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William James Sidis, Marilyn vos Savant, and Leonardo da Vinci are among those historically noted for their high IQ scores. But are they truly the smartest individuals in the world?
In recent years, IQ tests, also known as intelligence quotient tests, have been considered a means of quantifying a person's intellectual capacity.
There's a prevalent belief that the higher a person's IQ score, the smarter they are. Naturally, this has sparked debates over who holds the highest IQ score in the world - and whether that individual should be deemed the smartest person alive.
The name of renowned physicist Albert Einstein often arises in such discussions. He's estimated to have had an IQ of 160, but that's not the highest IQ ever recorded.
Born on March 14, 1879, Albert Einstein is regarded as one of the most brilliant minds of all time.
Certainly, IQ tests still have their limitations, and many have questioned whether they should be used to determine a person's intelligence or not. Moreover, there's a dark history behind some IQ tests, as they were previously used to discriminate against individuals of certain racial and ethnic groups.
Furthermore, both the reliability and effectiveness of IQ tests are often doubted. Some experts have suggested that they may not be indicators of intelligence but rather indicators of motivation level, learning quality, health status, and other factors of an individual.
Born on August 11, 1946, Marilyn vos Savant is an American columnist, honored in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1986 for having the highest recorded IQ: 228. Her intelligence was evaluated through two tests, the Stanford-Binet Test and the Stanford-Binet Test.
The Birth of the First IQ Test
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the scientific community was highly interested in the study of intelligence. The early works on this topic were published by Sir Francis Galton, the founder of differential psychology, who believed that intelligence is hereditary and can be determined by observing how a person performs interactive tasks.
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During the turn of the century transition period, a French psychologist named Alfred Binet became fascinated by Galton's research work. He also began developing tests to measure intelligence, which were widely used in 1904 when the French government wanted to identify which children would struggle in school.
Alfred Binet, the French psychologist who developed the first IQ test, called the Binet-Simon Scale.
Binet and his colleague Theodore Simon then created a test consisting of a series of questions focusing on skills like attention and problem-solving - not necessarily skills taught in classrooms, but ones that could impact a child's ability to learn. This 30-question test became known as the Binet-Simon Scale, the first IQ test officially recognized.
The Evolution of Intelligence Testing
Over time, the Binet-Simon Scale was refined - first by psychologist Lewis Terman of Stanford University, who standardized the test and used two scales in his revision, instead of one, to provide more accurate results. He also translated the test into English in 1916.
A year later, psychologist Robert Yerkes developed two IQ tests for the United States Army - the Alpha and Beta tests. The Alpha test was a written exam, while the Beta test included pictures for recruits who couldn't read or were not fluent in English. Both tests were designed to help the military determine which recruits might be suited for specific roles in the army.
As a result, IQ tests like these were also used to screen immigrants to the United States during this time, inadvertently leading government officials to impose discriminatory restrictions on groups deemed to have 'low' IQ scores.
Psychologist David Wechsler, who introduced a new intelligence test in 1955 called the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS).
Then, in 1955, American psychologist David Wechsler created a new intelligence test called the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Wechsler strongly believed that intelligence should be measured by comparing test scores within the same age group.
Some modifications were made to Wechsler's system, eventually developing into the WAIS-IV, which is the modern standard for intelligence testing. Using this standard, the average score is fixed at 100, with two-thirds of test takers scoring somewhere in the normal range from 85 to 115.
In theory, the higher someone's score, the more intelligent they are.
Who has the highest IQ in the world?
Even with the standardization of IQ tests and numerous modifications over time, determining the highest IQ score ever recorded remains far from simple. While some individuals have exceptionally high scores, it's surprising that some of the world's smartest individuals have IQ scores much lower than you might expect.
For example, Albert Einstein, often regarded as one of history's greatest minds, had an estimated IQ of only around 160 - still well above average, but not among the highest IQs in the world. Similarly, Stephen Hawking's IQ was estimated to be a similar figure.
Albert Einstein's IQ has never been officially tested, but some sources estimate his IQ to be around 160.
But from a purely statistical standpoint, Einstein's and Hawking's estimated scores are quite low compared to the scores of William James Sidis and Marilyn vos Savant. Sidis was a prodigy with an estimated IQ ranging from 250 to 300; Savant's IQ has been recorded as 228.
However, IQ tests are not perfect measures of intelligence. Critics often label these tests as 'fundamentally flawed,' and many debates also question what it truly means to be one of the world's smartest individuals.
Considered by some as the smartest man to have ever lived, William James Sidis was a child prodigy born on April 1, 1898, in New York City. By just 18 months old, he could read The New York Times. By age six, he could speak multiple languages, including English, French, German, Russian, Hebrew, and Turkish. Perhaps most astonishingly, his IQ was estimated to be between 250 and 300.
The Fundamental Flaws of IQ Tests
As reported by The Independent, a 2012 study found that IQ tests do not accurately reflect the complex nature of human intelligence.
Roger Highfield, the Director of External Affairs at the Science Museum in London, stated: “The results entirely refute the idea that a single measure of intelligence, such as IQ, is enough to capture all the differences in cognitive ability that we see among humans.”
Researchers analyzed a sample of 46,000 individuals from around the world who completed an online survey, where they were asked to complete 12 mental tests to measure various aspects of their cognitive abilities.
Ultimately, they concluded that no single measure of intelligence could account for the variations observed across the three distinct components of cognitive ability: short-term memory, reasoning, and problem-solving.
Does this mean IQ tests are entirely useless? Not necessarily. But they should not be used alone to determine who is intelligent or who is the smartest person in the world.
