Michael Kearney's IQ: The Record Is Verified. The 200 Is Not.

The record Guinness verified

Guinness World Records lists Michael Kearney as its youngest graduate. He earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of South Alabama in June 1994, at 10 years and 4 months. Guinness records a second milestone as well: a master of science in biochemistry from Middle Tennessee State University on August 9, 1998, at 14 years and 8 months, with an A-minus average.

The steps before and after are documented in news coverage. Kearney, born in Honolulu in 1984, finished high school at 6 and earned an associate degree in geology from Santa Rosa Junior College at 8. In 2002, at 18, he completed a second master's degree, in computer science, at Vanderbilt University. His full timeline is on his genius profile.

Where the 'over 200' figure comes from

The IQ number attached to Kearney has one traceable origin. After he finished high school, his parents arranged an intelligence test. According to published accounts of his childhood, the examiners chose the Stanford-Binet over the Wechsler scale for children because they judged the Wechsler would inflate his score. A book written and published by his parents states that the result was over 200, about seven standard deviations above the norm.

No psychologist's report has been published. No independent outlet has reproduced the protocol, the test edition or the testing date. The figure has circulated for more than three decades, but repetition is not verification. We report it as a claimed score, attributed to its source, and nothing more.

Why a score above 200 strains the math

On a modern deviation scale, IQ has a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. Seven standard deviations above the mean is 205. Under a normal curve, that result would occur about once in 780 billion people, nearly 100 times the number alive today. No current test is normed to reach it; the WAIS-IV, the standard adult battery, tops out at 160. Our IQ 200 page explains what the upper tail can and cannot support.

Childhood scores above 200 usually come from ratio-style scoring or extrapolated norms, which compare a child's mental age with chronological age. A six-year-old performing like a teenager can produce a very large ratio, but that number does not translate into an adult deviation IQ. The same issue applies to the 228 once listed by Guinness for Marilyn vos Savant, explained on our IQ 228 page and in our guide to scores above 200. A child who completes high school at 6 is plainly far out on the curve. How far cannot be settled with a number no one has published.

The evidence that needs no test

Kearney's documented milestones are stronger evidence than any single score. Each degree required passing courses and examinations graded by faculty, not by family. He finished the South Alabama degree with honors. At Middle Tennessee State he worked as a teaching assistant after his master's, and he later pursued a doctorate in chemistry there before leaving academia for entertainment.

His game-show record adds a public, timed test of knowledge. In October 2006 he became a $100,000 finalist on AOL's online trivia contest Gold Rush; in November 2006 he won its $1 million grand prize, revealed on Entertainment Tonight. CBS News reported that he chose a check over gold bars. He won $25,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2008.

Kearney beside other prodigies

The closest historical comparison is William James Sidis, who entered Harvard in 1909 at 11. Sidis's famous 250 to 300 traces to a single uncorroborated account in a 1946 book. Kearney's case follows the same pattern: a verified academic record paired with an unverified number. Our Kearney vs. Sidis comparison sets the two records side by side.

Another peer is Sho Yano, an American who also finished college as a child; see Kearney vs. Yano. The opposite case is Kim Peek, whose measured score of 87 is documented while his memory defied every scale. For the broader record book, see the youngest IQ records.

What an IQ figure cannot tell you about him

Acceleration measures speed through a curriculum, not the direction of a life. Kearney's adult path has run through game shows, television and, as of 2023, improvisational theater in Nashville, according to public reference sources. That is a choice, not a verdict on intellect, and it shows why a childhood score predicts little about how a gifted person will spend the decades after.

Psychologists also note that IQ can shift during childhood. A test given at 6 is a snapshot of a young mind moving fast, not a fixed adult measurement. For a gifted child, the record of what he did with each year is more informative than the number assigned to one afternoon.

How we assessed this

Kearney is living, so we apply a strict rule: no IQ figure appears here without its source. The over-200 claim is attributed to his parents' self-published book as summarized in public reference sources; we found no psychologist's report or independent test record. Degrees and dates come from Guinness World Records and contemporary news coverage, including CBS News. We make no claims about his health or private life.

Editorial standard: IQ figures for historical figures are retrospective estimates and are labeled as such; scores for living people appear only when the person disclosed them or a reputable outlet reported them. Corrections: contact the editors.