While it is true that geniuses are a unique set of people with unlikeable ability to make significant contributions to the advancement of humanity, there is no definite manner in which one can measure the intelligence of a person. It is the reason intelligence is a largely subjective attribute. Science has advanced in a sense that it has developed Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests measure human intelligence using components such as three dimensional thinking, memory, problem solving, and analytical capabilities. The test assigns scores based on how sharp the brain of a person is relative to the target scores. An average IQ is about 100 and most people will score between 70 and 130 using an adult IQ test while 200 is the highest score that one can obtain. Here is a list of Top Ten Highest IQ Holders of the World:
1. Abdesselam Jelloul
He scored 198 on the adult IQ test conducted in 2012. The IQ test included a set of items aimed at measuring intelligence-analytical, spatial, linguistic, philosophical, spiritual, intrapersonal, musical, logical and naturalist skills. He is the holder of the highest IQ test score. It is also the most sophisticated and comprehensive test of finding the IQ.
2. William James Sidis
An American child born and raised in New York, William James Sidis is believed to have scored 195 or above on the adult IQ test. He is said to have started reading newspapers at only 1 and a half years. He was able to teach himself eight languages and at the age of eight years, he could fluently communicate in these languages. Because of his linguistic prowess, William invented Vendergood, a language that was recognized by most linguists. He became a Harvard student at only 11 years and graduated cum laude at the age of sixteen years. At age 16, William has mastered over 40 languages.
3. Christopher Michael Langan
The media has described Christopher Michael Langan as the smartest man in the history of America. He had an IQ of 195 and despite napping during his examination, Christopher obtained a full score in his SAT test. Even after dropping out of college due to financial problems, he was capable of deriving theories and equations. The Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe is one of the signature theories that he derived linking the human mind and reality.
4. Leonardo da Vinci
An Italian born in 1452. Leonardo da Vinci is believed to have an intelligent quotient of 190. As a person with immense curiosity for knowledge and obsession with inventions, Leonardo da Vinci is recognized as the greatest painter of his time. He is revered for his unique technological ingenuity and many believed that he was living many years ahead of his time. Today, he is termed as the truest son of science with impeccable creativity in the field of painting and artwork.
5. Garry Kasparov
He has been described as the greatest chess player in the history of chess games. Garry was born in 1963 and is believed to have had an IQ of 190. As world chess champion, a political activist, a writer, Garry was able to play chess at the age of eleven years and became a junior champion at age 13. His sheer ingenuity stunned the whole world while his power of intuition remains unmatched until to today.
6. Sir Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton remains conspicuous in all physics books spanning from middle school to university. As a key personality in scientific revolution, Isaac Newton has made huge contributions to modern science through his famous law of gravity. He is believed to have had an IQ of 190. He is the first person to have built a reflecting telescope and derived the empirical law of cooling. His mathematical prowess is evident in numerous mathematical concepts such as binomial theorem and power series.
7. Terence Tao
Terence Tao, born in 1975, was good at basic arithmetic at the age of 2 years. He could teach himself numbers and only 2 years. He is the youngest to have entered university level mathematics at the age of nine years. During his childhood, Terence Tao had an IQ of about 230. He got a bachelors and masters degrees at 16. He has earned numerous awards such as the Clay Research Award (2013), the Salem Prize (2000) tom mention but a few. Many of his colleagues refer to him as Mr. Fix-it for research problems that trouble most researchers.
8. Christopher Hirata
Christopher Hirata remains the youngest American to have won the most celebrated gold medal in the International Physics Olympiad. He won this medal at the age of eleven years. Born in 1982, Christopher Hirata, a Japanese-American astrophysicist, obtained an IQ of 225 while he was a child. At the age of three years, Hirata was capable of calculating the cost of her parent’s shopping cart at a grocery, item-by-item, weight, discounts given and the total sales tax. At this age, he could fluently read Dr. Seuss to himself and could recite the alphabets backwards while coding the alphabets using numerals.
9. Kim Ung-Yong
As a child aged four, Kim Ung-Yong obtained an IQ of 210 in a test administered to 7-year olds. He remained in the Guinness Book of Records as the holder of the highest IQ until 1990. He began speaking at 6 months and mastered several languages, including Korean, Japanese, English, and German at age 3 and at the age of 4 years, Kim Ung-Yon was able to memorize over 2000 words in German and English.
10. Marilyn Vos Savant
Born in August 11, 1946, Marilyn Vos Savant is an American author and playwright. She has an IQ of 190. She has published several books. She was entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the woman with the highest IQ. Immediately after earning her score, she began working on numerous mathematical theories and solving puzzles relating to vocabulary. These are the Top Ten Highest IQ Holders of the World.
