These are the smartest people in the history of the world according to IQ (and some are still alive today). The include physicists, philosophers, painters, musicians, actors, generals, and political figures. See where each is ranked:
- 250-300 – William James Sidis had a predicted IQ of 250-300
- 235-Jennifer rose Ocasio Reverend / Phychiatrist has verified IQ of 235
- 210 – Physicist / Engineer Kim Ung-yong has a verified IQ of 210
- 195 – Bouncer Christopher Michael Langan has a verified IQ of 195
- 190 – Engineer Philip Emeagwali is alleged to have an IQ of 190
- 190 – World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov is alleged to have an IQ of 190
- 190 – Sir Isaac Newton
- 190 – Francois-Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
- 190 – Ludwig Wittgenstein
- 186 – Author Marilyn Vos Savant has a verified IQ of 186
- 180 – Actor James Woods is alleged to have an IQ of 180
- 180 – Leonardo da Vinci
- 180 – Buonarroti Michelangelo
- 180 – David Hume
- 180 – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is alleged to have an IQ of 180
- 180 – Politician John H. Sununu is alleged to have an IQ of 180
- 179 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- 176 – Emanuel Swedenborg
- 176 – Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
- 175 – Edmund Spenser
- 175 – Baruch Spinoza
- 175 – Johannes Kepler
- 174 – John Stuart Mill
- 171 – Blaise Pascal
- 170 – Antoine Lavoisier
- 170 – Martin Luther
- 170 – World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer is alleged to have an IQ of 167
- 170 – Chess Grandmaster Robert Byrne is alleged to have an IQ of 170
- 170 – World Chess Champion Judith Polgar is alleged to have an IQ of 170
- 170 – Mathematician Andrew Wiles is alleged to have an IQ of 170
- 170 – George Friedrich Handel
- 170 – Michael Faraday
- 167 – Mathematician / Physicist Stephen W. Hawking is alleged to have an IQ of over 160
- 165 – Samuel Johnson
- 165 – Ludwig van Beethoven
- 165 – Joseph Priestley
- 165 – John Locke
- 165 – Thomas Hobbes
- 165 – Galileo Galilei
- 165 – Charlotte Bronte
- 165 – Johann Sebastian Bach
- 165 – Carl von Linne
- 162 – Madame De Stael
- 162 – Rene Descartes
- 160 – Robert Boyle
- 160 – Microsoft Founder Paul Allen is alleged to have an IQ of over 160
- 160 – Benjamin Franklin
- 160 – Albert Einstein
- 159 – Immanuel Kant
- 156 – Olof Palme
- 156 – Thomas Chatterton
- 156 – Linus Carl Pauling
- 156 – Sofia Kovalevskaya
- 155 – Jonathan Swift
- 155 – Miguel de Cervantes
- 155 – Rembrandt van Rijn
- 154 – Actress Sharon Stone is alleged to have an IQ of 154
- 153 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- 153 – Charles Darwin
- 150 – Nicolaus Copernicus
- 150 – George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
- 150 – Abraham Lincoln
- 145 – Anna Lindh
- 145 – Napoleon Bonaparte
- 143 – George Sand (Aurore Dupin)
- 140 – George Washington
- 130 – Sir Francis Drake
- 130 – Ulysses S. Grant
