money Who has the highest IQ ever recorded? Here's what we know about the world's smartest people.
According to Mensa International, IQ is a score that identifies how far above or below someone is in comparison to others' mental ability.
The term was coined in 1912, and since then, IQ tests have been further developed to define standard deviations of someone's logic and reasoning.
Even with tests, intelligence is not easy to measure. Those who are considered "the smartest people in the world," such as Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein, do not have extraordinarily high IQ scores in comparison with others.
Starting young: Kentucky toddler, 2, is the youngest Mensa member in US
Who has the highest IQ?
There is not a distinct answer to who has the highest IQ, but it is not Albert Einstein.
Those with higher IQs in comparison with Einstein include William James Sidis, Leonardo Da Vinci and Marilyn vos Savant.
Sidis was a child prodigy whose IQ was estimated to be anywhere between 200 to 300, says parade.com. According to the University of Houston, he attended Harvard University at 11 years old and graduated at the age of 16.
Da Vinci, famed painter and theorist, is estimated to have had IQ scores ranging from 180 to 220, according to parade.com.
Savant has the highest recorded IQ, receiving a score of 228, and was listed in "The Guinness Book of World Records" in 1985, according to encyclopedia.com. She has been called "the smartest person in the world," says encyclopedia.com
Other people with some of the highest IQs are Sho Yano, who had an estimated IQ of around 200 at 10 years old, and Adragon De Mello, who had a projected IQ of 400 and graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz at 11 years old, according to Reader's Digest.
What was Albert Einstein's IQ?
Though some sources estimate theoretical physicist Albert Einstein's IQ was around 160, there is no indication he ever had his IQ tested, according to biography.com.
“If you google ‘Einstein's IQ’ you get plenty of results, but nothing that I would consider credible,” says professor Dean Keith Simonton for biography.com.
So, there is no real answer to what was Einstein's IQ level. Most available scores appear to be simple estimates.
Albert Einstein quotes: Words to live by
Einstein's brain: How amazing was it really?
What was Stephen Hawking's IQ?
Similar to Einstein, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking had an estimated IQ of 160, yet it is unknown if he ever took an IQ test, according to enhancingbrain.com.
According to Healthline, about 68% of people have an IQ between 85 and 115. The average IQ score in the U.S. is 98, says Healthline.
More on Hawking: 5 things to know about the legendary physicist
Just curious?: Trying to answer some of life's everyday questions
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who has the highest IQ? Here's what's know about the smartest people in the world
