Intelligence quotient (IQ) is used to determine a person’s cognitive level. Participants earn scores by completing standardized tests that assess their abilities to solve puzzles, memorize, and more.
Your IQ value is relative to the intelligence of the general population, the median score of which is generally around 100. A score below 85 is considered a low score, while a score above 130 indicates intelligence ( among the richest 2% of the population).
It is difficult to accurately assess intellect, and IQ scores should always be taken with a grain of salt due to cultural differences and other variables. According to a study published in Frontiers In Systems Neuroscience, “intelligence test results are often misinterpreted and may be subject to abuse.”
Another consideration is that an IQ score is not a unit of measurement. For example, a person with an IQ of 130 is not 30% smarter than a person with an IQ of 100. Given how testing has evolved over the decades, it is also difficult to compare results from different eras.
Theoretically, IQ levels have no upper limit. 200 is often considered the theoretical maximum total, but some players have exceeded it.
Who has the highest IQ in the world?
Terence Tao, pictured above, is said to have the highest IQ in the world, with an impressive score of between 225 and 230. If the Chinese-American mathematician scored 230, he is undoubtedly in the lead.
Marilyn Vos Savant is, however, effectively tied for the title. His IQ was 228 in the 1986-1989 editions of the Guinness World Records before the record was removed in 1990 because IQ scores were deemed too unreliable to document.
Christopher Hirata has the second highest confirmed IQ with a score of 225, which is astounding. There were a few others with equal or higher scores. IQ scores should be taken with a grain of salt, especially for people who lived before the invention of the IQ test.
What ever had the highest IQ?
It is difficult to determine who ever had the highest IQ. The IQ test simply did not exist when many brilliant people were alive. Since official records are difficult to locate, the validity of other alleged intelligence test candidates is also questionable.
Despite this, some humans are said to have the highest IQs ever recorded.
Henry James Sidis
William James Sidis, reputed to be the most intelligent individual who ever lived, is the gold standard for child prodigies. Apparently able to read the newspaper at the age of 18 months, he entered Harvard University at the age of 11 and graduated at 16.
The Animated and the Inanimate (which covered cosmology and the reversibility of the second law of thermodynamics and predicted the black hole) and The Book of Vendergoord (in which he created a constructed language at the age of 8) are part of his many works.
In Psychology For The Millions, Abraham Sperling describes how Helena Sidis (William’s sister) informed him that “a few years before his death, his brother Bill took an intelligence test with a psychologist.”
Sperling explains that William Sidis had the highest score ever recorded. The psychologist estimated that the patient’s IQ would drop to between 250 and 300.”
However, in the years since, Sidis’s IQ has been widely disputed.
Lady Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace, the first computer scientist, is frequently cited among the most intelligent individuals who ever lived. Through her work on the Analytical Engine, she effectively created the world’s first computer program.
Michael Christopher Langan
Christopher Michael Langan, who reportedly has an IQ of 195, is often considered one of the smartest people in the world. The controversial figure has frequently supported conspiracy theories and claims that the existence of God can be demonstrated mathematically.
Alfred Einstein
Despite his reputation as one of the smartest people of all time, Einstein’s IQ was apparently lower than one would expect. Since the test did not exist during Einstein’s lifetime, it is impossible to determine how intelligent this famous scientist actually was.
Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was a mathematician, engineer, botanist, cartographer and much more, so it’s difficult to single out any one of his achievements. He is often considered one of the most brilliant people in the world.
The Sho Yano
Sho Yano entered college at the age of nine and became a doctor at the age of 21. According to the Chicago Tribune, this made him “the youngest student in the history of the University of Chicago to receive a medical degree.”
Catherine Johnson
If you’ve seen the Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures, you’ve probably met mathematician Katherine Johnson. His contributions were crucial to NASA’s early space missions and were instrumental in launching John Glenn and Alan Shepard into space. Even the Apollo missions used Johnson’s orbital calculations.
Professor Stephen Hawking
What else can you say about Stephen Hawking? The Simpsons character is one of the most renowned theoretical physicists and cosmologists in history. Hawking radiation became a key cosmological theory after demonstrating that black holes radiate energy, slowly contract, and erupt in a burst of gamma rays.