Smarter Than Einstein? What Record-Breaking IQ Scores Really Mean
Ask someone to picture a genius, and they’ll likely think of Albert Einstein. With his iconic white hair, sleepy eyes, and huge moustache, the famed theoretical physicist is widely perceived as one of the smartest people in history. Did you know, though, that a ton of people — including many children — have exhibited higher IQs than Einstein? And if that’s true, it might make you wonder: how intelligent can a person get? And how valid are IQ scores in the first place?
The world’s first IQ test
The first Intelligence Quotient test came about in 1904 when French psychologist Alfred Binet was tasked by his government with identifying children who would need extra help in school.
He and colleague Theodore Simon put together a series of 30 questions which explored concepts not taught in school: problem-solving, memory, and attention. It was dubbed the Binet-Simon Scale, and over the years it formed the foundations of the vast majority of the IQ tests we still use to this day.
The limitations
Over the years, though, experts have claimed that IQ tests have limitations. They believe a single number cannot accurately quantify someone’s intelligence, because it’s such a complex topic that is affected by countless factors which change and evolve over time.
Heck, even Binet himself reportedly said his test was not a measure of permanent intelligence, so the results are inherently incomplete. These days, many argue that IQ tests can be useful, but you shouldn’t necessarily place a huge amount of stock in their results.
They’re still used today
Regardless, IQ tests are still widely used today, and some experts believe the naysayers have made too much of the test’s supposed faults. For instance, the University of Mexico’s Rex Jung told New Scientist magazine, “Despite the critiques, the intelligence test is one of the most reliable and solid behavioral tests ever invented.”
With all that said, it’s perhaps understandable why the internet will still go wild when it gets wind of someone who scored higher than Einstein, although even these numbers have plenty of gray areas.
Smarter than Einstein
These days, it’s not unusual to periodically see articles bragging about how a new “smarter-than-Einstein” genius has been discovered. And that excites people because Einstein is, effectively, worldwide shorthand for “the genius of geniuses!”
While the sentiment behind these stories is admirable, and this article will discuss some incredibly brainy people who may have been smarter than the German theoretical physicist, it’s actually impossible to measure this with any certainty. Why? Not least because Einstein never took an IQ test!