat of the Holy Roman Empire from 1663 to 1806.

On Thursday morning, the lean, piano-playing eighth-grader from Quail Valley Middle School near Houston answered "Regensburg"—and emerged the victor in a tense fourth-round tiebreaker at the Google-sponsored 2012 National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C.

His spoils? A U.S. $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society, a trip to the Galápagos Islands (see the itinerary)—and, of course, a lifetime of brainiac bragging rights for besting nine other geo