Famous IQs
Twenty-four profiles: where the most talked-about minds would land on the curve — estimates, reported figures, and the odd real test, each labelled for what it is.
Of the 24 people here, exactly 1 has a number from a real proctored test. 16 have no source at all.
Every number gets a label
It sits on every profile, first thing — measured versus lore is the whole story.All profiles
Showing all 24 profiles
* Marilyn vos Savant's 228 comes from a childhood test scored as a ratio of mental to chronological age, a method modern tests abandoned. On today's scale the equivalent figure is lower — which is exactly the sort of detail most lists leave out.
Why most of these numbers are invented
Real IQ testing is private, administered one-to-one, and rarely something famous people bother to publish. So when a site announces that a founder has an IQ of exactly 155, the number almost never comes from a test. It comes from a listicle, which took it from another listicle.
We still publish the figures, because you came here to read them. What we will not do is dress a guess up as a measurement. If the trail runs cold, the label saysspeculative and the page explains where the claim came from.
And if you want a number that is actually about you rather than about a stranger,the test takes about ten minutes.