{"id":27518,"date":"2023-05-27T11:00:39","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T09:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=144283"},"modified":"2023-05-27T11:37:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T09:37:14","slug":"who-has-the-highest-iq-in-the-world-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/who-has-the-highest-iq-in-the-world-in-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Who has the highest IQ in the world in 2023?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Discover who the smartest person in the world in 2023 is \u2013 well, according to their intelligence quotient. <\/p>

By Toby Saunders\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 27 May 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Intelligence quotient (IQ<\/a>) is used to measure a person\u2019s level of intelligence<\/a>. Scores are gathered by participants completing standardised tests that measure abilities in puzzle-solving, memory<\/a>, and more.<\/p>\n

Based on a median score of what\u2019s typically around 100, your given IQ score is relative to that of the general intelligence of the population. Below 85 is seen as a poor score, 130 and above is smart (in the top 2 per cent of the population).<\/p>\n

It is difficult to accurately judge intelligence and it\u2019s always worth taking IQ scores with a pinch of salt due to cultural differences and other factors. As a study in Frontiers In Systems Neuroscience<\/em> states, \u201cintelligence test scores are often misunderstood and can be misused<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another factor to consider: an IQ score is not a unit of measurement. For example, someone with an IQ score of 130 is not 30 per cent smarter than someone with an IQ score of 100. Given the changes to testing across the decades, it is also tricky to compare scores achieved at different times.<\/p>\n

Theoretically, there is no limit to IQ scores. 200 is often seen as the theoretical peak score but some people have shot past that number.<\/p>\n

Who has the highest IQ in the world?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Pictured above, Terence Tao is said to have the highest IQ score in the world currently, with an impressive score of between 225-230. If the Chinese-American mathematician scored 230 he is definitely out in front.<\/p>\n

Effectively tying for the title, though, is Marilyn Vos Savant. Her recorded<\/a> IQ in the Guinness World Records was 228, awarded between the 1986-1989 editions until the record was discontinued in 1990, with IQ scores deemed too unreliable to document.<\/p>\n

\""Marilyn\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Marilyn Vos Savant photographed in 1986 \u00a9 Paul Harris\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Christopher Hirata has the second-highest confirmed IQ, with a staggering score of 225. There have been a few others with scores equal or higher. Again, the same caveat applies that IQ scores are to be taken with a grain of salt, especially for those before the IQ test was invented.<\/p>\n

What has had the highest IQ ever?<\/b><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s tricky to judge who has had the highest IQ ever. For many great minds, the IQ test simply did not exist during their time on Earth. The validity of others who are said to have taken an intelligence test is in question, too, as official records are tough to locate.<\/p>\n

However, this hasn\u2019t stopped some humans from being declared to have the highest IQ ever.<\/p>\n

William James Sidis<\/b><\/h3>\n
\""American\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
American child prodigy and mathematician William James Sidis (1898 \u2013 1944), circa 1915. \u00a9 Archive Photos\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Said to be the smartest person who has ever lived, William James Sidis is the benchmark for child prodigies. He was reportedly able to read the newspaper aged just 18 months and entered Harvard University aged 11, graduating at 16.<\/p>\n

He wrote various studies, including creating a constructed language in the Book Of Vendergoord<\/em> (aged 8) and The Animate And The Inanimate<\/em> (which covered cosmology and the reversibility of the second law of thermodynamics and predicts the black hole<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In Psychology For The Millions<\/em>, Abraham Sperling details<\/a>\u00a0how he had been told by Helena Sidis (William\u2019s sister) that \u201ca few years before his death, her brother Bill took an intelligence test with a psychologist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sperling explains that William Sidis\u2019 \u201cscore was the very highest that had ever been obtained. In terms of IQ, the psychologist related that the figure would be between 250 and 300.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the years since, however, the claims of Sidis\u2019 IQ score have been heavily disputed.<\/p>\n

Ada Lovelace<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The first computer scientist, Ada Lovelace<\/a> is often mentioned when it comes to the most intelligent people who ever lived. Through her work on the Analytical Engine,<\/a> she essentially invented the first computer programme the world had seen.<\/p>\n

Christopher Michael Langan<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Reported<\/a> to have an IQ score of 195, Christopher Michael Langan is often considered one of the smartest people alive. The controversial figure has often sided with conspiracy theories and claims that the existence of God can be proven by mathematics.<\/p>\n

Albert Einstein<\/b><\/h3>\n
\""German-born\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
German-born physicist Albert Einstein (1879 \u2013 1955) \u00a9 MPI\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Often regarded as one of the smartest people who ever lived<\/a>, it is often claimed that Einstein\u2019s IQ was actually lower than you might think. Given that the test wasn\u2019t around when Einstein walked the Earth, however, it\u2019s impossible to know just how intelligent this famous scientist actually was.<\/p>\n

Leonardo da Vinci<\/b><\/h3>\n

Another who is often regarded as one of the smartest people ever, Leonardo da Vinci<\/a> was a mathematician, engineer, botanist, cartographer and much more, so it\u2019s hard to single out one achievement.<\/p>\n

Sho Yano<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sho Yano was a college freshman at the tender age of nine and became a medical doctor at just 21. This made him \u201cthe youngest student in the University of Chicago\u2019s history to receive an MD,\u201d according to Chicago Tribune<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Katherine Johnson<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\""Katherine\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Portrait of NASA \u2018human computer\u2019 and African-American mathematical pioneer Katherine Johnson (1918-2020) \u00a9 Smith collection\/Gado\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

You will have come across mathematician Katherine Johnson<\/a> if you\u2019ve seen the Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures<\/em>. Her work was vital in early NASA space missions and played a role in getting astronauts John Glenn<\/a> and Alan Shephard into space. Johnson\u2019s orbital calculations were even used<\/a> in the Apollo missions.<\/p>\n

Stephen Hawking<\/b><\/h3>\n

What can be said about Stephen Hawking<\/a>? The Simpsons legend is one of history\u2019s most famous theoretical physicists and cosmologists. He famously showed that black holes radiate energy<\/a>, slowly shrink, and explode in a flash of gamma rays, with Hawking radiation<\/a> becoming a key cosmological theory.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/b><\/p>\n