IQ isn’t everything there is to know about intelligence. It’s just one of the means to estimate a person’s intelligence and quantify the capacity for logic in a way. And while IQ tests are neither precise nor absolute, they still have some weight in our society.
A person with a high IQ could be smart and successful but does not necessarily need to be. Here is a list of 12 interesting people who got their IQ score tested and recorded publicly:
Stephen Hawking
- IQ score: 160
- Born: 8 January, 1942, Oxford, England
- Died: 14 March, 2018 (aged 76) Cambridge, England
- Profession: Theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
- Books: Author page on Amazon
- Full bio: Wikipedia about Stephen Hawking
Photo credit: Doug Wheller
Albert Einstein
- IQ score: 160 – 190
- Born: 14 March, 1879, Ulm, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire
- Died: 18 April, 1955 (aged 76) Princeton, New Jersey, US
- Profession: Theoretical physicist
- Books: Author page on Amazon
- Full bio: Wikipedia about Albert Einstein
Photo credit: Ferdinand Schmutzer
Judit Polgár
- IQ score: 170
- Born: 23 July, 1976 (age 42), Budapest, Hungary
- Profession: Chess grandmaster
- Books: Author page on Amazon
- Full bio: Wikipedia about Judit Polgár
Photo credit: Ygrek
Philip Emeagwali
- IQ score: 190
- Born: 23 August, 1954 (age 63), Akure, Nigeria
- Profession: Computer scientist
- Books: Author page on Amazon
- Full bio: Wikipedia about Philip Emeagwali
Photo credit: InfoATemeagwali.com
Garry Kasparov
- IQ score: 194
- Born: 13 April, 1963 (age 55) Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
- Profession: Chess grandmaster, writer, and political activist
- Books: Author page on Amazon
- Full bio: Wikipedia about Garry Kasparov
Photo credit: S.M.S.I., Inc. – Owen Williams, The Kasparov Agency
Christopher Michael Langan
- IQ score: 190 – 210
- Born: March 25, 1952 (age 66), San Francisco, California, US
- Profession: Intellectual, independent researcher, scholar, bouncer
- Books: Author page on Amazon
- Full bio: Wikipedia about Christopher Michael Langan
Photo credit: Ben David
Edith Stern
- IQ score: Beyond 200
- Born: 1952
- Profession: Engineering
- Full bio: Jegor Orlow about Edith Stern
Kim Ung-Yong
- IQ score: 210
- Born: March 8, 1962 (age 56), Seoul, South Korea
- Profession: Nuclear physicist, professor
- Full bio: Wikipedia about Kim Ung-Yong
Christopher Hirata
- IQ score: 225
- Born: November 30, 1982 (age 35), Ypsilanti, Michigan, US
- Profession: Professor for dark energy and astrophysics
- Full bio: EOHT about Christopher Hirata
Marilyn vos Savant
- IQ score: 228
- Born: August 11, 1946 (age 71), St. Louis, Missouri, US
- Profession: Author, columnist
- Books: Author page on Amazon
- Full bio: Wikipedia about Marilyn Vos Savant
Photo credit: Shelly Pippin
Terence Tao
- IQ score: 225 – 230
- Born: 17 July, 1975 (age 43), Adelaide, Australia
- Profession: Mathematician
- Books: Author page on Amazon
- Full bio: Wikipedia about Terence Tao
Photo credit: Babenson
William James Sidis
- IQ score: 250 – 300
- Born: April 1, 1898, New York City, New York, US
- Died: July 17, 1944 (aged 46) Boston, Massachusetts, US
- Books: Author page on Amazon
- Profession: Mathematician and linguistics
- Full bio: Wikipedia about William James Sidis
Photo credit: The Sidis Archives
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If you are also interested in emotional intelligence, you should also check out my article “What Is Emotional Intelligence?“.
Photo credit: The feature image is a collage of the images as credited on each profile page.
Source: Juan Ramos (Science Trends) / Wikipedia
