Let’s explore the top 10 people with the highest IQs in history and their remarkable contributions. This list reveals the individuals with the highest estimated IQs, ranging from 190 to 300, showcasing some of the most brilliant minds in history and the present day.
Topping the list is William James Sidis with an estimated IQ of 250-300, a prodigious American mathematician and linguist born in 1898. Following him are Australian-American mathematician Terence Tao (IQ 230-240) and American columnist Marilyn vos Savant (IQ 228).
These individuals, alongside others like Christopher Hirata (IQ 225) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (IQ 210-225 estimated), highlight exceptional intellectual capabilities across various fields.
List Top 10 People With Highest IQ In The World
If you are wondering who the top 10 people with the highest IQs are, this list of brainiacs includes the all-time most brilliant individuals in the world, as ranked by their mind-blowing IQs.
| Name | IQ | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| William James Sidis | 250-300 | American |
| Terence Tao | 230-240 | Australian-American |
| Marilyn vos Savant | 228 | American |
| Christopher Hirata | 225 | American |
| Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | 210-225 | German |
| Kim Ung-Yong | 210 | South Korea |
| Evangelos Katsioulis | 198 | Greece |
| Rick Rosner | 190 | American |
| Garry Kasparov | 190 | Russian turned Croatian |
| Christopher Michael Langan | 190 | American |
The highest IQs ever recorded fall in the range of 190-300. However, it is essential to note that IQ tests are not perfect, and there is considerable debate about their accuracy.
This is mainly because these historical individuals never officially took IQ tests, and the scores are based on predictions and estimations.
Here is a list of people who have the highest IQ:
1. William James Sidis
| IQ Score | 250-300 estimated |
| Profession | Mathematician and linguist |
| Birth date | 1st April 1898 |
According to some historians and IQ enthusiasts, William James Sidis (1898-1944) would be the most intelligent person.
William James was a renowned American philosopher and psychologist. His IQ was estimated to be 250 -300, making him one of the most intelligent people in history. He could read English newspapers by the age of two and write in French by the age of four.
At age five, he devised a formula that allowed him to name the day of the week for any past date. When he was eight, he prepared a new logarithmic table based on 12.
William was accepted to Harvard University at nine, but the university refused to enroll him until he was 11 out of concern for his maturity. At the age of 11, William joined Harvard, wrote theories on Four-Dimensional Bodies, and graduated before his sixteenth birthday.
William could speak and read fluently in French, German, Greek, Latin, Russian, Turkish, and Armenian at this age.
He also wrote various studies, including constructing a new language in the Book of Vendergoord (at the age of 8) and The Animate and Inanimate (which covered cosmology and the reversibility of the second law of thermodynamics)
However, he increasingly became disillusioned with academia and society. He withdrew from public life and worked various menial jobs, including as a waiter and a factory worker.
Willian James Sidis’s life was marked by brilliance and tragedy. He died in poverty in 1944 at the age of 46.
2. Terence Tao
| IQ Score | 230-240 |
| Profession | Mathematician |
| Birth date | 17th July 1975 |
Terence Tao is one of the most brilliant mathematicians of our time.
Terence Tao is an Australian-American mathematician born in 1975. He entered high school at the age of 7. He got his bachelor’s degree at 16 and his Ph.D. at 21.
Tao’s notable achievements include his work on the Green-Tao theorem. He also made significant contributions to the study of the Navier-Stokes equation.
Moreover, he contributed to number theory, harmonic analysis, and partial differential equations.
Over the years, he earned many prestigious awards for his work, including the Fields Medal (considered the Nobel Prize of Mathematics) and the MacArthur Foundation grant (often called the Genius Prize).
Currently, Tao is a professor of mathematics and the Chair of James &Carol Collins at the University of California.
He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
3. Marilyn Vos Savant
| IQ Score | 228 |
| Profession | Magazine columnist |
| Birth date | 11th August 1946 |
American author and lecturer Marilyn vos Savant has an I.Q. of 228, securing a position in the annals of intellectual achievement.
Marilyn’s family was aware of her exceptionally high I.Q. scores when she was ten years old; her parents decided not to reveal it to the public to ensure she got a normal childhood by being away from exploitation.
Bored with college, Marilyn left Washington University after two years and started a career in stocks, real estate, and investment.
Her attempts at anonymity ended in 1985 when The Guinness Book of World Records got her I.Q. test scores, and she was thrust into the limelight.
Although she holds the Guinness World Record for the highest recorded I.Q., she channeled her cognitive ability into columns and books that explore logic, mathematics, and philosophy.
“We only use something like 10 percent of our brain, anywhere between 5 and 15 percent—I don’t know the current estimates,” Marilyn told the reference book Newsmakers.
4. Christopher Hirata
| IQ Score | 225 |
| Profession | Astrophysicist |
| Birth date | 30th November 1982 |
Christopher Michael Hirata is an American astrophysicist born in 1982.
He earned the gold medal at the International Physics Olympiad in 1996 at 13.
Hirata studied physics at Caltech from the age of 14 to 18 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2001.
While at Caltech, he researched Mars colonization for NASA and received his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Princeton University in 2005.
In 2012, he bagged the Presidential Early Career Award. Following this, he also earned the Simon Foundation Investigator Award, and in 2014, he bagged the Helen B Warner Prize.
