Top 8 smartest persons on Earth

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

1. Kim Ung-Yong
IQ: 210
Info:
Yong is a Korean child prodigy.  He showed his intelligent ability since he was little. He started speaking at 6 months, he was able to read Japanese, Korean, German, English and many other language by his third birthday. At age 3, he was able to solve complicated calculus equations easily with no problems. He got his Ph.D. in physics at Colorado State University when he was 16 years old. Kim has the highest score in the planet, he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ"; the book estimated the boy's score at over 210.

2. Christopher Michael Langan
IQ: 195
Info:
"The Smartest Man In America", thats what the media called him when he scored 195 on the IQ test. Langan was born in San Francisco and spent most of his early life in Montana. He began talking at six months, taught himself to read before he was four, and was repeatedly skipped ahead in school. During high school he started teaching him self, advanced physics, math, philosophy, Greek and Latin. Then he went to college but dropped out because he thought he could teach the professor more than they could teach him. for over 20 years he worked several jobs, he worked as construction worker, cowboy, forest service firefighter, and farmhand. In 2004, Langan moved with his wife Gina (née LoSasso), a clinical neuropsychologist, to northern Missouri, where he owns and operates a horse ranch. On January 25, 2008, Langan was a contestant on NBC's 1 vs. 100, where he won $250,000.

3. Philip Emeagwali
IQ: 190
Info:
Emeagwali was born in Akure, Nigeria on 23 August 1954. He dropped out of school in 1967 because of the Nigerian-Biafran war. He became an engineer and computer scientist/geologist who was one of two winners of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, a prize from the IEEE, for his use of a Connection Machine supercomputer to help analyze petroleum fields. in 1991, He was studying for his PhD degree, but his thesis was rejected by committee of internal and external examiners and thus he was not awarded the degree.

4. Garry Kasparov
IQ: 190
Info:
Garry Kasparov is the World Chess Champion. He was born on April 13 1963 in Russia. Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of 22. He held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association. He continued to hold the "Classical" World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. Kasparov announced on March 10, 2005, that he would retire from serious competitive chess. He cited as the reason a lack of personal goals in the chess world. Garry wasn't only an excellent chess player, he wrote several books related to chess.

5. Marilyn Vos Savant
IQ: 186
Info:
Born in St.Louis Missouri on August 11, 1946, she is an American magazine columnist, author, lecturer, and playwright who rose to fame through her listing in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ". Since 1986 she has written Ask Marilyn, a Sunday column in Parade magazine in which she solves puzzles and answers questions from readers on a variety of subjects. Vos Savant studied philosophy at the Washington University in St. Louis despite her parents' desire for a more useful subject. After two years, she dropped out to help with a family investment business, seeking financial freedom to pursue a career in writing. You can visit her official website here.

6. John H. Sununu
IQ: 180
Info:
Born on July 2, 1939 in Havana, Cuba. He was the former Governor of New Hampshire (1983–89) and former White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush. His father's family came to the United States from the Middle East at the beginning of the twentieth century. Most of the last two generations of Sununus were also born in the United States. Most of his closest relatives in Beirut have died, including a relative who returned to the Lebanese capital from the United States several years ago.

7. Judit Polgár
IQ: 170
Info:
Judit is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is by far the strongest female chess player in history. In 1991, she achieved the title of Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 15 years and 4 months. Judit in her own words "In 1991, I became Chess Grandmaster, breaking Bobby Fischer's record as youngest grandmaster in history at the time. On four occasions, I played on the Hungarian men's Olympic chess team, and we won a silver medal in 2002. I have defeated world chess champions Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov, Topalov and Anand at international tournaments, matches and rapid tournaments. I have been the world's No. 1 woman chess player for nearly 20 years straight, since 1989. Among men, I was ranked 8th in 2005. I was awarded the Chess Oscar seven times, and was elected Woman Chess Player of the Century."

8. Stephen Hawking
IQ: 160
Info:
Stephen is a British theoretical physicist, whose world-renowned scientific career spans over 40 years. His books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity and he is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Hawking's key scientific works to date have included providing, with Roger Penrose, theorems regarding singularities in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes should emit radiation, which is today known as Hawking radiation (or sometimes as Bekenstein-Hawking radiation). Hawking has a neuro-muscular dystrophy that is related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a condition that has progressed over the years and has left him almost completely paralyzed.

['Oma Tirea]

Now the question remains: what are these people's Emotional IQ, or IQ at life in general?

[Yayo]

Now the question remains: what are these people's Emotional IQ, or IQ at life in general?

I don't believe it really matters - since the title clearly stated Top 8 smartest people on Earth with no reference to their Emotional Quotient.

[Human No More]

...if emotional IQ  was even a real thing, when it isn't.

