Who in the world has the highest IQ? It may surprise you to find that it wasn’t Albert Einstein.
There’s no denying that Einstein was a genius, but he doesn’t win the title of “smartest person on the planet” because there are plenty of others who are smarter than him, both past and present.
The World’s Highest IQs:
Johann Goethe:
Johann Goethe was a German polymath who lived in the 1800s. His IQ was estimated to be between 210 and 225. created an early hypothesis of evolution and pioneered the study of human chemistry. He is regarded as one of the greatest figures in Western literature, making him more of a jack-of-all-trades. “Faust,” a poetic drama he wrote in 1808, is widely read and studied today.
Nicolaus Copernicus :
Copernicus was a Pole who worked as a mathematician and astronomer. He was the one who determined that the sun, not the Earth, was the centre of our solar system, according to his estimated IQ score of 160 to 200.
Leonardo Da Vinci:
Leonardo Da Vinci, a famed painter known for works such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, is one of history’s most celebrated geniuses. He was also able to produce technological innovations such as flying aircraft, armoured vehicles, and adding machines with an estimated IQ score ranging from 180 to 220.
Carl Gauss:
Carl Gauss was a young prodigy who grew up to be one of Germany’s greatest mathematicians of the nineteenth century. He went on to contribute to number theory subjects such as algebra, statistics, and analysis, despite having IQ values ranging from 250 to 300.
James Maxwell:
James Maxwell was a Scottish mathematical physicist with an estimated IQ score ranging from 190 to 205. He is widely recognised for inventing the classical electromagnetic radiation theory. “I stand on Maxwell’s shoulders,” Einstein said when asked if he had relied on Issac Newton’s shoulders to achieve success.
William Sidis:
William Sidis was a young American prodigy who inspired the film Good Will Hunting. He got accepted to Harvard at the age of nine, despite having IQ scores ranging from 200 to 300. However, because of his age, he was denied admission to an Ivy League university. He went to Tufts University until he was 11 years old when Harvard eventually allowed him to enrol.
Voltaire:
Francois Marie Arouet, aka Voltaire, was thought to have an IQ of 190 to 200. He was one of France’s greatest writers and philosophers, known for his satire and criticism of his country’s elite noblemen. He was born in 1694.
Terence Tao:
Terence Tao, a youthful arithmetic prodigy who now teaches at UCLA, has been dubbed “the Mozart of Math.” His IQ ranges between 211 and 230 points. His contributions to number theory and harmonic analysis have earned him international recognition. According to the Los Angeles Times, he won the new Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics in 2015 and was awarded $3 million.
Christopher Hirata:
Christopher Hirata, who has an IQ of 225, made headlines when he won the 1996 International Physics Olympiad at the age of 14 and was the youngest champion ever. He was working with NASA on the colonisation of Mars by the time he was 16 years old.
Nikola Tesla:
When you hear the word “Tesla,” you might think of a premium automotive company. Nikola Tesla, on the other hand, was one of the most intelligent humans who ever lived. Tesla’s IQ ranged from 160 to 310 when he was born in 1856 during a lightning storm. He is credited with inventing the Tesla coil as well as alternating current machinery.
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