What was Alan Turing’s IQ?
No IQ test on record, and a 1936 paper that founded computer science.
Alan Turing’s IQ was never measured: no IQ score from a test has been published for him, and the 185 that circulates online cites no test, school record or study. The documented record is a first-class mathematics degree from Cambridge (1934), a King’s College fellowship (1935), a Princeton PhD (1938) and codebreaking at Bletchley Park.
Alan Turing’s estimated IQ
- Cambridge first-class honours in mathematics, King’s College, 1934; elected a Fellow of King’s in 1935 on the strength of a dissertation that proved a version of the central limit theorem.
- “On Computable Numbers” (1936) introduced the idea later named the Turing machine; Smith’s Prize, 1936; PhD, Princeton University, 1938, under Alonzo Church.
- Reported to Bletchley Park on September 4, 1939, specified the Bombe and headed Hut 8’s work on German naval Enigma; published “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” in 1950.
The 160–180 range is an inference from the documented record on a scale with mean 100 and SD 15, not a measurement. No test result exists for Turing, so the range reflects the weight of his achievements rather than a score.
- Born
- June 23, 1912, Maida Vale, London
- Died
- June 7, 1954, Wilmslow, Cheshire
- Field
- Mathematics, cryptanalysis, computer science
- Education
- King’s College, Cambridge (first-class honours, 1934); PhD, Princeton University (1938)
- Known for
- Turing machine, Bletchley Park codebreaking, the Turing test
- Canonical IQ
- No test on record
What an IQ of 160–180 actually means
Set the claim aside for a moment. If someone genuinely scored in this range, here is what that would represent.
Average is 100 by construction, and about two-thirds of people fall between 85 and 115. Take the test to place your own score on this scale.
| Score range | Classification | Share of people | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 – 114 | Average | ~68% | The range most people fall into. |
| 115 – 129 | Above average | ~13.6% | Roughly one person in seven. |
| 130 – 144 | Gifted | ~2% | The threshold most high-IQ societies use. |
| Above 144 | Highly gifted | ~0.1% | Figures above this range are extrapolated from the curve rather than measured. |
Percentages are approximate and describe a normal distribution. The same number means different things on tests with different standard deviations.
Thirty questions gives you a measured position on this exact scale — your score, your percentile and the ability breakdown behind it.
Find out in 30 minutes →Who Alan Turing was
Alan Turing was born in Maida Vale, London, on June 23, 1912, and studied at Sherborne School. At King’s College, Cambridge, he was awarded first-class honours in mathematics in 1934 and was elected a Fellow of the college in 1935. From September 1936 to July 1938 he studied under Alonzo Church at Princeton, receiving his PhD in June 1938 with the dissertation “Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals.”
He reported to Bletchley Park on September 4, 1939, the day after Britain declared war on Germany. There he specified the Bombe, an electromechanical machine for finding Enigma settings, and led Hut 8, which worked on German naval messages. He was appointed OBE in 1946 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1951. After the war he worked at the National Physical Laboratory and the University of Manchester, and in 1950 published “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” in Mind, proposing what is now called the Turing test.
In 1952 he was convicted of gross indecency under British law. He died on June 7, 1954. Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologized on behalf of the British government in 2009, and Queen Elizabeth II granted him a posthumous pardon in 2013.
By Elora Mercer, Celebrity Research WriterFigures checked by Leon Falkner, Data & Research AnalystReviewed by Aarav Vardhan, Editor-in-Chief · Last reviewed November 2026
Alan Turing: the documented record
The estimate above rests on this record. Every entry here is a matter of public fact, which is more than can be said for the number itself.
- 1931Enters King’s College, Cambridge.
- 1934Awarded first-class honours in mathematics.
- 1935Elected a Fellow of King’s College.
- 1936Publishes “On Computable Numbers,” introducing the Turing machine; awarded the Smith’s Prize.
- 1938Receives his PhD from Princeton under Alonzo Church.
- 1939Reports to Bletchley Park on September 4; later heads Hut 8.
- 1946Appointed OBE for wartime services.
- 1950Publishes “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” in Mind.
- 1951Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
- 2013Granted a posthumous royal pardon.
Where the 185 figure came from
Following a claim back to its first appearance is the part almost nobody does — and it is what most people are actually asking.
What is Alan Turing’s IQ? There is no Alan Turing IQ score from any test. A page on First Curiosity says “according to reports” his IQ was around 185 and names no test, date or document. The 185 is therefore an unsourced figure. The range used on this page, 160–180, is our own inference from the record of his degrees, papers and wartime work, and it is labeled as such.
