If you search the internet for the smartest people in history, one name appears more than any other. That name is Albert Einstein. His wild hair and expressive face have become the universal symbol for genius. But what was his IQ score?
Einstein was a theoretical physicist born in Germany in 1879. He is best known for developing the theory of relativity. This work fundamentally changed how humanity understands the universe.
Before Einstein, the laws of physics seemed set in stone. Isaac Newton had described a world of absolute time and space. Einstein challenged this view.
In 1905, often called his “miracle year,” he published four groundbreaking papers. One of these papers introduced the famous equation E=mc². This equation demonstrated that mass and energy are interchangeable.
He did not stop there. He went on to explain the photoelectric effect, which was a vital step toward quantum theory. This specific work won him the Nobel Prize in Physics.
His contributions led to technologies we use every day. Without his theories, we would not have GPS navigation or laser technology. He reshaped our concept of reality itself.
Because his achievements were so monumental, people naturally wonder about the mind that created them. We want to quantify his brilliance. We want to know if his brain was different from ours.
To understand the rumors about Einstein’s score, we must first understand the test itself. IQ stands for Intelligence Quotient. It is a standardized score derived from a set of tests.
These tests are designed to assess human intelligence. The first modern intelligence test was developed in France in 1905. Psychologists Alfred Binet and Théodore Simon created it.
Their original goal was not to identify geniuses. Instead, they wanted to identify children who needed extra help in school. The test was a tool for education, not a measure of elite status.
Later, American psychologists adapted these tests for adults. The most famous early version was the Army Alpha test. It was created in 1917 to evaluate soldiers during World War I.
Modern tests, such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, measure various cognitive abilities. They look at verbal comprehension and working memory. They also measure perceptual reasoning and processing speed.
The average score on these tests is set at 100. Most people score between 85 and 115. A score above 130 is typically considered “gifted.”
The maximum score on current tests often tops out around 160. This is the 99.9th percentile. This means a person with this score scores higher than almost everyone else in the general population.
This brings us to the central question. Did Albert Einstein ever take an IQ test? According to a 2023 article by psychologist Russell T. Warne, the answer is almost certainly no. Warne asserts that there is no evidence Einstein ever sat for such an assessment.
Warne analyzes the timeline of Einstein’s life to support this conclusion. Einstein was born in 1879. He was already 26 years old when Binet created the first children’s test in 1905. He was an established adult by the time testing became common.
The first adult test, the Army Alpha, appeared in 1917. At that time, Einstein was 39 years old. He was living in Europe and was already a world-famous celebrity. Warne argues that Einstein had little to gain from taking an intelligence test.
It is unlikely that a physicist of his stature would have bothered with a psychometric evaluation. He was busy working on unified field theory. He was also navigating the political turmoil of Europe. There are no records in the Albert Einstein Archives or biographies that mention a test.
If there is no record of a test, where does the number 160 come from? Warne conducted a search of historical publications to find the answer. He found that journalists and writers have been guessing Einstein’s IQ for nearly a century.
One of the earliest estimates appeared in a 1945 issue of Life magazine. The article profiled a 14-year-old prodigy named Merrill Kenneth Wolf. The magazine reported that Wolf had an IQ of 182. The article stated that this was “only 23 points lower than Einstein’s.”
This phrasing implies that the magazine believed Einstein’s IQ was 205. However, Life magazine was not consistent. In 1954, the same magazine published an article about another prodigy. This time, they estimated Einstein’s IQ at 192.
Other publications joined the guessing game. In 1962, Popular Mechanics stated that Einstein was estimated to have an IQ of 207. A 1974 book by Mariann Olden claimed his IQ was 205.
Warne points out that the variation in these numbers is extreme. They range from 150 to over 200. This inconsistency suggests that the numbers are fabricated. There is no primary source. The number 160 appears to be a modern consensus among journalists, but it is not based on data.
Academic experts are skeptical of these numbers. In a 2020 article for Biography.com, Dean Keith Simonton weighed in on the issue. Simonton is a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Davis.
Simonton warns that these estimates often confuse two different things. They conflate intellectual ability with domain-specific achievement. Einstein was the greatest theoretical physicist of his time. This means he was exceptional in physics.
However, general intelligence tests measure a wide range of skills. They test vocabulary, pattern recognition, and memory. Being a genius in physics does not guarantee a perfect score in every other area. Simonton suggests that if you look at Einstein’s early development, his raw IQ might not have been as striking as his physics work.
Jonathan Wai, a professor at the University of Arkansas, offers a different perspective in the same Biography.com article. Wai notes that people who earn PhDs in physics typically have extremely high IQs.
