Top 10 People with the Highest IQs in the World

Kim Ung-Yong was born in South Korea in 1963. By the time he was only six months old, he could speak, and by the age of three, he was already reading English, German, Korean, and Japanese. After his extraordinary talents became widely known, he moved to the United States to study and worked with NASA for over a decade. However, dissatisfied with his life at NASA, he returned to South Korea and became a teacher, a profession he continues today. Despite a life filled with fame and intellectual achievement, he chose to live a simpler and more private life away from the spotlight.

Garry Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. From the start of his professional chess career in 1986 until 2005, Kasparov consistently ranked at the top, and he remained the undefeated World Chess Champion from 1985 to 1993.

His exceptional chess skills made him a global sensation, known not only in Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) but worldwide. Beyond chess, Kasparov is also famous for his political activism, notably his opposition to IBM's Deep Blue computer and his political support for the opposition in Russia under Vladimir Putin's leadership. Kasparov's IQ has been measured at an extraordinary 194, one of the highest ever recorded. He is currently retired and serves on the board of the Human Rights Foundation.

Marilyn Vos Savant was born in 1946 and rose to fame in her middle age when the Guinness World Records recognized her as the person with the highest recorded IQ in 1980. At that time, her IQ score of 190 was the highest ever recorded.

After being listed in the Guinness World Records, Marilyn Vos Savant became a renowned author, writing books such as 'Ask Marilyn' and 'Annie's Mailbox,' where readers could send in questions and receive answers from her. She built a career as a trusted problem solver and intellectual figure.

Similar to Albert Einstein, experts have been unable to pinpoint an exact IQ score for Leonardo da Vinci due to the limitations of IQ measurement methods in his time. However, based on historical records and his remarkable talents across various fields, particularly in painting, experts estimate that his IQ may have ranged from 180 to 190. Given his monumental legacy, his IQ is certainly deserving of being among the highest in the world.

Leonardo da Vinci is considered one of the earliest polymaths in history, epitomizing the idea of the 'Renaissance Man.' Not only was he a genius in the fields of painting and sculpture, but he also excelled in music, mathematics, engineering, geology, cartography, and literature.

Chess is undoubtedly a game that demands immense intellectual strength. Natural-born chess players often possess very high IQs, and many of the world’s brightest minds have been drawn to this timeless and respected sport.

Judit Polgar is recognized as the greatest female chess player of all time. She achieved grandmaster status at just over 15 years old, making her the youngest female grandmaster at the time. She was also one of the first women to break into the elite ranks of chess and made history as the first woman to defeat the world's top-rated player, Garry Kasparov. Polgar continues to maintain her impressive form with a string of victories.

The exact IQ score of the brilliant scientist Albert Einstein has never been clearly determined as he never took any official tests. However, IQ specialists estimate that his IQ was between 160 and 190.

Albert Einstein was born in 1879 in Germany and is most renowned for developing the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars that form the foundation of our modern understanding of physics.

He also contributed to the development of nuclear fission, which later caused him mixed emotions when it was used to create nuclear weapons, especially the atomic bomb.

Albert Einstein passed away in 1955 due to an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Stephen Hawking was a renowned British physicist. He is widely known for his presence in popular science books, most notably his 1988 publication "A Brief History of Time." In this book, he describes his discoveries in theoretical physics, including his work on the development of the "Big Bang theory" of the universe.

"A Brief History of Time" became one of the best-selling books worldwide, with over 10 million copies sold. This success helped solidify Stephen Hawking's name, along with his significant contributions to theoretical physics, and sparked a revolution in human understanding of the universe.

The exact IQ of William James Sidis remains undetermined, but experts estimate it to be between 250 and 300, making him one of the highest IQ individuals in recorded history.

So, why do experts rate Sidis so highly?

Born in 1898, William James Sidis entered Harvard University at the age of just 11, setting a record as the youngest student ever to attend the prestigious school.

After completing his academic studies, he began teaching, but his older students rejected being educated by someone they considered a mere boy.

Sidis's rapid intellectual advancement led to his isolation, as many in society and even his friends distanced themselves from him.

His later life was marred by legal troubles after he became involved in socialist movements. His parents, concerned about his political views, placed him in a psychiatric facility for reeducation. After his release in 1921, Sidis left academia and lived a more ordinary life, distancing himself from mathematics and research. He passed away at the age of 46 from a brain hemorrhage.

Terence Tao is an Australian mathematician and prodigy who showed exceptional talent from an early age. Born to parents from Hong Kong who migrated to Australia, Tao specializes in harmonic analysis, additive combinatorics, and various other branches of mathematics. In 2006, he was awarded the Fields Medal, a prestigious honor for young mathematicians that recognizes outstanding achievements in the field. Currently, he serves as a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Christopher Hirata is a remarkable prodigy who made history by becoming the youngest American to win a gold medal at the International Physics Olympiad in 1996, at just 13 years old. He enrolled at the California Institute of Technology at the age of 14 and earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University by the time he was 22. After completing his doctorate, Hirata returned to Caltech as a professor of astrophysics, where he continues to teach today.