An IQ score of 200 or higher is exceptionally rare. Very few people in history have ever been confirmed to have an IQ at this level. An IQ score this high indicates profound giftedness and is over 7 standard deviations above the general population average IQ of 100. Only 1 in 30 billion people will have an IQ of 200 or higher. As such, only a handful of people alive today are likely to have an intelligence quotient in this range.
What is IQ?
IQ stands for intelligence quotient and is a score derived from standardized tests designed to measure human intelligence and cognitive abilities. The most well known IQ tests are the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS).
IQ tests measure different components of intelligence such as logical reasoning, math skills, spatial skills, memory, and processing speed. The average IQ score for the general population is defined as 100. About 68% of people score within one standard deviation of the average, between IQ 85 and IQ 115. Only 2.5% of test takers exceed an IQ of 130, often considered the threshold for giftedness. An IQ of 200 is extremely rare.
Requirements for 200 IQ
Only a very small number of people will ever be able to meet the following requirements and conditions necessary for achieving an IQ score of 200:
- Exceptional innate cognitive aptitudes – This includes superior memory, high processing speed, excellent spatial reasoning, and heightened problem-solving abilities.
- Diligent mental activity from early childhood – The brain must be continually challenged from a young age for peak development.
- Excellent education – Access to enriching learning environments maximizes potential.
- Strong motivation and persistence – High achievers are deeply intrinsically driven.
- Tireless dedication to intellectual pursuits – Long-term commitment to developing the mind is key.
- Highly refined test-taking abilities – Scoring well requires experience with tests.
- Luck – Even with all other factors in place, chance plays a role in exceptionally high scores.
It takes the rare alignment of natural talent, nurturing environments, intense discipline, and opportunity to produce an individual capable of reaching an elite IQ score.
The World’s Highest IQ Scores
Only a few people in history are confirmed to have reached IQ scores of 200 or above. Here are some of the individuals who are purported to have the highest IQ scores in the world:
William James Sidis – IQ Estimates up to 300
William James Sidis (1898-1944) was an American child prodigy renowned for his exceptional mathematical and linguistic abilities. His amazing intellect was discovered in early childhood when a psychologist estimated his IQ to be at genius levels between 250-300.
Sidis could read the New York Times by 18 months old and reportedly taught himself eight languages by age 8. At age 11, he became the youngest student ever at Harvard, graduating cum laude at 16. He went on to have a varied career including stints as a teacher, political activist, and author.
Terence Tao – IQ 230-240
Terence Tao (born 1975) is an Australian-American mathematician considered by many to be the “Mozart of Math.” He scored a 760 on the pre-1995 SAT at age 8, received his Ph.D from Princeton at 20, and joined the UCLA faculty at age 24 as their youngest ever professor.
His IQ scores range from 230 to 240 by different measures. In 2006, Tao became the first person since Euler in the 18th century to receive both the Fields Medal and the prestigious Gauss Prize for his groundbreaking work in harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, combinatorics, analytic number theory, and additive number theory.
Christopher Hirata – IQ 225
Christopher Hirata (born 1982) is an American astrophysicist and child prodigy who became interested in astronomy at age 8. By age 12, he began working with NASA on a project investigating the colonization of Mars. He entered Caltech as a freshman at 14, where he received his PhD at age 22. Hirata’s IQ is estimated to be around 225.
He has received numerous honors for his work in astrophysics, including the Hertz Foundation Fellowship and the Carnegie Prize Fellowship. In 2012, he joined the faculty at Ohio State University as an assistant professor of physics.
Kim Ung-Yong – IQ 210
Kim Ung-Yong (born 1962) was a Korean child prodigy who was diagnosed with a 210 IQ on the Stanford-Binet scale at age 4. By age 5, he had mastered multiple languages and was working as a guest physics lecturer at Hanyang University.
He was invited to work for NASA by age 8 but declined and chose to attend Colorado State University instead, where he earned his doctorate in physics aged 15. As an adult, Kim was a professor in civil engineering and now focuses mainly on his family and charity work.
Garry Kasparov – IQ 194
Garry Kasparov (born 1963) is considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time. From 1985 to 2005, Kasparov dominated as the number 1 ranked player for 225 out of 228 months – the longest such reign of any chess player in history. Kasparov’s IQ has been reported as 194.
He became the youngest ever World Chess Champion in 1985 at age 22 and remained the top-rated player for 20 years before retiring in 2005. Kasparov is also a prolific writer and political activist.
Philip Emeagwali – IQ 190
Philip Emeagwali (born 1954) is a Nigerian computer scientist who was notably one of the pioneers of internet speed and using computers to model petroleum fields. His 190 IQ places him amongst the smartest people alive. Although some of Emeagwali’s claims about his accomplishments have been disputed, his innovations were still critical contributions to parallel processing systems.