Wai points to Einstein’s famous thought experiments. As a teenager, Einstein imagined chasing a beam of light. This required intense spatial visualization. Wai argues that this suggests Einstein was highly talented in spatial reasoning.
Wai believes that if Einstein had been tested, he would have scored well above average. This is consistent with data on other physicists. However, this is still a prediction, not a confirmed score.
While we lack a test score, we do have biological evidence. We have Einstein’s brain. When Einstein died in 1955, a pathologist named Thomas Harvey performed the autopsy. Harvey removed the brain for scientific study.
In 1999, a team of researchers published a landmark study in The Lancet. The team was led by Sandra F. Witelson and Debra L. Kigar. They worked with Thomas Harvey to analyze the anatomy of the brain.
The researchers compared Einstein’s brain to a control group. This group consisted of 35 brains from men with normal intelligence. The men in the control group had an average IQ of 116.
The study revealed something surprising about brain size. Many people assume that a genius must have a massive brain. However, Einstein’s brain weighed 1,230 grams. This was not statistically different from the control group.
In fact, his brain was slightly lighter than the average for the men in the study. This finding is significant. It proves that total brain weight is not the primary factor in exceptional intelligence. A heavy brain does not automatically equal a smart mind.
Although the weight was normal, the structure was not. Witelson and her colleagues found unique features in the parietal lobes. The parietal lobes are the part of the brain responsible for processing sensory information.
This region handles visuospatial cognition and mathematical thinking. The researchers measured the width of Einstein’s brain. They found that his parietal lobes were 15 percent wider than those of the control group.
This extra width gave his brain a more spherical shape than a typical human brain. The researchers also discovered a unique feature on the surface of the brain. The brain has deep folds and grooves. One major groove is called the Sylvian fissure.
In a normal brain, the Sylvian fissure runs deep and meets a structure called the parietal operculum. The study found that Einstein lacked a parietal operculum in both hemispheres.
Because this structure was missing, the Sylvian fissure did not run as far as usual. It merged with another groove called the postcentral sulcus. This was a unique anatomical variation. The researchers did not see this in any of the control brains.
The researchers in The Lancet study proposed a theory about this anatomy. They suggested that the absence of the parietal operculum allowed the inferior parietal lobule to expand. This is a specific area within the parietal lobe.
The scientists hypothesized that this expansion allowed for better connections between neurons. Without the usual groove separating the area, the brain cells could communicate more efficiently. This creates a highly integrated network for visual and spatial thinking.
This biological finding aligns with how Einstein described his own mind. He often stated that words were not significant in his thought process. Instead, he thought in signs and images.
He visualized complex physical problems. His theory of relativity came from visualizing moving bodies and light. The researchers concluded that his unique parietal anatomy likely supported this specific type of reasoning.
The biological evidence tells us Einstein was unique. However, it does not confirm a specific IQ number. This leads to a broader discussion about the value of IQ scores.
In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell discusses the relationship between IQ and success. He compares Einstein to a man named Christopher Langan. Langan appeared on the TV show 1 vs. 100. The show claimed Langan had an IQ of 195.
If we accept the common estimate of 160 for Einstein, then Langan’s score is significantly higher. By strict numerical logic, Langan should be “smarter.” Yet, Einstein is the one who revolutionized science.
Gladwell uses this comparison to introduce the “threshold theory.” He argues that intelligence matters up to a point. You have to be smart enough to handle complex ideas. But once you cross that threshold, a higher score does not guarantee more success.
Gladwell supports this by looking at Nobel Prize winners. He lists the colleges attended by the last 25 American winners in medicine. The list includes elite schools like Harvard and Yale. But it also includes schools like Holy Cross, Gettysburg College, and the University of Illinois.
These are good schools, but they are not all exclusive Ivy League institutions. Gladwell argues that a Nobel Prize winner does not need to have the highest IQ in the world. They just need to be smart enough to get into a decent university.
Once a person is “smart enough,” other factors take over. Creativity, persistence, and a willingness to question authority become essential. Einstein possessed these traits in abundance.
Robert B. McCall, a professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, questioned the value of these estimates in his interview with Biography.com. He stated that he does not see the value in trying to calculate Einstein’s IQ.
McCall argues that famous people are famous for their actions. We should celebrate those actions. Their contributions are only modestly related to a test score. A person can be accomplished in ways that an IQ test cannot measure.
The obsession with the number 160 reveals more about society than it does about Einstein. We want to believe that intelligence is a single, measurable trait. We want to rank people on a scoreboard.
Assigning a score of 160 to Einstein gives us a reference point. It makes the concept of “genius” feel tangible. However, it is an oversimplification. It ignores the specific nature of his mind.
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