The individuals with the highest IQs in the world are diverse, with talents and skills that vary greatly. Some of the most intelligent people in the world have backgrounds in mathematics, science, and engineering. Other high-IQ individuals are creative artists, such as painters, musicians, and writers. Many high-IQ individuals also exhibit extraordinary leadership abilities. What unites these exceptional individuals is their exceptional intelligence. In this post, we have talked about people with the highest IQ in the world.
Rick Rosner has taken over 30 IQ tests, demonstrating his IQ is between 192 and 198, depending on how the tests determine their scores. Before the allegedly second-smartest man in the world became a TV writer, he served as a bouncer, stripper, and nude model. He famously sued the ABC network for a false question after losing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? At the $16,000 level, but lost the case.
With a score of 198, Evangelos Katsioulis, MD, MSc, MA, Ph.D., has the highest IQ in the world as per World Genius Directory. This Greek psychiatrist holds degrees in medical research technology and philosophy.
The notorious Nathan Leopold had an IQ of 200 and spoke 9 languages by age 18, but he didn’t utilize his intelligence for the greater good. When he was 19, he was arrested for murder in 1924 after attempting to commit the “perfect crime”—the kind of crime that never gets solved. Leopold spent 33 years in jail before getting released on parole. He died in 1971.
This former Irish child genius, who’s now 21, has an IQ of 263. At 8 years old, he was already taking third-year chemistry courses at Singapore Polytechnic, and by the time he was 9, he’d learned the first 518 decimal places of pi. He also seems to have a knack for entertainment, having penned the script and composed music for a short film, Reflection, at age 12.
When American electrochemical engineer Libb Thims set out to discover the person with the highest IQ in history, he used a methodology that indicates their IQ based on how much they achieved every 10 years. This came in handy when trying to rank people who predated IQ tests. Based on his approach, it was calculated that German Renaissance man Johann Goethe was the person with the highest IQ of all time, with a score ranging from 210 to 225. While generally labeled a philosopher, Goethe was also an accomplished scientist and poet.
American physician Sho Yano began college at age nine and earned an MD and Ph.D. by age 21. He began composing music when he was 4, but he’s put his emphasis on child neurology.
Usually referred to as “the smartest man in America,” Christopher Langan is a former cowboy, current horse rancher, and a self-reliant researcher and reality theorist. One of his best pieces is his Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe, which he refers to as “the CTMU” and pronounced as cat-mew. In an interview with Esquire in 2007, Langan said that it was “a true ‘Theory of Everything,’ a cross between John Archibald Wheeler’s ‘Participatory Universe’ and Stephen Hawking’s ‘Imaginary Time’ theory of cosmology.” He is among the people with the highest IQ in the world.
At two years old, Jacob Barnett was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism, and doctors implied he’d never learn to tie his own shoes. He’s learned that task. The American child prodigy completed grades 6 through 12 in less than a year, then moved to college at age 10. He was a published physicist when he was 13. Now he’s 21 and working toward his Ph.D.
When Marnen Laibow-Koser was tested as a kid, he was given a projected IQ of 268. Now, he’s a songwriter and musician living in Randolph, Massachusetts. He has been both playing and composing music since the age of 3.
In 1988, when Adragon De Mello graduated from the University of California with a degree in computational mathematics at the age of 11. At that time, he was the youngest college graduate in the United States. Though he was said to have a projected IQ of 400, De Mello hasn’t been in the public eye much in the past 20 years. In 2001 when he was a 24-year-old “high-tech worker,” he took his father’s custody, who was dying of bladder cancer.
While IQ tests weren’t available when Leonardo da Vinci was, it is now calculated that his score would have been between 180 and 220. This makes sense when you consider it: With skills ranging from art and science to music and architecture, da Vinci didn’t just work in diverse fields—he excelled at them. He was so ahead of his time that numerous inventions (like flying machines, the telescope, and the submarine) didn’t come to fruition until long after his death.
Sir Isaac Newton is a physicist—far ahead of his time. Though he’s best recognized for his universal principles of gravity, the 17th-century philosopher was also a mathematician, astronomer, and writer. His IQ score would fall between 190 and 200, depending on the criteria used.
In 1964, when Michael Grost started his college career at Michigan State University (MSU), he was just 10 years old. Now in his 60s, Grost has undergraduate and Master’s degrees from MSU and a Ph.D. in math from the University of Michigan. Reportedly, Grost has an IQ of 200. He currently writes mystery and detective stories and relishes classical music, poetry, film, art, and architecture.
Somehow, Kim Ung-Yong has been known as a “failed genius” and the person with the highest IQ of all time. Known for his capability to solve tricky mathematical equations at the age of four, Ung-Yong was invited to work for NASA when he was eight. Though he worked there for a decade, he eventually left the position because he was lonely, he told The Korea Herald in 2010.
Nikola Tesla, the Serbian-American inventor—and arch-rival of Thomas Edison—reportedly had an IQ falling somewhere between 160 and 310, depending on the criterion. Though he’s liable for dreaming up (and, in some cases, creating) a wide range of new technologies, Tesla is best known for creating the first alternating current (AC) motor and developing AC generation and transmission technology. In the final years of his life, Tesla’s mental health worsened, and he died alone in the New York hotel room where he’d resided.
Intelligence is not just a trait that can be learned or developed over time but one that is also inherited. People with the highest IQs in the world can think and process information faster than those with lower IQs, and this ability has helped them achieve some of the most impressive feats in their respective fields. So, keep your IQ high if you’re looking to up your game! We hope that you find this list of people with the highest IQ in the world.
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Business Talk is a digital business magazine that caters to CEOs, Entrepreneurs, VC, and Corporates. While working with entrepreneurs and business executives, we focus not only on their achievements. Our mission is to shed light on business entities, including their innovations, technological benchmarks, USPs, and milestones/accolades.
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