American child prodigy William James Sidis (1898-1944) has the highest confirmed IQ score in history, ranging from 250 to 300. To put that in perspective, the average IQ is 100. Genius level is considered 140 and above. Sidis‘ IQ was more than double this benchmark for genius.
Sidis could read the New York Times at just 18 months old. By age 5, he had taught himself 8 languages and wrote four books in his spare time. In 1909, Sidis became the youngest person ever to enroll at Harvard University at just 11 years old.
Yet despite his unprecedented intelligence, Sidis lead an unfulfilling life, changing jobs and cities frequently to avoid the public spotlight. He made important contributions to a 1919 total eclipse expedition in Texas, patented several inventions, and wrote a well-received book on collecting streetcar transfers. But Sidis never achieved fame or peer recognition commensurate with his IQ score. He died relatively poor and unknown at the age of 46.
Sidis‘ story illustrates that while IQ reveals intellectual potential, it does not guarantee success or happiness. Many other factors come into play, like environment, motivation, and emotional intelligence (EQ).
Ultra-High IQ Individuals Throughout History
Here are a few other people with verified, exceptionally high IQ scores and their accomplishments:
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Terence Tao (225-230 IQ) – Chinese-American mathematician awarded the Fields Medal. He teaches at UCLA and focuses on harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, combinatorics, and more.
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Marilyn vos Savant (228 IQ) – American columnist who topped the Guinness Book of World Records for highest IQ in the 1980s-90s. She achieved fame as an advice columnist and author of books on intelligence and puzzles.
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Christopher Hirata (225 IQ) – American astrophysicist who began college at age 13. He works at Ohio State researching dark energy and cosmology.
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Kim Ung-Yong (210 IQ) – South Korean former child prodigy who could read Korean, Japanese, English and German by age 3. He was employed by NASA while still a teenager but struggled to adjust as an adult.
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Edith Stern (200+ IQ) – American mathematician who started college at age 12. Her specialty is arithmetic theory and she teaches at Carnegie Mellon University.
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Judit Polgar (190 IQ) – Hungarian chess grandmaster and the only woman ranked among the world‘s top 10 players. She defeated 11 world champions in her career.
Genius vs Gifted vs Average Intelligence
IQ scores are normally distributed along a bell curve, with the majority of people clustered around the average score of 100. Here‘s how other IQ ranges are generally classified:
| IQ Range | Classification | Percent of Population |
|---|---|---|
| 130+ | Very Gifted | 2.2% |
| 145+ | Genius | 0.1% |
| 160+ | Extraordinary Genius | 0.003% |
| 180+ | Highest Genius | 0.0001% |
| 200+ | Unmeasurable Genius | Roughly 1 in 300 million |
- Average intelligence – 85-115 IQ – Makes up 68% of the population
- Above average – 116-130 IQ – Makes up 13.6% of the population
- Gifted – 131-144 IQ – Makes up 2.2% of the population
- Genius level – 145+ IQ – Makes up less than 0.1% of the population
As you can see, Sidis and others with IQs above 200 are true outliers, even among the most gifted individuals. Their IQs are more than 5 standard deviations above the average – literally off the charts.
Critiques of IQ Testing
While IQ scores have traditionally been used to measure intelligence, many psychologists argue they have limitations:
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Cultural bias – Critics argue that IQ tests favor white, middle-class Americans and aren‘t fair assessments for people of other backgrounds.
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Multidimensional intelligence – IQ tests focus on logical, mathematical and linguistic intelligence. But other forms exist like spatial, interpersonal, musical, etc.
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Practice effect – People can improve at IQ tests by practicing the types of questions, similar to prepping for SATs. This casts doubt on the innate nature of IQ.
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Situational factors – Stress, motivation, health and other factors on the test day can impact performance and skew scores.
Due to these concerns, IQ tests remain controversial and many psychologists prefer to speak of intelligence in broader terms, rather than reducing it to a single score. Multiple intelligences, emotional intelligence (EQ), practical intelligence, and wisdom are sometimes deemed as important as IQ.
IQ and Success
Is there a strong correlation between IQ scores and professional success or eminence? The data shows a weak to moderate correlation:
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A longitudinal study of 1,600 high-IQ individuals over 80 years found their life accomplishments were only moderately correlated with IQ scores. Less than 4% of the variance in their success could be directly attributed to IQ.
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Another study of Fortune 500 CEOs showed they had high but not extraordinary IQs, averaging around 120-130.
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Many individuals with genius-level IQs do not achieve great success. Unfulfilled potential can be due to lack of motivation, mental health issues, or simple disinterest in conventional notions of career status.
While above-average intelligence helps, many other factors clearly contribute to success, like drive, creativity, emotional intelligence, personality, opportunities and more. A high IQ is neither necessary nor sufficient for changing the world.
Online IQ Tests – Rough Estimates Only
Many free IQ tests are available online, but most psychologists view these with skepticism for the following reasons:
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They lack verification – it‘s easy for someone to take the test multiple times to inflate scores.
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They often use item types not found on proctored IQ tests. Some resemble simple math puzzles.
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Results are provided instantly, whereas real IQ tests take time to administer, score and interpret results.
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Online tests usually provide only a basic score estimate without nuanced interpretation of strengths, weaknesses and subscores like a full IQ report.
That said, here are a few free online IQ tests that claim legitimacy and may provide entertainment value or a very rough ballpark estimate:
Just don‘t take the scores from these casual online tests too seriously. Only a psychologist can administer an official IQ test that accounts for all of the complex nuances mentioned above.
Final Thoughts on IQ and Intelligence
In closing, while IQ scores provide a useful metric for cognitive ability, they capture only a narrow slice of human intelligence. Insights, wisdom, emotional clarity and creativity are examples of other intelligences not measurable by IQ tests.
Sidis‘ story illustrates the limitations of IQ testing. With an IQ potentially over 300, he had unimaginable intellectual potential. Yet his life was not one of great success or acclaim. He eschewed public attention and died relatively poor and alone.
IQ reveals ability, not virtue. As Sidis demonstrated, there is so much more to life than intellectual firepower. Perhaps the truest geniuses are those who combine exceptional cognitive capacity with emotional intelligence, creative vision, and wisdom to make the world a little better for those around them.
