The other day I sat down to watch The Princess Bride for about the 10,000th time. Man that is a great movie! Anyway, when I was watching the part where Vizzini, the Sicilian, was answering the question as to how smart he is, he said:
“Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates? Morons.”
So, I decided to mosey on over to the Interwebs and find a list of people with the highest IQ ever measured, and lo and behold I couldn’t find one! So for the sake of future searchers, I compiled the following information. Enjoy.
Background Info
In order to establish a baseline knowledge, IQ (intelligence quotient) is a score derived from attempting to measure the actual mental horsepower of any given individual. Personally I place little value in IQ tests, but I do acknowledge that they are an indicator of some common potential success factors, so we’ll leave it at that.
The “average” IQ is by definition 100, so if you score below that you are dumber than average, and above it means smarter than average.
Commonly acknowledged IQ Score Ranking System:
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 The distribution of IQ scores is as follows:
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I’d like to stop for a second and inject a little philosophy before we go on. I have absolutely no respect whatsoever for intelligence. I only respect people for their actions. So no one should envy or emulate people on the list that follow because some of them are miserable human beings (like this narcissistic guy). Take Bobby Fischer as an example. He’s the biggest A-hole on the list, and I’d like to kick his teeth in for his comments about Jews and America.
The Highest IQs On Record
People Still Alive
- Physicist / Engineer Kim Ung-yong has a verified IQ of 210
- Bouncer Christopher Michael Langan has a verified IQ of 195
- Engineer Philip Emeagwali is alleged to have an IQ of 190
- World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov is alleged to have an IQ of 190
- Author Marilyn Vos Savant has a verified IQ of 186
- Actor James Woods is alleged to have an IQ of 180
- Politician John H. Sununu is alleged to have an IQ of 180
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is alleged to have an IQ of 180
- Mathematician Andrew Wiles is alleged to have an IQ of 170
- World Chess Champion Judith Polgar is alleged to have an IQ of 170
- Chess Grandmaster Robert Byrne is alleged to have an IQ of 170
- World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer is alleged to have an IQ of 167
- Mathematician / Physicist Stephen W. Hawking is alleged to have an IQ of over 160
- Microsoft Founder Paul Allen is alleged to have an IQ of over 160
- Actress Sharon Stone is alleged to have an IQ of 154
From the Past
In 1926, psychologist Dr. Catherine Morris Cox – who had been assisted by Dr. Lewis M. Terman, Dr. Florence L. Goodenaugh, and Dr. Kate Gordon – published a study “of the most eminent men and women” who had lived between 1450 and 1850 to estimate what their IQs might have been. Data from that study as well as other sources around the net were compiled to form the following list. Please drop me a comment if you have additions or corrections (make sure and cite sources).
Also, see Wikipedia’s list of Universal Genius (Polymaths).
Test YOUR IQ
Now that you’ve read all about these really smart people, surely you want to know how you compare? Well, set aside a full 40 minutes and go through this test to determine where you are on the evolutionary chain.
Select the image below and the clock starts when the test loads, so be prepared in order to get the full 40 minutes. Trust me, you’re gonna need it! Oh, and if you answer “A” on every question, you get a 72! (a=72, b=65, c=65, d=65, e=72, f=72, g= 65, and h=65 – Only The Man would help you cheat on an IQ test!)
EDIT: I received the following e-mail from Mike, a former school psychologist of 30 years, regarding the validity of this IQ Test:
…one of the better and possibly fairly accurate IQ tests (11/8/07) seen on the net. Two caveats:
1. This test evaluates visual spatial reasoning skills, and not verbal which some may say would be a bias toward guys.
2. This test does not assess processing speed and ability to make quick/accurate and perhaps more c creative choices.For different view of intelligence away from IQ try: Theory of Multiple Intelligences
If it turns out you are a Genius, join a club! Here’s how to hook up with your intellectual peers:
- The Genius Society
- Mensa International
- International High IQ Society
- Poetic Genius Society
- The Mega Society
- The Triple Nine Society
By the way, why is it that most of the high IQ society Web sites suck so bad? And if I may inquire additionally, why is it that none of them have sections on their sites where they are actually teaching people by translating highly complex issues into understandable language?
Now, for the rest of us (I score just above a moderately intelligent canine, but just below a porpoise), you can just join the One Man’s Blog Society for the Incredibly Average. Believe me, we have a lot more fun around here.
Oh and by the way, normal timed tests are not valid for measuring adult IQ above 135. After that only high range tests should be considered.
Also, childhood scores (mental age / physical age) are not the same thing as adult scores. If you score above 100 you will always score higher on childhood tests.
“There is just intelligence, plain and simple”. There’s is nothing plain and simple about our intelligence and our brains. What do you call some of those people (Savants) who suffer from some sort of mental handicap but still manage to do incredible things that no normal nor some highly gifted/genius people can do? Take Kim Peak for instance.. He might not be smarter in many areas than a normal person but in other aspects he’s waaay superior. We can’t compare our intelligence with his. It doesn’t say anything rather than his strong capabilities in some areas and what he lacks of in others when compared, pretty much like anybody else. Thus the term multiple intelligence.
I agree with you on your third point; The validity of a time-based test applies only at the first time it’s been taken. A second or third attempt would almost be like cheating.
I have to say that beer-drinking contests are not considered as an intellectual ability. It doesn’t fall under the same type of category. Just plain stupidity.. :)
You rattle off lists of numbers here, but please remember that each IQ test has its own scoring structure. A score of 135 on Test A is actually equivalent to a 167 on Test B. I’ve worked with gifted kids for years and have always told them it’s not your number, it’s what you do with it.
i scored 178
im 15 and at MIT right now
i used to be in regular school and was doing quite poorly until i told my math teacher i was bored as well as my father
they both had me take an iq test and obviously the results were high (top 99th percentile)
i then invented a certain technology to produce fuel oil from fly ash and in doing so told MIT and asked for help perfecting it
they then accepted me
well the time it takes to answer actually does matter in my opinion. If someone’s dying and two people have to make a decision to immediately save that person the genius would be more likely to come up with the answer in time. And remember time = money
i have to agree that the people who went and took the test again because they “rushed” are just people who feel that they are smarter than their given iq. However i have to disagree on the multiple intelligence matter. Someone with a iq of 190+ won’t immediately be to (for instance) pick open a lock as fast as a trained thief or how to fix a internal problem with a computer as readily as a trained technician. These things are learned through experience, just like how you learned to analyze this test through experience. (let the flame wars commence )
Yes, but with that experience as you put it, and the training that any matter requires, you will enhance that specific given area (brain intelligence) for that task. Different people have different natural talents that they can enhance by training, experience and etc. That’s why I find the multiple intelligence theory interesting. We simply can’t compare people merely based on an IQ score anymore. It is very “old-fashioned” now that we now a little bit more about our brains and its functioning abilities.
well, I have tken a true IQ test and scored a 141. Yet on this test I only received a 117. So i believe that shows how inaccurate it is.
Don´t worry Isaak. We all agreed that this was not a complete/accurate test :)
“I would be a pro football player if I where twice as strong, twice as big and twice as fast”. Did you mean “If I were twice as strong”??? Funny that with an IQ of 164 you can’t even write proper English!