Category

IQ scores of
historical.

People who died long before intelligence testing existed, and the retrospective estimates made about them.

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Francis Galton, seated in a dark coat and waistcoat, in a black-and-white studio photograph from the 1850s or early 1860s
Historical

Francis Galton

200Most-cited figure
Dorothy Vaughan, with short gray hair, in a white blouse and scarf, in a black-and-white NASA photograph
Historical

Dorothy Vaughan

130–150Our estimate
Joseph Stalin in a black-and-white photograph from November 1943, with a moustache, in a peaked cap and a buttoned military tunic with a star on the chest, looking toward the camera
Historical

Joseph Stalin

120–140Our estimate
In this category

41 profiles

Each entry opens onto the full story behind the figure.

Isaac Newton, painted by Godfrey Kneller in 1689
Historical

Isaac Newton

190Most-cited figure
Red chalk drawing, presumed self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci
Historical

Leonardo da Vinci

180Most-cited figure
Marie Curie photographed around 1920
Historical

Marie Curie

180Most-cited figure
Srinivasa Ramanujan photographed in 1913, from the Trinity College collection
Historical

Srinivasa Ramanujan

185Most-cited figure
Thomas Edison, photographed by Louis Bachrach
Historical

Thomas Edison

145Most-cited figure
Ada Lovelace photographed in a daguerreotype by Antoine Claudet, around 1843
Historical

Ada Lovelace

155–175Estimated range
Carl Friedrich Gauss, oil portrait by Christian Albrecht Jensen, 1840
Historical

Carl Friedrich Gauss

250–300Circulating figure
Benjamin Franklin, painted by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis, circa 1785
Historical

Benjamin Franklin

160Most-cited figure
Charles Darwin, seated studio portrait from 1854
Historical

Charles Darwin

135Cox 1926 estimate
Blaise Pascal, copy of a 17th-century portrait after François II Quesnel, Palace of Versailles
Historical

Blaise Pascal

195Most-cited figure
Galileo Galilei, portrait by Justus Sustermans, 1636
Historical

Galileo Galilei

185Most-cited figure
Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, portrait by Jacques-Louis David, 1812
Historical

Napoleon

140Cox’s 1926 estimate
Roman marble bust of Plato, a copy of a Greek original by Silanion, Capitoline Museums
Historical

Plato

180Circulating figure
Karl Marx, photographed by John Jabez Edwin Mayall, 1875
Historical

Karl Marx

116–180Circulating estimates
Marble portrait bust of Socrates, a Roman copy held in the Louvre
Historical

Socrates

140–180Circulating estimates
Marble portrait bust of Aristotle, a Roman copy of a Greek bronze attributed to Lysippos
Historical

Aristotle

148–200Circulating estimates
Marble bust portrait of Julius Caesar
Historical

Julius Caesar

170Most-cited figure
Archimedes, oil painting by Domenico Fetti, circa 1620
Historical

Archimedes

165–190Circulating estimates
Mohandas K. Gandhi as a young lawyer in South Africa, 1906
Historical

Mahatma Gandhi

125–160Circulating estimates
Alexander the Great, detail of the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, circa 100 BCE
Historical

Alexander the Great

150–212Circulating estimates
Martin Luther King Jr. at a press conference on March 26, 1964
Historical

Martin Luther King Jr.

130–140Circulating estimates
A Yuan-dynasty album-leaf portrait of Genghis Khan, painted in ink and color on silk
Historical

Genghis Khan

130+Circulating estimate
Helen Keller in profile in a photograph from 1904
Historical

Helen Keller

160Circulating figure
Alexander Hamilton in a black coat and white cravat, with powdered gray hair swept back, turned in three-quarter view, in John Trumbull’s oil portrait of 1805
Historical

Alexander Hamilton

155Circulating estimate
Marble bust of Cleopatra VII in three-quarter view, with a royal diadem band across waved hair gathered in a knot at the back, in the Altes Museum, Berlin
Historical

Cleopatra

180Most-cited figure
Roman floor mosaic showing the philosopher Diogenes seated with his cloak in a round medallion, with his name in Greek capital letters beneath
Historical

Diogenes

139–170Circulating estimates
Michelangelo with dark curly hair and a gray forked beard, in a pink-brown robe with a dark collar, in a portrait attributed to Daniele da Volterra from about 1545
Historical

