Edison, Tesla (American by adoption), Einstein (also American by adoption), Feynman, von Neumann — the minds who built modern America.
60 GeniusesAmerica's biggest export over the last 150 years has been ideas. From Edison's light bulb to Feynman's diagrams, American (and American-adopted) minds have defined modern industry, computing, and physics.
This list ranks the geniuses born in or naturalized to the United States, organized by IQ and lasting influence.
Albert Einstein (naturalized 1940), Thomas Edison, and Benjamin Franklin are the three most-cited answers. Einstein is the highest IQ; Edison the most patents; Franklin the most polymathic.
Einstein became a US citizen in 1940. He had moved from Germany in 1933 and joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
Terence Tao, Australian-born but a long-time UCLA professor, is widely cited at IQ 230. American-born Christopher Hirata is estimated at 225.
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