He won the prestigious 1989 Gordon Bell Prize for price-performance in high-performance computing applications, considered the Nobel Prize of supercomputing. Emeagwali has received over 100 international accolades for his pioneering work.
Marnen Laibow-Koser – IQ 169-176
Marnen Laibow-Koser (born 2014) is an American child prodigy known for his exceptionally high IQ scores between 169 to 176 on different scales. He could recite all the U.S. presidents in order at 18 months old and read over 300 words by age 2.
Laibow-Koser enrolled in a community college at 10 years old and is currently attending college full-time in Northern California, on track to earn his bachelor’s degree by 12 or 13. He plans to pursue a career in quantum physics.
Saul Aaron Kripke – IQ Est. 160-170
Saul Aaron Kripke (born 1940) is an American philosopher and logician at Columbia University. He made significant contributions to math and logic starting in his teens and is regarded as one of the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th century. His estimated IQ scores range from 160 to 170.
Kripke was appointed to a distinguished chair in philosophy at CUNY by age 26 and received tenure at Rockefeller University at 28. He received the prestigious Rolf Schock Prize in 2001 for revolutionizing modal logic. In 2013, Kripke was the first philosopher to win the $1.2 million Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy.
Bobby Fischer – IQ 180
Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) was arguably the greatest chess master of the 20th century. At his peak, his IQ was measured to be 180. In 1958, at just 15 years old, Fischer became the youngest-ever Chess Grandmaster at the time. He won the 1972 World Championship against Boris Spassky in a Cold War-era match nicknamed the “Match of the Century.”
Fischer’s genius at chess is widely attributed to his remarkable memory, speed, and pattern recognition abilities. He achieved international fame for being a lone American taking on and defeating the best Soviet chess players at the height of the Cold War.
Validity of Ultra-High IQ Scores
While the people highlighted here demonstrate phenomenal cognitive capabilities, IQ scores above 200 should still be interpreted cautiously.
There are several reasons why an extremely high IQ score may not necessarily reflect true intellectual abilities accurately:
- Test ceiling effects – Most standardized IQ tests are not designed to precisely measure IQs over 160, resulting in an artificial ‘ceiling.’
- Practice effects – Prior experience taking IQ tests can inflate scores through familiarity.
- Savant skills – Some types of mental talents can mimic high IQ without corresponding intellectual depth.
- Errors in measurement – Misadministering tests can compromise accuracy.
- Equivocal interpretation – Different IQ tests and scales yield varying scores.
Additionally, some critics dispute the notion of being able to assign a single number to overall intelligence. Cognitive abilities come in different forms which may not be captured well in traditional intelligence tests. Nonetheless, the individuals highlighted here were clearly highly gifted compared to the general population in quantifiable ways even if their exact reported IQ scores are subject to debate.
Traits of People with Exceptionally High IQs
Although a high IQ does not guarantee success or happiness in life, extremely intelligent individuals often share common personality attributes that set them apart, including:
- Exceptional memory – Superior recall aids learning.
- Intense curiosity – A drive to understand how things work.
- Love of problem-solving – Puzzles and abstract concepts tend to captivate highly intelligent people.
- Advanced vocabulary – Strong communication and reading skills.
- Enjoyment of reading – High IQ people tend to read voraciously from an early age.
- Dedicated focus – The ability to concentrate intensely assists mastery.
- Persistence – Tenacity and grit aide overcoming challenges.
- Strong spatial skills – Visual-spatial reasoning comes easily to many highly gifted people.
However, a high IQ score alone does not determine success in life. Factors like motivation, determination, resources, education, and emotional intelligence also significantly influence achievement.
Nurturing High IQ Children
Children with very advanced cognitive capabilities usually thrive when:
- Challenged at their own level – Standard school can bore brilliant kids without sufficient stimulation.
- Given accelerated learning options – Enrichment programs, skipped grades, specialized schools.
- Offered intellectual peers – Gifted children often relate better to older students.
- Provided with mentors – Individual guidance from experts facilitates talent.
- Allowed to explore passions – Freedom to pursue interests deeply engages high ability learners.
- Supported emotionally – Perfectionistic tendencies and sensitivity needs addressing.
With attentive support, gifted young people with very high IQs can flourish both intellectually and personally.
Conclusion
An IQ score of 200 or higher is exceptionally rare, possessed by only a handful of extraordinarily gifted individuals throughout history. While IQ tests certainly have limitations in measuring intelligence, people in this top tier undeniably demonstrate cognitive capabilities vastly exceeding the norm. Nurturing such uniquely brilliant minds requires customized learning programs and social-emotional support to help these individuals reach their potential and positively impact the world.