When we think about the world’s smartest people, we frequently think of famous scientists or literary giants who have made significant contributions to our world. Many others, on the other hand, have extremely high IQs and are pursuing careers in their chosen disciplines.
Well, what is this fuss about IQ and people having higher IQ?
The intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a measurement of a person’s capacity to think. In a nutshell, it’s designed to see how effectively someone can utilize reasoning and knowledge to answer questions and make predictions. Short- and long-term memory is measured in IQ tests to begin assessing this.
There are several of the world’s smartest people who, regardless of their contributions to the world, have the highest IQ. To name a few: –
Smartest People In The World
1. Albert Einstein
Nationality – German
Born – 14 March 1879
IQ – 160-180
Accomplishment – Devising the theory of Relativity and contributions in Quantum Mechanics.
2. Stephen Hawking
Nationality – British
Born – 8 January 1942
IQ – 160-170
Accomplishment – Work on the origins and structure of the universe, from the Big Bang to black holes.
3. Manahel Thabet
Nationality – Yemeni
Born – 14 October 1981
IQ – 168
Accomplishment – Recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, which include Brain of the Year Award, Guinness World Record, Middle East Achievement Awards in Science, World Peace, and Prosperity Foundation Awards, and Genius of the Year.
4. Leonardo Da Vinci
Nationality – Italian
Born – 15 April 1452
IQ – 180-220
Accomplishment – His designs, art, cartography, geology, and studies.
5. Rudolf Clausius
Nationality – German
Born – 2 January 1822
IQ – 190-205
Accomplishment – Formulated the second law of thermodynamics and is credited with making thermodynamics a science.
6. William Shakespeare
Nationality – British
Born – 26 April 1564
IQ – 210
Accomplishment – Best British writer with works like Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth & Hamlet.
7. Christopher Langan
Nationality – American
Born – 25 March 1952
IQ – 174-210
Accomplishment – Horse rancher and autodidact.
8. Marie Curie
Nationality – Polish
Born – 7 November 1867
IQ – 180-200
Accomplishment – Discovery of radium and polonium, and her huge contribution to finding treatments for cancer.
9. Nikola Tesla
Nationality – Serbian American
Born – 10 July 1856
IQ – 160-310
Accomplishment – Discovered and patented the rotating magnetic field, the basis of most alternating-current machinery.
10. James Maxwell
Nationality – Scottish
Born – 13 June 1831
IQ – 190-205
Accomplishment – Theory of electromagnetism, which showed that light was electromagnetic radiation.
11. Johann Goethe
Nationality – German
Born – 28 August 1749
IQ – 210-225
Accomplishment – The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), the first novel of the Sturm und Drang movement, and for Faust (Part I, 1808; Part II, 1832), a play about a man who sells his soul to the Devil that is sometimes considered Germany’s greatest contribution to world literature.
12. Judit Polgár
Nationality – Hungarian
Born – 23 July 1976
IQ – 170
Accomplishment – Chess grandmaster, generally considered the strongest female chess player of all time.
13. Benjamin Netanyahu
Nationality – Israelis
Born – 21 October 1949
IQ – 180
Accomplishment – Served in office for a total of 15 years, making him the longest-serving Israeli prime minister in history.
14. Evangelos Katsioulis
Nationality – Greek
Born – 19 January 1976
IQ – 205
Accomplishment – Achieved the highest ever recorded scores on IQ tests designed to measure exceptional intelligence.
15. Marilyn Vos Savant
Nationality – American
Born – 11 August 1946
IQ – 228
Accomplishment – Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under “Highest IQ” from 1985 to 1989 and entered the Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame in 1988.
16. Andrew Wiles
Nationality – British
Born – 11 April 1953
IQ – 170
Accomplishment – Proved Fermat’s Last Theorem, for which he was awarded the 2016 Abel Prize and the 2017 Copley Medal by the Royal Society.
17. William Sidis
Nationality – American
Born – 1 April 1898
IQ – 200-300
Accomplishment – Famous for his precocity.
18. Carl Gauss
Nationality – German
Born – 30 April 1777
IQ – 250-300
Accomplishment – Contributions to number theory, geometry, probability theory, geodesy, planetary astronomy, the theory of functions, and potential theory (including electromagnetism).
19. Kim Ung-Yong
Nationality – Korean
Born – 8 March 1962
IQ – 210
Accomplishment – Professor and former child prodigy, who held the world record Guinness World Records for the highest IQ, at 210.
20. Edith Stern
Nationality – American
Born – 1952
IQ – 203
Accomplishment – First woman to be made a full member of the American Society Of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). In 1998 Stern was named an IBM master inventor, and was elected to the IBM Academy of Technology in 1999. In 2012 Stern was awarded the AMSE Kate Gleason Award for her lifetime of developing new technologies.
21. Galileo Galilei
Nationality – Italian
Born – 15 February 1564
IQ – 180-200
Accomplishment – Galilean telescope, hydrostatic balance, thermometer, compass.
22. Voltaire
Nationality – French
Born – 21 November 1694
IQ – 190-200
Accomplishment – Versatile and prolific writer. His most famous works included the fictitious Lettres philosophiques (1734) and the satirical novel Candide (1759).
23. Christopher Hirata
Nationality – American
Born – 30 November 1982
IQ – 225
Accomplishment – Awarded the 2018 New Horizons Prize in Fundamental Physics for fundamental contributions to understanding the physics of early galaxy formation and to sharpening and applying the most powerful tools of precision cosmology.
24. Hugo Grotius
Nationality – Dutch
Born – 10 April 1583
IQ – 200
Accomplishment – jurist and scholar whose masterpiece De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625; On the Law of War and Peace) is considered one of the greatest contributions to the development of international law. Also a statesman and diplomat, Grotius has been called the “father of international law.”
25. Ainan Cawley
Nationality – Singaporean
Born – 23 November 1999
IQ – 263-349
Accomplishment – World age record for the memorization of pi, reciting 518 digits, on camera. He was just 8 years and 9 months old.
26. Nadia Camukova
Nationality – Russian
Born – 1976
IQ – 200
Accomplishment – Can speak seven languages and 8 Turkish dialects.
27. Gottfried Leibniz
Nationality – German
Born – 1 July 1646
IQ – 182-205
Accomplishment – Noted for his independent invention of the differential and integral calculus and he remains one of the greatest and most influential metaphysicians, thinkers and logicians in history. He also invented the Leibniz wheel and suggested important theories about force, energy and time.
28. Thomas Young
Nationality – British
Born – 13 June 1773
IQ – 185-200
Accomplishment – First to describe astigmatism, established the principle of interference of light, deciphered the Rosetta Stone.
29. Michael Kearney
Nationality – American
Born – 18 January 1984
IQ – 200
Accomplishment – Received 4 bachelor’s degrees and a doctorate by the time he was 22. His first one was from the University of South Alabama when he was just 10.
30. Terence Tao
Nationality – Australian American
Born – 17 July 1975
IQ – 211-230
Accomplishment – contributions to number theory and harmonic analysis, child math prodigy; often called “the Mozart of Math”.
