Currently, according to the new methods for measuring intelligence, an IQ of 100 is considered the average. And if we consider that the standard deviation is 15, whoever is within the margins of 85 and 115 is considered a person of normal intelligence.
Now, generally from IQ 130 onwards, people are considered gifted, and if they exceed IQ 155, they are called people of superior intelligence. It is known for example that Albert Einstein, as well as Stephen Hawking, had an IQ of 160, while Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, has an IQ of 152.
In addition, experts in the field estimate that great geniuses such as Isaac Newton and Marie Curie exceeded an IQ of 180 and there is even a possibility that they had an IQ of 200 points. Are you ready to know the members of the highest IQ list in history? Read!
Who has the highest IQ?
William James Sidis has the World’s Highest IQ.
Not everything is going to be beauty rankings, billionaires or powerful people. The ‘Super Scholar’ organization, which advises students, has decided to create a list of the 10 brains alive with the highest IQ, based on the well-known people whose IQ is known. Among them are scientists, such as Stephen Hawking; entrepreneurs, such as Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen; and artists, such as actor James Woods. The list can be consulted here.
The experts have indicated that “assessing the intelligence of a person is a very subjective matter” since it can take into account the IQ or the achievements that a man has made throughout his life. That is why this list “does not have a specific order”.
On it is the world’s best-known scientist, Stephen Hawking. He has an IQ of 160 and, at the age of 70, has more than 14 awards to his credit and has written 7 books. For the experts who have carried out this list, Hawking “has made himself” and “has made society understand the universe”. Only one woman has been included in the list, Judit Polgar, with an IQ of 170.
Do you know the Vendergood case: one of the highest IQs in history?
It is one thing to consider yourself intelligent and quite another to be so, for example, Vendergood. This is an artificial language created by William James Sidis in 1905, who at 18 months was already able to read the New York Times, at 4 years old he learned Greek, at 6 years old he mastered Aristotle’s logic and at 8 years old he spoke 8 languages.
Even as a child, William Sidis wrote a book entitled Vendergood in which he described the language he had invented. In this book he used a base 12 number system, the reason explained by Sidis, is that the unit when selling things is 12 (a dozen) and 12 is the smallest number that has four factors.
However, Sidis’ life and especially his childhood was quite hard because his father, the psychiatrist Boris Sidis, became obsessed with the boy’s genius and kept a constant study from an early age, which helped him to achieve his goal of sending William to college when he was only 11 years old.
But, the truth is that Sidis had a lonely childhood where activities such as playing were forbidden. As a result, he never developed the social skills to function in everyday life, something that would bring him great disadvantages in college and in his personal life.
After graduating Cum Laude at only 16 years of age from Harvard, Sidis tried to pursue other careers but due to aggression from his classmates, he decided to move to Houston, where he worked as a Geometry teacher.
Despite standing out remarkably, William James Sidis is not the only one who has impressed us with his IQ. Therefore, here is a list of the most outstanding IQs in history.
What’s the IQ?
The most common method to measure the IQ is based on the performance of a test that determines the mental age of the person, this result is divided by the chronological age and the resulting derivation is multiplied by 100: the final figure is considered the IQ level of the subject under test, through this method is measured and determined the intelligence of a person, whose result could indicate that someone reaches the highest IQ in history.
Considering that an average IQ is between 90 and 109 points, a high IQ is between 110 and 119 points, and a coefficient between 120 and 129 points is considered above average intelligence.
Any person who exceeds 130 IQ points enters the range of “geniuses” and those who exceed 160 points are considered intellectually gifted. In this sense, people considered to have the highest IQ in history have had averages ranging from 160 to 300 points.
People with the highest IQ in the world.
Here is a list of some of the people with the highest IQ recorded over the years:
Terence Tao
This Australian mathematician has an IQ of 230 points, the highest ever given by a person. He is considered the most intelligent person in the world and was awarded the Fields Medal in 2006.
Christopher Hirata
Another person with the highest IQ. His IQ is 225 points and he was considered a child prodigy, since at the age of 13 he won the International Physics Olympiad, winning a gold medal and becoming the youngest winner. In addition, at the age of 16, he was already collaborating with NASA on Mars colonization projects.
Kim Ung-Yong
His story is truly incredible, as this man named Kim Ung-Yong is considered one of the people with the highest IQ today with a range between 210 and 220 I.Q. Before his first birthday he was fluent in his mother tongue, the Korean language, and by the age of 3, he already spoke 4 languages.
Like Christopher Hirata, he was also invited to NASA at a very young age, in his case when he was only 7 years old and, for his part, he obtained a doctorate in physics at the age of 15. Today he chooses to stay out of the public sphere, preferring to remain to teach civil engineering in his native South Korea.
Christopher Michael Langan
Christopher is considered the smartest man in the United States and is one of the people with the highest IQ in the world. He has an IQ of 210 points and made the famous cognitive-theoretical model of the universe.
Stephen Hawking
Although he is not among the first positions, Stephen Hawking is definitely considered among the most brilliant minds of the last century. He had an IQ of 160 points and stood out for his numerous contributions to physics, theories, research and predictions around the knowledge of the universe and the cosmos, which led him to be listed as one of the greatest scientists in history and one of the people with the highest IQ.
In 2018 he died due to complications with the degenerative disease he had been struggling with for years, multiple sclerosis.
Richard Rosner
Earlier we talked about how some people, despite their intelligence, did not always stand out among the population for various reasons. Well, the American Richard Rosner is one of those who has decided on his own not to be counted among the scientific geniuses despite his 192 I.Q. For his part, he has taken the initiative to devote himself to making television content, writing screenplays and working as a stripper, model and waiter on roller skates.
Although the media and press have disparagingly called him “the dumb genius,” he ignores the comments as he has decided not to follow the norm and use his intelligence to do what he is passionate about.
Judit Polgár
Not only men rank among the people with the highest IQ, women also have a presence here and, from a very young age, Polgár demonstrated her intelligence. At the age of 15, she already had a great trajectory in chess and had obtained the title of International Grandmaster; by the age of 19 she became the only woman in history to be positioned in the world ranking of the top 10 chess players. Her coefficient reaches 170 points.
Conclusion
In this brief guide we answered the question ‘’Who has the highest IQ?’’, we explain what IQ is, how it is calculated, and who are the people with the highest IQ in the world.
If you have any questions or comments let us know!
