- Think you’re smart? Compare yourself to these people.
We all like to think we’re smart — sometimes even with nothing to back it up. But there is one way you can prove your intelligence.
You guessed it, we’re talking about the IQ test. The IQ, short for intelligence quotient, is supposedly an objective measure of a person’s intellect, with the human standard at around 100 points. Certain geniuses boast a truly impressive score.
Whether or not IQ tests are reliable, though, is up to question. Different tests can give different results, and even one person could score a wildly different number of points on different days.
What we’re saying is, take this list of the people with the highest IQs with a grain of salt. Also, we couldn’t possibly list every genius in the world. But still, there’s no doubt that this is a bunch of seriously smart cookies.
7) Stephen Hawking — 160
We all know the late wheelchair-bound genius, Stephen Hawking. You might be surprised to see him this low on the list but it’s true — he reportedly had a “modest” IQ of 160.
According to one story, Hawking had a tumble on a flight of stairs when the first signs of his ALS disease flared up. The story states that he got an IQ test after the fall to see if he’d injured his precious brain.
Now, Hawking never went public about his IQ, because he found the entire concept to be pure hogwash. He even claimed to have never gotten a test. However, his IQ is widely believed to be around 160.
6) Albert Einstein — 160-190
How could we not list Einstein? He’s pretty much the standard against which all other scientists are measured.
Although the man never got an IQ test in his life, exhaustive analysis of his papers and notes has helped other scientists make a guesstimate of his intelligence. Most estimate that his IQ was somewhere between 160 and 190.
That score puts Einstein firmly in the “unparalleled genius” category so it’s probably more or less accurate. But of course, we’ll never know for certain.
5) Judith Polgar — 170
It’s hard to become a chess grandmaster if you’re not a genius, but even in this brilliant company, Judith Polgar stands out. In 1991, at the age of 15, she became the youngest grandmaster at the time.
Polgar is widely held to be the greatest female chess player of all time. It’s no wonder, then, that she boasts an impressive IQ of 170.
Polgar has scored a number of high-profile victories in her game of choice, defeating 11 reigning world champions. As one of the most significant, she beat Garry Kasparov in 2002.
Speaking of Kasparov…
4) Garry Kasparov — 194
Russian-born Garry Kasparov is among the greatest chess players of all time. If nothing else, he’s definitely the most famous.
Armed with an IQ of 194, Kasparov was ranked the #1 chess player in the world for a record-holding 255 months over his career, spanning from 1984 to 2005. He also holds the record for the most consecutive wins in ranked chess.
But even geniuses aren’t omnipotent. In 1997, Kasparov lost a match against Deep Blue, the famous chess-playing. It was the first time a computer had beaten a reigning champion.
Wonder what Deep Blue’s IQ is.
3) Marilyn Vos Savant — 228
Marilyn Vos Savant is an American author and columnist. And for a while, she was ranked as the person with the highest IQ in the world.
In 1986, Vos Savant was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as possessing the highest IQ of anyone in the world. The entry listed her IQ at 228.
She was dethroned in 1989. Some experts also suspect that the psychologist who gave Vos Savant her IQ test used faulty math to calculate her score. According to them, Vos Savant’s IQ is really “only” 170.
Be that as it may, that would still mean she’s among the world’s smartest people.
2) William James Sidis — 250… Maybe.
There’s no question over whether William James Sidis was a genius. By the time he was 5, he could speak Latin, Green, Russian, French, German, and Hebrew. When he was 6, Harvard refused to take him in — not because he wasn’t intelligent, but because he wasn’t yet “emotionally mature.”
But by 11, Sidis was in Harvard and lectured on four-dimensional physics. Unfortunately, mistreatment by his fellow students cut his academic career short and he died at the age of 46 as a humble clerk.
So, yes, Sidis was a genius, but how much of a genius. According to his sister, psychologist Abraham Sperling tested Sidis and gave him a score of more than 250.
However, the Sidis family apparently had a habit of making exaggerated claims about its members. Additionally, Sperling himself claims to have never given Sidis an IQ test.
What was Sidis’ actual IQ? Who knows. But he was undeniably a genius, and it’s a pity he couldn’t put his skills to use.
1) Ainan Celeste Cawley — 263
Ainan Celeste Cawley from Singapore in 1999. By 2005, he had already given his first public lecture.
The following year, he became the youngest person ever to pass O Level chemistry. Two years later, he began studying chemistry at the Singapore Polytechnic.
But Cawley isn’t just a chemistry prodigy. He also composes music, had directed films, and can recite pi to 518 decimals.
But we suppose you can do all that when you’re rocking a reported IQ of 263.