[Nyx]

There's more to smarts than IQ, but akay

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

before I thought Stephen Hawking was the smartest human in the world, but now I see now he isn't
he is number 8 of the smartest human in the world

[Kamean]

I was surprised too, that Hawking was only on eighth place.

['Oma Tirea]

There's more to smarts than IQ, but akay

Ngahu mllte.  You may have a super-high IQ, but how will that set you up for the rest of life, especially those areas where IQ isn't important?

[Seze Mune]

Wait a minute now....high IQ can be really fascinating.  Especially for this professor who started studying high IQ criminals:

"Consequently, high-IQ offenders, the ones who get away with activities for which those of lower IQ are apprehended, became the focus of his doctoral study at Cambridge University in London.

"For his study, he found 424 high-IQ offenders from a number of countries who would complete a questionnaire regarding 72 offenses ranging in seriousness from abuse of work privileges to homicide. In total, the respondents reported 33,500 offenses in the previous year and nearly 326,000 offenses over their lifetimes. The large majority were minor infractions.

But Oleson concluded that his investigation suggests that, among intellectually superior adults, offending — even crime of a serious nature — is a surprisingly commonplace phenomenon. "

More from the source:  http://www.odu.edu/ao/instadv/quest/Genius.html

['Oma Tirea]

Wait a minute now....high IQ can be really fascinating.  Especially for this professor who started studying high IQ criminals:

"Consequently, high-IQ offenders, the ones who get away with activities for which those of lower IQ are apprehended, became the focus of his doctoral study at Cambridge University in London.

"For his study, he found 424 high-IQ offenders from a number of countries who would complete a questionnaire regarding 72 offenses ranging in seriousness from abuse of work privileges to homicide. In total, the respondents reported 33,500 offenses in the previous year and nearly 326,000 offenses over their lifetimes. The large majority were minor infractions.

But Oleson concluded that his investigation suggests that, among intellectually superior adults, offending — even crime of a serious nature — is a surprisingly commonplace phenomenon. "

More from the source:  http://www.odu.edu/ao/instadv/quest/Genius.html

Like I said, IQ isn't everything, and certainly can't total all of life's necessary skills (even though it appears to be the majority), even though high-IQ people certainly stand out from the crowd, such as in the article you mentioned.  Fascinating article BTW

[Seze Mune]

Mllte ngaru.  There is a fascination with intellect throughout all cultures and it is sometimes causes people to idolize the geniuses.  I keep reminding myself to try to take everything in context, including intellect: it isn't so what what you have, but what you do with it that counts.

['Oma Tirea]

Mllte ngahu.

hu and -ru... big difference. Nga nìltsan mi nerume /offtopic

[Alyara Arati]

5. Marilyn Vos Savant
IQ: 186
Info:
Born in St.Louis Missouri on August 11, 1946, she is an American magazine columnist, author, lecturer, and playwright who rose to fame through her listing in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ". Since 1986 she has written Ask Marilyn, a Sunday column in Parade magazine in which she solves puzzles and answers questions from readers on a variety of subjects. Vos Savant studied philosophy at the Washington University in St. Louis despite her parents' desire for a more useful subject. After two years, she dropped out to help with a family investment business, seeking financial freedom to pursue a career in writing. You can visit her official website here.

I actually did know homegirl here was on the list, but I didn't know that she came in 5th, only that she was the smartest woman in the world.   She seems, from what I hear of her, to be reasonably happy and dealing well with life.

I'm also surprised that Stephen Hawking only scored a 160!   My whole family is within +/- 1 of 150 (not bragging, just having my mind blown ), and I certainly don't even remotely qualify as a genius.  Frankly, I'm just as glad that I don't!

[Carborundum]

My whole family is within +/- 1 of 150

Is that +/- 1σ or +/- 1? I'm wondering, because IQ-tests are nowhere near accurate enough for a margin of error of +/- 1 to be meaningful. For example, I have scored everywhere between 120 and 170, depending on the test.

[Alyara Arati]

My whole family is within +/- 1 of 150

Is that +/- 1σ or +/- 1? I'm wondering, because IQ-tests are nowhere near accurate enough for a margin of error of +/- 1 to be meaningful. For example, I have scored everywhere between 120 and 170, depending on the test.

No, it's not a meaningful margin of error, it's just a coincidence that everyone in my family who's been tested came out as 149, 150, or 151.  So far as I know, nobody's been tested twice, so this is by no means a repeatable phenominon.  I just thought it was interesting.

[Carborundum]

This list appears to be extremely arbitrary. How are "smarts" estimated to create the rank? Is it some kind of mean value between IQ, number of papers published, number of times cited and what their favorite color is?

[Seze Mune]

Mllte ngahu.

hu and -ru... big difference. Nga nìltsan mi nerume /offtopic

Adposition always confuses me.  You are very kind to correct me here, and I thank you.  Maybe I can use my IQ to fine-tune my understanding of adpositions? /slightly offtopic