FX.co ★ World’s smartest people

1. Ainan Celeste Cawley

Ainan Celeste Cawley, a person with the highest-ever IQ of more than 250, was born in Singapore over 20 years ago. His IQ is higher than that of many recognized geniuses. Cawley showed outstanding mental abilities from early childhood. At the age of 7, he successfully mastered and passed a school course in chemistry. A year later, he was admitted to the tertiary level at Singapore Polytechnic. Nevertheless, the world’s smartest person decided not to devote his life to science. Today, the former child prodigy makes films and writes music.

2. Terence Chi-Shen Tao

Australian Terence Chi-Shen Tao has an IQ of 230. Like Cawley, he was a child prodigy. The boy easily solved equations at the age of 3 and did the most difficult problems at the age of 5. Terence Tao had won multiple prizes in mathematics before entering a university at the age of 14. He became the youngest professor of mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) when he was 24 years old. The Australian genius has made several important discoveries in mathematics and has received many prestigious awards in this field.

3. Marilyn vos Savant

When this American prodigy was just 10 years old, she was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the highest IQ, which was 228. Nowadays, Marilyn vos Savant is a magazine columnist. Since the mid-1980s, she has run the “Ask Marilyn” column in one of America’s most popular magazines. Savant is married to Robert Jarvik, one of the co-developers of an artificial heart. Notably, his IQ score is 190.

4. Christopher Michael Hirata

American Chris Hirata was 13 years old when he won the gold medal at the International Physics Olympiad. A year later, the child prodigy was admitted to the California Institute of Technology. In two years, he was invited to work at NASA. Nowadays, Hirata is a professor at Ohio State University, where he teaches physics and astronomy. His IQ score is 225.

5. Kim Un Young

This South Korean gained worldwide fame when he was in the cradle. He learned to speak when he was only 4 months old. At the age of 2, the child prodigy was fluent in five languages and was able to solve calculus problems at the age of 5. Kim Un Young went to study at the University of Colorado and was recruited by NASA when he was 7 years old. After returning to South Korea, he devoted his life to science. He is a professor at Sinhan University since 2014. His IQ score is 210.