Michelangelo

145–180Circulating figures
Elizabeth I of England with red-gold hair under a pearl-studded headdress, a white lace ruff and a gold embroidered bodice, in the Darnley Portrait of about 1575
Historical

Queen Elizabeth I

175Figure found online
Marble bust of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius with curly hair and a full beard, wearing a cuirass with a Medusa head and a cloak over the shoulder
Historical

Marcus Aurelius

180Circulating figure
Vincent van Gogh with short red hair and a red beard, in a brown jacket and white collar, in his 1887 oil self-portrait against dabs of blue-green and orange paint
Historical

Vincent van Gogh

135–165Circulating estimates
Gottfried Leibniz in a long dark curled wig and a dark velvet coat with a white cravat, in Christoph Bernhard Francke’s portrait of about 1695
Historical

Gottfried Leibniz

205Most-cited figure
Pablo Picasso in his early twenties, with dark swept-back hair, a striped jacket and a checked neckerchief, in a photograph taken in Paris in 1904
Historical

Pablo Picasso

175Most-cited figure
Frank Morris in a 1960 booking photograph from the U.S. Penitentiary at Alcatraz, wearing a work shirt and holding a placard that reads Alcatraz 1441
Historical

Frank Morris

133Most-cited figure
Adolf Hitler in a black-and-white portrait photograph from 1938, with dark hair combed to one side and a toothbrush moustache, in a dark jacket with a white shirt collar
Historical

Adolf Hitler

141Most-cited figure
Ted Bundy in a black-and-white photograph from July 1978, with dark wavy hair, looking at the camera with a slight smile, in an open-collared shirt
Historical

Ted Bundy

136Most-cited figure
Hermann Göring in a black-and-white photograph in the dock at the Nuremberg trial, resting his chin on his hand and looking sideways at the camera, in a light jacket
Historical

Hermann Göring

138Nuremberg test score
Charles Manson in a black-and-white booking photograph from April 22, 1968, with long dark hair and a beard, looking straight at the camera
Historical

Charles Manson

109Most-cited figure
Malcolm X in a black-and-white photograph from March 26, 1964, in dark-rimmed glasses, a suit and a tie, with one hand resting on his head, looking to the left
Historical

Malcolm X

120–140Our estimate
Joseph Stalin in a black-and-white photograph from November 1943, with a moustache, in a peaked cap and a buttoned military tunic with a star on the chest, looking toward the camera
Historical

Joseph Stalin

120–140Our estimate
Dorothy Vaughan, with short gray hair, in a white blouse and scarf, in a black-and-white NASA photograph
Historical

Dorothy Vaughan

130–150Our estimate
Francis Galton, seated in a dark coat and waistcoat, in a black-and-white studio photograph from the 1850s or early 1860s
Historical

