Famous Geniuses Born in May
84
Brilliant Minds Born in May
From ancient philosophers to modern scientists — ranked by estimated IQ
May, month of Mayfairs and maturity, is associated with Bona Dea, the Roman goddess of fertility. It has been extraordinarily fertile for human genius.
Top Geniuses Born in May
These are the 30 highest-IQ geniuses born in May, ranked by estimated intelligence quotient.
Richard G. Rosner
Athanasius Kircher
William Gilbert (physician)
Studies of magnetism, De Magnete
Roger Joseph Boscovich
Precursor of the atomic theoryFounder of Brera Observatory
Gerald Massey
The Ballad of Babe Christabel (1854), War Waits (1855), Havelock's March (1860), and A Tale of Eternity (1869)
Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis, including the theories of id, ego and super-ego, oedipus complex, repression, defense mechanism
Niccolò Machiavelli
The Prince
Alexander Pope
The Dunciad, The Rape of the Lock, An Essay on Criticism, His translation of Homer.
Carl Linnaeus
Binomial nomenclature Scientific classification Taxonomy
Edward Gibbon
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
William Pitt the Younger
Becoming the youngest prime minister of Great Britain in 1783 at the age of 24
Augustin-Jean Fresnel
His research in optics led to the almost unanimous acceptance of the wave theory of light.
John Stuart Mill
On Liberty, The Subjection of Women
Søren Kierkegaard
Karl Marx
The fact that his teachings lead to revolutions in Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
Oliver Heaviside
Heaviside cover-up method
Heaviside step function
Heaviside condition
Heaviside-Feynman formula
Heav
Heaviside step function
Heaviside condition
Heaviside-Feynman formula
Heav
Arthur Conan Doyle
Stories of Sherlock Holmes, The Lost World
Bertrand Russell
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Co-developing the concept of the noosphere.
John Bardeen
Transistor BCS theory Superconductivity
William Whewell
Coining the words scientist and physicist
Justus von Liebig
Law of the Minimum and Liebig condenser
Louis Agassiz
Ice age, Polygenism
Margaret Fuller
Woman in the Nineteenth Century
Richard Wagner
The Ring of the Nibelung
William Kingdon Clifford
Clifford algebra
Salvador Dalí
Painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, writing, film, jewelry
Johann Joachim Becher
Phlogiston theory
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot
Being an early advocate for economic liberalism.
Lazare Carnot
Founder of the Ecole Polytechnique; father to Sadi Carnot, initiator of thermodynamics.
Browse May by Date
Click any date below to see every genius born on that specific day, with full profiles and history.
May 1
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
+3 geniuses
May 2
Richard G. Rosner
+3 geniuses
May 3
Niccolò Machiavelli
+2 geniuses
May 4
William Kingdon Clifford
+4 geniuses
May 5
Søren Kierkegaard
+2 geniuses
May 6
Sigmund Freud
+3 geniuses
May 7
Johannes Brahms
+3 geniuses
May 8
Edward Gibbon
+1 genius
May 10
Augustin-Jean Fresnel
+3 geniuses
May 11
Salvador Dalí
+3 geniuses
May 12
Justus von Liebig
+4 geniuses
May 13
Lazare Carnot
+2 geniuses
May 14
Mark Zuckerberg
+1 genius
May 16
William H. Seward
+2 geniuses
May 17
Edward Jenner
+1 genius
May 18
Roger Joseph Boscovich
+4 geniuses
May 19
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
+2 geniuses
May 20
John Stuart Mill
+2 geniuses
May 21
Alexander Pope
+5 geniuses
May 22
Arthur Conan Doyle
+2 geniuses
May 23
Carl Linnaeus
+4 geniuses
May 24
William Gilbert (physician)
+3 geniuses
May 25
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
+3 geniuses
May 26
Jacob Barnett
+3 geniuses
May 27
Jay Gould
+3 geniuses
May 28
William Pitt the Younger
+6 geniuses
May 29
Gerald Massey
+5 geniuses
May 30
Giulio Alberoni
+1 genius
May 31
Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
+4 geniuses
Day-by-Day Breakdown
May 1 — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Joseph Addison, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (3)
May 2 — Richard G. Rosner, Athanasius Kircher, Novalis (3)
May 3 — Niccolò Machiavelli, August von Kotzebue (2)
May 4 — William Kingdon Clifford, Thomas Henry Huxley, William H. Prescott... (4)
May 5 — Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx (2)
May 6 — Sigmund Freud, Johann Joachim Becher, Maximilien Robespierre (3)
May 7 — Johannes Brahms, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Taylor Wilson (3)
May 8 — Edward Gibbon (1)
May 10 — Augustin-Jean Fresnel, Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (3)
May 11 — Salvador Dalí, Martha Graham, Richard Feynman (3)
May 12 — Justus von Liebig, Florence Nightingale, Tony Hawk... (4)
May 13 — Lazare Carnot, Inge Lehmann (2)
May 14 — Mark Zuckerberg (1)
May 16 — William H. Seward, André Masséna (2)
May 17 — Edward Jenner (1)
May 18 — Roger Joseph Boscovich, Oliver Heaviside, Bertrand Russell... (4)
May 19 — Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Edmund Thomas Clint (2)
May 20 — John Stuart Mill, Honoré de Balzac (2)
May 21 — Alexander Pope, Joseph Fouché, Albrecht Dürer... (5)
May 22 — Arthur Conan Doyle, Richard Wagner (2)
May 23 — Carl Linnaeus, John Bardeen, Margaret Fuller... (4)
May 24 — William Gilbert (physician), William Whewell, Bob Dylan (3)
May 25 — Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ian McKellen (3)
May 26 — Jacob Barnett, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Alexander Pushkin (3)
May 27 — Jay Gould, John Cockcroft, Rachel Carson (3)
May 28 — William Pitt the Younger, Louis Agassiz, Thomas Moore... (6)
May 29 — Gerald Massey, Oswald Spengler, John F. Kennedy... (5)
May 30 — Giulio Alberoni (1)
May 31 — Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, Ludwig Tieck, Nicolas Poussin... (4)
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