by John Holst on April 13th, 2004

John Holst

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Who is the smartest man on earth?

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  • by Jan Szafranski on April 21st, 2004

    Jan Szafranski

    This is not an easy question to answer. To begin with first one needs to define 'smart'. If one uses the IQ system of measure it should be noted that this system is flawed and can only really answer the question "who is the man, or woman, who has the highest recorded IQ score aggregated across several IQ systems?". If this is the question, then there are several individuals who belong to MENSA (check out the websites) who can claim this accolade. Be aware though that many possible candidates don't record their IQs and may actually "be smarter". A typical famous example is Albert Einstein who was never measured, but is generally accepted as being a 'genius' (this is actually a technical reference of IQ). Also be aware that IQ scores vary according to age and scale. Personally my IQ has been measured as 168 on one scale and 147 on another - this doesn't mean that my IQ has varied between tests, only that the scales used are different. Either way, these scores classify me as being "up there" yet despite this measure, I wouldn't for a moment classify myself as belonging to the echelon you're seeking to identify.

    With reference to Prof. Hawking, while a popular and great thinker, I'm sure that even he would admit that he's not at the top of the list. As a point of information, in a recent poll of scientists as to who were/are the greatest scientific minds, although Prof. Hawking did make it into the top 100, it wasn't very high and he only polled 1 vote (from the hundreds of scientists) when the top 10 was complied.

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