Francis Galton

200Most-cited figure

Portrait by Godfrey Kneller (1689), public domain. · Presumed self-portrait, red chalk, c. 1512, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. · Photograph by Henri Manuel (c. 1920), public domain. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph (1913) held by Trinity College, Cambridge, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. · Photograph by Louis Bachrach, Bachrach Studios, restored by Michel Vuijlsteke, public domain. Background removed for the portrait above. · Daguerreotype by Antoine Claudet (c. 1843), public domain. · Portrait by Christian Albrecht Jensen (1840), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. · Portrait by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis (c. 1785), public domain. · Photograph by Maull & Fox (1854), public domain. Background removed for the portrait above. · Portrait, copy after François II Quesnel, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. · Portrait by Justus Sustermans (1636), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. · Portrait by Jacques-Louis David (1812), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. · Photograph by Marie-Lan Nguyen, public domain. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1875), public domain. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by Eric Gaba (Wikimedia Commons user: Sting) (July 2005), CC BY-SA 2.5. Roman marble portrait of Socrates, 1st century AD, Louvre Museum. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by Jastrow (2006), public domain. Roman marble copy after a Greek bronze by Lysippos (c. 330 BCE); the alabaster mantle is a modern addition. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by Ángel M. Felicísimo, public domain. Background removed for the portrait above. · Portrait by Domenico Fetti (circa 1620), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. · Photograph by an unknown photographer (1906), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Background removed for the portrait above. · Detail of the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun, Pompeii (c. 100 BCE; now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. · Photograph by Marion S. Trikosko for U.S. News & World Report (March 26, 1964), Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (LC-DIG-ppmsc-01269); no known copyright restrictions. Cropped. · Yuan-dynasty court portrait of Taizu (Genghis Khan), artist unknown, 14th century, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei; the painting is in the public domain (digitized copy via Shuge). · Photograph, 1904, photographer not recorded, from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (cph.3c12513; Commons file), public domain in the United States (copyright expired). Background removed for the portrait above. · Portrait by John Trumbull (1805; White House Collection; Commons file), public domain, cropped. · Photograph by Louis le Grand (Commons file) of an ancient Roman marble bust identified as Cleopatra VII (about 40–30 BCE; Altes Museum, Berlin), released into the public domain by the photographer, cropped. · Roman floor mosaic of Diogenes of Sinope (2nd or 3rd century CE; from a villa in Cologne; Römisch-Germanisches Museum; Commons file), public domain, cropped. · Portrait attributed to Daniele da Volterra (about 1545; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, object 436771; Commons file), public domain, cropped. · The Darnley Portrait of Elizabeth I by an unknown artist (about 1575; National Portrait Gallery, London; Commons file), public domain, cropped. · Photograph by Daniel Martin, Photothèque du musée Saint-Raymond, Toulouse (Commons file), CC BY-SA 4.0, of the marble bust of Marcus Aurelius in the Musée Saint-Raymond, cropped. · Self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh (1887; Art Institute of Chicago; Commons file), public domain, cropped. · Portrait by Christoph Bernhard Francke (about 1695; Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig; Commons file), public domain, cropped. · Photograph by Ricard Canals i Llambí (Paris, 1904; Commons file), public domain (the photographer died in 1931), cropped. · Booking photograph, U.S. Penitentiary, Alcatraz, 1960 (Commons file), public domain as a work of the U.S. federal government. · Portrait photograph of Adolf Hitler by Heinrich Hoffmann (1938; German Federal Archives, Bild 183-H1216-0500-002), retouched by Notwist; Commons file, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE. Cropped to the head and collar and with background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph of Ted Bundy in custody in Florida (July 1978; photographer unknown), Commons file, public domain in the United States (published 1978 to 1989 without a copyright notice). Cropped and with background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph of Hermann Göring in the dock at the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, by Charles Alexander, Office of the United States Chief of Counsel (between November 1945 and October 1946), Commons file, public domain as a work of the U.S. federal government. Cropped and with background removed for the portrait above. · Booking photograph of Charles Manson by the California Department of Corrections (April 22, 1968), Commons file, public domain as a record of the California state government. Cropped above the booking placard for the portrait above. · Photograph of Malcolm X by Marion S. Trikosko (March 26, 1964), U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress (LC-DIG-ppmsc-01274), Commons file, tagged public domain on Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and with background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph of Joseph Stalin (November 28, 1943), Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Commons file, public domain as a work of the U.S. federal government. Cropped and with background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph of Dorothy Vaughan by NASA, via NASA on The Commons (Commons file), public domain as a work of NASA. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph of Francis Galton, probably from the 1850s or early 1860s, scanned from Karl Pearson’s The Life, Letters and Labours of Francis Galton (Commons file); photographer not stated; public domain. Cropped for the portrait above.

More profiles are on the way. A name joins this category once its figure has been traced and a properly licensed portrait is cleared.

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Questions

Historical IQ, asked and answered

How are IQ scores for historical estimated?

Not by testing anyone. Each figure on this page is inferred from the documented record — published work, contemporary accounts, verified qualifications — using a named method set out under how we read a number. Every profile shows its own workings.

Which of these historical has the highest IQ?

Blaise Pascal holds the highest estimate in this category at 180–195. That ordering comes from the midpoint of each range and it re-sorts itself as profiles are added, so treat it as a convenience rather than a verdict. The full leaderboard ranks every category together.

How many historical profiles are there?

41 so far, and the list grows as figures are traced and portraits licensed. Browse the rest of the section from all categories, or start at the Celebrity IQ hub.

How do I compare my own IQ with these historical?

Get a measured number first. The IQ Metrics assessment is 30 questions and reports on the same 100-mean scale used on every profile here, with a percentile and an ability breakdown. How we score and norm it explains the benchmarking, and average IQ by country shows how the same scale looks across populations.

Where would you
actually land?

Your score, your percentile, your ability breakdown and a printable IIF certificate.

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