Furthermore, Hirata was awarded the prestigious New Horizons in Physics Breakthrough Prize in 2018 for understanding the formation of primordial galaxies in the universe and applying the most powerful tools of precision cosmology.
Hirata works for NASA, supervising the next generation of space telescopes. His research deals with the Cosmic Microwave Background, dark energy, accelerated universe expansion, galaxy clusters, and the universe’s large-scale structure.
Currently, Hirata is a professor at Ohio State University’s Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics.
5. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
| IQ Score | 210-225 (estimated) |
| Profession | Scientist, Poet, Playwright, Novelist, Artist, and Diplomat |
| Birth date | 28th August 1749 |
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German polymath with a wide range of knowledge and expertise in many fields.
Goethe’s IQ is estimated to have been between 210 and 225. He was a scientist, artist, and government official sent on a diplomatic mission.
He made significant contributions to science by founding the field of human chemistry and developing an early theory of evolution. He also made significant contributions to optics and mineralogy.
The poetic drama Faust by Goethe remains a staple of study and performance today. He also wrote many novels, such as The Sorrow of Young Werther and Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship.
Moreover, Goethe was a skilled painter, sculptor, and architect. He designed several buildings and gardens.
6. Kim Ung-Yong
| IQ Score | 210 |
| Profession | Civil engineer |
| Birth date | 8th March 1962 |
Kim Ung-Yong, born in 1962 and hailing from South Korea, is in a very high spot with an IQ score of 210.
Kim reportedly was able to solve calculus problems by the age of three. During that time, he also published 247 pages of his essays in English and German.
Kim could speak Korean, German, French, English, and Japanese by the age of five.
At the age of 8, he gained international recognition when NASA invited him.
After returning to South Korea, Kim enrolled at Chungbuk National University, where he studied civil engineering and earned a Ph.D.
Although his resume falls short of extraordinary, Kim Ung-Yong instead seems to have decided from an early age to prioritize happiness over world records, high IQ, and the success of his childhood.
Because of this, he is often called “Failed Genius,” and he seems perfectly happy with it.
7. Evangelos Katsioulis
| IQ Score | 198 |
| Profession | Psychiatrist |
| Birth date | 19th January 1976 |
Evangelos Katsioulis is a Greek child prodigy and physician specializing in psychiatry.
In 1989, he took third place in the Greek Maths National Contest. Four years later, he had the highest result in physics during the National Final Exams.
Beyond his contributions to psychiatry, Katsioulis has delved into various scientific domains, encompassing philosophy, mathematics, and psychometrics.
Evangelos has degrees in Philosophy, Medical Research Technology, and Psychopharmacology.
In 2013, Evangelos established the Greek Society of High Intelligence, a high-IQ society that requires Greek nationality and an IQ of 132 or higher.
8. Rick Rosner
| IQ Score | 190 |
| Profession | Television Actor |
| Birth date | 2nd May 1960 |
Richard G. Rosner, popularly called Rick Rosner, is an American television writer and reality television star.
Rick grew up in Boulder, Colorado, and attended the University of Colorado.
In 1991, Rick scored 47 out of 48, which represents an IQ of 190. Later, Rick began writing for quiz shows on the Remote Control series.
Rosner was also featured on an episode of A&E Television’s series Obsessed in 2009.
9. Garry Kasparov
| IQ Score | 190 |
| Profession | Chess Grandmaster |
| Birth date | 13th April 1963 |
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985-2000), political activist and writer.
His contributions to the chess world are innumerable, with his legendary battle against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue standing out the most. Kasparov wrote a book titled Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins.
Over time, Kasparov has become a prominent political activist and commentator, advocating for democratic values and human rights.
Garry Kasparov published a book series named My Great Predecessors, which detailed the history and games of the world champion chess players who preceded him.
Currently, Kasparov is a chairman of the Human Rights Foundation and a security ambassador for the software company Avast.
10. Christopher Michael Langan
| IQ Score | 190 |
| Profession | Horse rancher and Autodidact |
| Birth date | 25th March 1952 |
Christopher Michael Langan born 1952 in San Francisco, USA.
Christopher worked as a construction worker, cowboy, farmer, and doorman in a Long Island bar in his youth.
He earned a perfect score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test despite taking a nap during the test and was offered two full scholarships, one to Reed College, Oregon, and the University of Chicago.
Later, he worked as a Forest Service firefighter for 18 months and joined Montana State University-Bozman.
Christopher proposed a Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe that continues to intrigue and inspire.
Related Read:
Conclusion: William James Sidis Has The Highest IQ In The World With A 250-300 Estimated Score
The highest recorded IQs in history range from 190 to 300, but intelligence is more than just a number. While IQ tests estimate cognitive ability, they don’t fully capture creativity, perseverance, and real-world impact.
Based on what we have seen so far, the following are the top three most intelligent persons in history:
- William James Sidis (250-300 IQ score)
- Terence Tao (230-240 IQ score)
- Marilyn vos Savant (228 IQ score)
Although intelligence can be measured in different ways, what truly matters is how it is applied to benefit society. These individuals serve as a testament to the power of human potential and the limitless possibilities of the mind.
