Discover the Highest IQ Ever Recorded

Although several individuals have been reported to have IQs exceeding 200, 200 is theoretically the greatest IQ that can exist. Anybody who has an IQ above 110 is fortunate enough to have superior intelligence. 

But some people have the good fortune to have substantially higher IQ scores. The actual intellectuals in our society are easy to identify because only a small percentage of people can get an IQ score higher than 110. 

I’m sure you’ve heard of Albert Einstein and his extraordinarily high IQ, but do you know who holds the record for the highest IQ? 

What is IQ?

The intelligence quotient, or IQ, was created by American psychologist Lewis Madison Terman (1877–1956) in 1916. Lewis was working for the American Army at the time. American service members took the first nationwide IQ test while serving in World War I. 

Terman’s initial classification system for IQ scores offers a number of options. Anybody scoring below 70 is said to be “clearly feeble-minded,” while those scoring between 70 and 79 are considered to have “borderline deficiency,” and those scoring between 80 and 89 are considered to be boring. 

Most people fall into the normal or average intelligence category if their score falls between 90 and 109. As your Intelligence reaches 110, you start to pay attention. A result between 110 and 119 would be considered above average; between 120 and 140, considerably above average; and a score of over 140, genius or nearly genius. 

Highest Possible IQ

While some of the results are significantly higher than an IQ of 200, there is disagreement over the theoretical viability of an IQ exceeding 200. During the development of the IQ test, the normal distribution’s mean was arbitrarily set at 100. 

As a result, the average human being should have an intellect score of 100 or higher. 

Below 100 indicates that your intelligence is below average, while above 100 indicates the contrary. For each standard deviation, the IQ score fluctuates by 15 points in either direction.

Therefore, with a standard deviation of 15, it is exceedingly difficult to have an IQ of 200. One can back-calculate the average IQ of the “smartest individual on the globe” using a reasonable approximation of the world population of seven billion people. 

Out of the roughly seven billion people on the earth, this would translate to an IQ of nearly 194.6. Therefore, we advise that you treat some of the statistics below with caution. Also, it is challenging to calculate IQ scores in the IQ distribution’s minuscule tails with great accuracy and precision.

People With the Highest IQs

While there’s no way of knowing who has the highest IQ ever, we do have knowledge of some of the smartest people on record. Let’s take a look at these brainy individuals.

Albert Einstein

Despite being one of the most well-known scientists in history, Albert Einstein’s IQ wasn’t the highest ever measured. This proves that while an elevated IQ opens opportunities, Einstein eventually contributed a lot more. 

Einstein, who won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, is renowned for creating the theory of relativity and the well-known formula E=mc2. Einstein was never formally tested, hence his IQ ranges from 160 to 190. This figure is based on experts’ assessments of Einstein’s personality and their estimation of what his IQ score might have been had he taken an IQ test.

Stephen Hawking

You have definitely heard of and are familiar with Stephen Hawking. He was a unique scientist who successfully combined his scientific work with making science accessible to the general population. The best-selling book A Brief History of Time and Hawking’s research on black holes made him renowned. 

Additionally, he held the post of director of research at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Theoretical Cosmology. From the time of his diagnosis in 1963 until his passing in March of 2018, Hawking faced ALS. While fighting a physical illness, he gained notoriety throughout his life and eventually rose to the status of a sort of pop culture icon. He had guest appearances on Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory, and The Simpsons.

William James Sidis

His American mother came from a prominent academic family in New York City. From a very young age, William James Sidis (1898–1944) showed exceptional talent. He had acquired Greek, Latin, French, Hebrew, Russian, German, and, of course, English by the time he was only five years old. He could even type at this age. 

William was eventually accepted to Harvard University at the age of 11 after originally being rejected when he was just six years old. He struggled in college and eventually moved to Texas to pursue a career as a teacher. He tried to pursue a career in politics but passed away young at the age of 46, poor.

Edith Stern

Born in 1952, engineer and IBM inventor Edith Stern holds a Ph.D. in mathematics. Edith Stern was capable of conversing with cards when she was just 11 months old, and at the age of one, she started to be able to recognize some of the Latin alphabet’s letters. She was fully versed in the alphabet by the age of two. She enrolled in college at the age of 12, and at the age of 16, she began teaching. 

Terence Tao

This mathematician, who is both Australian and American, was born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1975. His family moved to Australia from Hong Kong. When Tao was little, he has shown an incredible knack for math. He had a Ph.D. by the time he was 20 years old. 

Tao received a number of honors in mathematics, including the Fields Medal in 2006. He is presently employed with UCLA and resides in Los Angeles, California.

Garry Kasparov

In 1963, Garry Kasparov was born in Baku, the nation’s capital. He is renowned for being the greatest chess player of all time and for having a greater record of success. When Garry was 22 years old, he held the record for becoming the youngest World Chess Champion. Garry was defeated by the IBM supercomputer known as Deep Blue in a widely publicized game.

Marilyn Vos Savant

In 1986, this American’s name appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records as the one with the highest IQ. Just two other persons have been identified with IQs higher than hers up to this point. 1946 saw the birth of Marilyn Vos Savant in Missouri. She is well known for her “Ask Marilyn” column, in which she offers guidance and advice on a variety of life difficulties.

Kim Ung-Yong

At the age of six months, this Korean academic and researcher began learning to speak. He is currently employed at Chungbuk National University. He was able to speak Korean at that young age, but by the time he was six, he was able to read Korean, English, German, and Japanese. Kim Ung-Yong started writing when he was four years old and finished his doctorate when he was only 16 years old.

Christopher Hirata

Christopher Hirata, born in 1982, was regarded as a young prodigy like Terence Tao. He teaches astronomy at Ohio State University and is an American. He worked for NASA starting at the age of 16, won a gold medal in the International Physics Olympiad in 1996 when he was 13, and graduated from Princeton with a Ph.D. at the age of 22. These are just a few of his many accomplishments.

Christopher Michael Langan

Christopher Michael Langan, a native of California who was born in 1952, is most well-known for his “Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe” idea. At the age of three, he was a self-taught reader and could speak when he was just six months old.

Barnaby Swinburne

Albert Einstein is arguably the smartest person who has ever lived. Recently, Barnaby Swinburne surpassed the theoretical physicist as the smartest young person. 12-year-old Bristol resident Barnaby learned the outcome of his Mensa test. And the outcomes are quite positive! 

Barnaby recently joined the group of people with high IQs after taking an IQ test and scoring 162, which is higher than Albert Einstein’s estimated IQ of 160. He scored in the top 1% of the world’s population in the first phase of the IQ test, and in the top 4% in the second.

Elon Musk

While there are no publicly accessible IQ statistics, it is commonly speculated that Elon Musk’s IQ falls within the range of 150 to 155, potentially placing him in the realm of genius. Specifically, an IQ of 150 classifies him as a “Genius,” and a score of 155 would categorize him as a “High Genius”

He’s widely regarded as exceptionally intelligent by those who’ve collaborated with him. Elon Musk is known for his self-taught expertise in rocket science and his active participation in hands-on engineering at both SpaceX and Tesla.

Notably, around 80% of his time at SpaceX is dedicated to engineering work rather than administrative tasks.