Was Alan Turing a genius? The word comes from people who worked with him. His primary-school headmistress said she had had clever boys and hardworking boys, “but Alan is a genius,” and the historian Asa Briggs said of Bletchley Park, “You needed exceptional talent, you needed genius at Bletchley and Turing’s was that genius.” Neither remark contains a number. Hugh Alexander, who ran Hut 8 after Turing, wrote that if anyone was indispensable to Hut 8, it was Turing.
What is Alan Turing’s estimated IQ compared with other scientists? Estimates for historical figures come from historiometric work such as Catharine Cox’s 1926 study, which predates Turing’s career, so he has no Cox figure; see our ranking of historical geniuses for how those estimates are built. John von Neumann acknowledged that the central concept of the modern computer was due to Turing’s 1936 paper, and as a teenager Turing grasped Albert Einstein’s work at 16. For the timing of such breakthroughs, see our study of age at breakthrough.
What is a genius-level IQ? On a scale with mean 100 and SD 15, a score of 160 is four standard deviations above the mean, which is why a specific figure for Turing needs a test behind it; our guide to genius IQ levels explains the scale. Another Cambridge scientist, Stephen Hawking, is likewise judged here on his work rather than a test, and you can browse other scientists we have checked.
How we read a number →Introduces the concept later called the Turing machine.
Proposes the Turing test.
First-class honours in 1934, Princeton PhD in 1938, joined the Government Code and Cypher School in September 1939 and spearheaded Hut 8.
Fellowship at King’s in 1935, Smith’s Prize 1936, Bombe, OBE, Royal Society, 2009 apology, 2013 pardon, headmistress’s remark.
States an IQ of around 185 “according to reports”; cites no test, date or document.
No published score appears in the sources above.
Alan Turing — frequently asked
What is Alan Turing’s IQ?
No IQ score for Alan Turing has been published, because no test result exists. The 185 seen online cites no test, date or document. This site’s 160–180 range is an inference from his Cambridge degree, Princeton PhD and Bletchley Park work, on a scale with mean 100 and SD 15.
What is Alan Turing’s IQ level?
Alan Turing’s IQ level is unmeasured; the 160–180 range is an inference, not a result. It rests on first-class honours at Cambridge in 1934, a King’s College fellowship in 1935, a Princeton PhD in 1938 and leading Hut 8 at Bletchley Park.
What is Alan Turing’s estimated IQ, and who made the estimate?
The estimate is ours. Alan Turing’s estimated IQ of 160–180 comes from weighing his documented record, not from a test or a named study. Catharine Cox’s 1926 historiometric study predates his career and does not include him.
Where does the 185 figure come from?
The 185 appears on web pages such as First Curiosity, which says only that “according to reports” his IQ was around 185. It names no test, school record or biographer, so it should be treated as unsourced.
Did Alan Turing take an IQ test?
No IQ test result for Turing has been documented, in childhood or adulthood. What survives are academic results: first-class honours at Cambridge in 1934 and a Princeton PhD in 1938, according to GCHQ’s historical profile.
Was Alan Turing a genius?
Contemporaries used the word. His primary-school headmistress said, “Alan is a genius,” and Hugh Alexander wrote that if anyone was indispensable to Hut 8, it was Turing. His 1936 paper introduced the Turing machine, central to the theory of computation.
Alan Turing QI: is it the same as his IQ?
Yes. QI is the French and Portuguese abbreviation for quotient intellectuel (intelligence quotient), so Alan Turing QI searches ask the same question: no test score exists, and the 185 figure is unsourced.
What did Alan Turing achieve at Bletchley Park?
He reported to Bletchley Park on September 4, 1939, specified the Bombe and headed Hut 8’s work on German naval Enigma. He was appointed OBE in 1946 for his wartime services.
How does my IQ compare with Alan Turing?
You can find out in about fifteen minutes. The IQ Metrics assessment is 30 questions, scored on the same 100-mean scale used throughout this page, so your result and the estimate above are at least expressed in the same units — one measured, one inferred. Once you have a number, the leaderboard shows where it would sit, and how we score and norm it explains the benchmarking.
Where does this estimate come from?
From the documented record rather than a test — the method is named above and set out in full under how we read a number. Compare it against the other scientists profiles, starting with Albert Einstein.
- Take the 30-question IQ test — get a measured score and percentile of your own
- Average IQ by country — how the scale behaves across populations
- How IQ Metrics scores its assessment — the method behind our own number
- More on how IQ testing works — reliability, error and what a score can and cannot say
- More scientists profiles — same field, same method
More scientists
Photograph from the US National Archives (catalog 558579), public domain. · Photograph by Jay Murdock, CC BY-SA 4.0. · Photograph, publisher Mathematical Association of America, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Background removed for the portrait above.
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