The 100 Highest IQ Geniuses in History — Ranked

A data-driven ranking of the 100 highest-IQ minds across history and today. Scores are cited estimates.

1. William James Sidis

   1898–1944 · United States
   250
2. Aristotle

   Antiquity · Greece
   200
3. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

   1749–1832 · Germany
   200
4. Leonardo Da Vinci

   1452–1519 · Italy
   200
5. Leopold and Loeb

   1905–1971 · United States
   200
6. Empedocles

   Antiquity · Greece
   195
7. Gilbert N. Lewis

   1875–1946 · United States
   195
8. Henry Adams

   1838–1918 · United States
   195
9. Hermann von Helmholtz

   1821–1894 · Germany
   195
10. Ludwig Boltzmann

    1844–1906 · Austria
    195
11. Nikola Tesla

    1856–1943 · HR
    195
12. Pierre-Simon Laplace

    1749–1827 · France
    195
13. Archimedes

    Antiquity · Greece
    190
14. Athanasius Kircher

    1602–1680 · Germany
    190
15. Baron d'Holbach

    1723–1789 · Germany
    190
16. Carl Friedrich Gauss

    1777–1855 · Germany
    190
17. Christiaan Huygens

    1629–1695 · Netherlands
    190
18. Enrico Fermi

    1901–1954 · Italy
    190
19. Erwin Schrödinger

    1887–1961 · Austria
    190
20. Francis Bacon

    1561–1626 · England
    190
21. Voltaire

    1694–1778 · France
    190
22. Friedrich Nietzsche

    1844–1900 · Germany
    190
23. Giordano Bruno

    1548–1600 · Italy
    190
24. Isaac Newton

    1643–1727 · England
    190
25. John von Neumann

    1903–1957 · Hungary
    190
26. Joseph-Louis Lagrange

    1736–1813 · Italy
    190
27. Henri Poincaré

    1854–1912 · France
    190
28. Leonhard Euler

    1707–1783 · Switzerland
    190
29. Linus Pauling

    1901–1994 · United States
    190
30. Max Planck

    1858–1947 · Germany
    190
31. Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot

    1796–1832 · France
    190
32. Paul Dirac

    1902–1984 · England
    190
33. Pierre Gassendi

    1592–1655 · France
    190
34. Vilfredo Pareto

    1848–1923 · Italy
    190
35. Wilhelm Ostwald

    1853–1932 · LV
    190
36. William Shakespeare

    1564–1616 · United Kingdom
    190
37. Alan Turing

    1912–1954 · England
    185
38. Alfred J. Lotka

    1880–1949 · United States
    185
39. Arthur Schopenhauer

    1788–1860 · Germany
    185
40. Auguste Comte

    1798–1857 · France
    185
41. Blaise Pascal

    1623–1662 · France
    185
42. Ctesibius

    285–222 BC · EG
    185
43. Democritus

    Antiquity · Greece
    185
44. Epicurus

    341–270 BC · Greece
    185
45. Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling

    1775–1854 · Germany
    185
46. Gerald Massey

    1828–1907 · United Kingdom
    185
47. Heraclitus

    535–475 BC · Greece
    185
48. Hero of Alexandria

    10–70 · Greece
    185
49. Humphry Davy

    1778–1829 · United Kingdom
    185
50. Immanuel Kant

    1724–1804 · Germany
    185
51. James Clerk Maxwell

    1831–1879 · Scotland
    185
52. Jean-Baptiste-Claude Delisle de Sales

    1741–1816 · France
    185
53. Jean le Rond d'Alembert

    1717–1783 · France
    185
54. Leon Winiarski

    1865–1915 · Poland
    185
55. Otto von Guericke

    1602–1686 · Germany
    185
56. Percy Bysshe Shelley

    1792–1822 · England
    185
57. Percy Williams Bridgman

    1882–1961 · United States
    185
58. Pierre Louis Maupertuis

    1698–1759 · France
    185
59. Robert Boyle

    1627–1691 · Ireland
    185
60. Roger Joseph Boscovich

    1711–1787 · HR
    185
61. Satyendra Nath Bose

    1894–1974 · India
    185
62. Sigmund Freud

    1856–1939 · Austria
    185
63. Thomas Edison

    1847–1931 · United States
    185
64. Thomas Young

    1773–1829 · United Kingdom
    185
65. Thomas Hobbes

    1588–1679 · United Kingdom
    185
66. William Gilbert (physician)

    1544–1603 · United Kingdom
    185
67. William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin

    1824–1907 · United Kingdom
    185
68. Ettore Majorana

    1906–1938 · Italy
    183
69. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

    1646–1716 · Germany
    182
70. Theodor Schwann

    1810–1882 · Germany
    182
71. Arthur Conan Doyle

    1859–1930 · Scotland
    180
72. Albertus Magnus

    1200–1280 · —
    180
73. Alexander Graham Bell

    1847–1922 · Scotland
    180
74. Alexander von Humboldt

    1769–1859 · Germany
    180
75. Alexander Pope

    1688–1744 · United Kingdom
    180
76. Alexander the Great

    356–323 BC · MK
    180
77. Anaxagoras

    500–428 BC · Greece
    180
78. Anaximander

    610–546 BC · Greece
    180
79. André-Marie Ampère

    1775–1836 · France
    180
80. Antoine Lavoisier

    1743–1794 · France
    180
81. Augustin-Jean Fresnel

    1788–1827 · France
    180
82. Augustine of Hippo

    354–430 · DZ
    180
83. Avicenna

    980–1037 · UZ
    180
84. Barthold Georg Niebuhr

    1776–1831 · Denmark
    180
85. Benjamin Franklin

    1706–1790 · United States
    180
86. George Bernard Shaw

    1856–1950 · Ireland
    180
87. Bernhard Riemann

    1826–1866 · Germany
    180
88. Bertrand Russell

    1872–1970 · United Kingdom
    180
89. Carl Linnaeus

    1707–1778 · Sweden
    180
90. Charlemagne

    742–814 · France
    180
91. Charles Darwin

    1809–1882 · United Kingdom
    180
92. Charles Scott Sherrington

    1857–1952 · England
    180
93. Claude Shannon

    1916–2001 · United States
    180
94. David Hume

    1711–1776 · Scotland
    180
95. Denis Diderot

    1713–1784 · France
    180
96. Denis Papin

    1647–1713 · France
    180
97. Edward Gibbon

    1737–1794 · United Kingdom
    180
98. Ernst Haeckel

    1834–1919 · Germany
    180
99. Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire

    1772–1844 · France
    180
100. Euripides

     480–406 BC · Greece
     180

How we ranked this list

Scores draw from cited estimates in published biographies and psychometric literature. Historical IQ figures are reconstructions, not test results.