These smartest people were picked based on their IQ (Intelligence quotient) test. IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. The purpose of the test is measure the mental ability and horse power of the brain for any person. I have noticed that many of these people are Chess players and champions. I don’t know if there is any link between intelligence and chess, but this is my observations. Many of my resources confirmed the name and the IQ score for each of the people on the list. There were couple of other names with high IQ score but I couldn’t really confirm that 100%. Note: All these people are still alive as of 2010.

IQ scores reflect general capacity for performing intellectual tasks, such as solving verbal and mathematical problems.

The average IQ score is 100.  The standard deviation of IQ scores is 15.  So, this means:

• 50% of people have IQ scores between 90 and 110
• 2.5% of people are very superior in intelligence (over 130)
• 2.5% of people are mentally deficient / impaired / retarded (under 70)
• 0.5% of people are near genius or genius (over 140)

Genius IQ is generally considered to begin around 140 to 145, representing ~.25% of the population (1 in 400). Here’s a rough guide:

• 115-124 – Above average (e.g., university students)
• 125-134 – Gifted (e.g., post-graduate students)
• 135-144 – Highly gifted (e.g., intellectuals)
• 145-154 – Genius (e.g., professors)
• 155-164 – Genius (e.g., Nobel Prize winners)
• 165-179 – High genius
• 180-200 – Highest genius
• >200 – “Unmeasurable genius”

So, here is what I came up with. Please comment of you have any suggestions.

1. Kim Ung-Yong – IQ = 210

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

"The smartest  manin 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

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 1989Gordon 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

Garry Kasparov is theWorld 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

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 theWashingyon 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

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

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

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.

Just I wanted to mention another name I stumbled upon while researching the topic.

William James Sidis – IQ = 250

April 1, 1898 – July 17, 1944. Was an American child prodigy with exceptional mathematical and linguistic abilities. He became famous first for his precocity, and later for his eccentricity and withdrawal from the public eye. He avoided mathematics entirely in later life, writing on other subjects under a number of pseudonyms. With an estimated ratio IQ of over 250, he is often cited as one of the most intelligent people who ever lived. Although the University had previously refused to let his father enroll him at age nine because he was still a child, Sidis set a record in 1909 by becoming the youngest person to enroll at Harvard College. He was 11 years old, and entered Harvard as part of a program to enroll gifted students early.