Highest IQ Inventors in History — Records

Tesla, Edison, Bell, Da Vinci — the highest-IQ inventors of all time.

1. William James Sidis

   1898–1944 · United States
   250
2. Edith Stern

   1952–present · United States
   200
3. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

   1749–1832 · Germany
   200
4. Leonardo Da Vinci

   1452–1519 · Italy
   200
5. Vitalik Buterin

   1994–present · Russia
   200
6. Hermann von Helmholtz

   1821–1894 · Germany
   195
7. Nikola Tesla

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

   1749–1827 · France
   195
9. Richard G. Rosner

   1960–present · United States
   192
10. Archimedes

    0287–present · Greece
    190
11. Athanasius Kircher

    1602–1680 · Germany
    190
12. Carl Friedrich Gauss

    1777–1855 · Germany
    190
13. Christiaan Huygens

    1629–1695 · Netherlands
    190
14. Enrico Fermi

    1901–1954 · Italy
    190
15. Francis Bacon

    1561–1626 · England
    190
16. John von Neumann

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

    1736–1813 · Italy
    190
18. Leonhard Euler

    1707–1783 · Switzerland
    190
19. Linus Pauling

    1901–1994 · United States
    190
20. Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot

    1796–1832 · France
    190
21. Wilhelm Ostwald

    1853–1932 · LV
    190
22. William Shakespeare

    1564–1616 · United Kingdom
    190
23. Alan Turing

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

    1880–1949 · United States
    185
25. Auguste Comte

    1798–1857 · France
    185
26. Blaise Pascal

    1623–1662 · France
    185
27. Ctesibius

    0285–0222 · EG
    185
28. Democritus

    0460–present · Greece
    185
29. Heraclitus

    0535–0475 · Greece
    185
30. Hero of Alexandria

    0010–0070 · Greece
    185
31. Humphry Davy

    1778–1829 · United Kingdom
    185
32. James Clerk Maxwell

    1831–1879 · Scotland
    185
33. Otto von Guericke

    1602–1686 · Germany
    185
34. Pierre Louis Maupertuis

    1698–1759 · France
    185
35. Robert Boyle

    1627–1691 · Ireland
    185
36. Satyendra Nath Bose

    1894–1974 · India
    185
37. Thomas Edison

    1847–1931 · United States
    185
38. William Gilbert (physician)

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

    1824–1907 · United Kingdom
    185
40. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

    1646–1716 · Germany
    182
41. Theodor Schwann

    1810–1882 · Germany
    182
42. Albertus Magnus

    1200–1280 · —
    180
43. Alexander Graham Bell

    1847–1922 · Scotland
    180
44. Alexander von Humboldt

    1769–1859 · Germany
    180
45. Alexander the Great

    0356–0323 · MK
    180
46. André-Marie Ampère

    1775–1836 · France
    180
47. Augustin-Jean Fresnel

    1788–1827 · France
    180
48. Benjamin Franklin

    1706–1790 · United States
    180
49. Charlemagne

    0742–0814 · France
    180
50. Claude Shannon

    1916–2001 · United States
    180

How we ranked this list

Filtered on inventor-related work in known-for or description fields.