It is not so easy to measure how smart a person is. Before the invention of the IQ test, this was considered impossible at all. Of course, it was noticeable that some people are smarter than others, but it became possible to prove it for sure only now, when IQ is easy to determine using a test. True, there is debate on this score: does IQ really fully reflect the intellectual abilities of a person? However, people with high IQs are generally known for their accomplishments.
Highest recorded IQ
It is believed that the most intellectually gifted person in the world was the American William James Sidis. He was born in 1898 into a Jewish family of immigrants from Ukraine. IQ Sidis is estimated at about 250-300 points. Unfortunately, it is impossible to accurately determine this, since he did not pass the test. However, this is just an incredible figure, even when compared with other outstanding people.
Why is it that almost no one knows this person? The fact is that he did not strive for fame, did not tolerate reporters and the hype around his name. The smartest man on the planet, he worked as an ordinary accountant and dressed very simply. As soon as those around him found out what kind of person he was, Sidis immediately resigned.
The boy showed his amazing abilities since childhood. His father, Boris Sidis, was a psychology professor in New York. Parents raised a gifted child in a special way from childhood. Despite the fact that some did not approve of their principles of upbringing, William James knew 8 foreign languages by the age of 8, he already had 4 books that he wrote behind him. When he was 11, he entered Harvard. Quite quickly, the boy begins to lecture at the math club of this university, one of the best in the world.
The fascination with languages did not go away with Sidis even in adulthood. He knew 40 languages and was also the author of his own language. His hobby was writing alternative US history. William James Sidis died in 1944 of a cerebral hemorrhage, like his father.
The highest IQ scores among contemporaries
Stephen Hawking is considered one of the most famous among the smartest people of our time, his IQ is 160 points. He is known for his research and theoretical work in physics. Hawking is also one of the largest popularizers of science.
The highest officially tested intelligence level belongs to a native of Korea - this is the child prodigy Kim-Ung-Yong. As a two-year-old child, he could already speak two languages fluently, and by the age of four he could solve complex problems in mathematics. When he was 8 years old, NASA invited him to study in the United States.
Terence Tao, whose IQ is 230, has been very gifted since childhood. At the age of 2 he could already study arithmetic, and by the age of 9 he was studying at the university. At 20, he became a Ph. D. at Princeton, and at 24 - the world's youngest professor. He has published over 250 different papers.
One of the most famous women with high IQs is Judit Polgar, her IQ 170. She became a grandmaster at the age of 15, and at some point she even surpassed Bobby Fischer, and during a quick chess match she won Garry Kasparov.
