What is Rowan Atkinson’s IQ?
Three different numbers for the same unsourced claim, one of them handed to Mr. Bean.
The 178 attached to Rowan Atkinson has no traceable source — and neither do the 170 or 139 that sometimes replace it. What is real is a genuine electrical engineering education, finished at Oxford.
Rowan Atkinson’s estimated IQ
- A BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Newcastle University (1975).
- An MSc in Electrical Engineering from The Queen’s College, Oxford, followed by the start of doctoral research into self-tuning control systems before he left academia for comedy.
- Made an Honorary Fellow of The Queen’s College, Oxford in 2006.
Postgraduate engineering study at Oxford is a real, checkable qualification, but no class of honours is publicly recorded for either degree, and Atkinson never completed the doctorate. This range treats the record as solid but not exceptional by the standards of the achievement method.
- Born
- 6 January 1955, Consett, County Durham
- Field
- Acting, comedy
- Education
- BSc, Newcastle University; MSc, The Queen’s College, Oxford
- Known for
- Mr. Bean; Blackadder; Not the Nine O’Clock News
What an IQ of 125–140 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 Rowan Atkinson is
Rowan Atkinson was born in Consett, County Durham, in 1955. He studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Newcastle University, graduating in 1975, then began an MSc in Electrical Engineering at The Queen’s College, Oxford.
At Oxford he started doctoral research into self-tuning control systems while performing comedy on the side. The comedy career overtook the engineering one, and he left academia for the Edinburgh Fringe and, later, television.
He is best known for the sketch series Not the Nine O’Clock News, the sitcom Blackadder, and the largely wordless character Mr. Bean, who has appeared in television, film and animated form since 1990.
By Elora Mercer, Celebrity Research WriterFigures checked by Leon Falkner, Data & Research AnalystReviewed by Aarav Vardhan, Editor-in-Chief · Last reviewed August 2026
Rowan Atkinson: 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.
- 1955Born in Consett, County Durham.
- 1975Graduates Newcastle University with a BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
- 1978MSc and doctoral research at The Queen’s College, Oxford; leaves for comedy.
- 1979Breaks through at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
- 1982Not the Nine O’Clock News wins a BAFTA.
- 1990Mr. Bean debuts on ITV.
- 2006Made an Honorary Fellow of The Queen’s College, Oxford.
Where the 178 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.
The confusion between Atkinson and Mr. Bean is worth noting on its own: at least one widely shared post claims the fictional character has been tested and scored 178, “higher than Einstein.” A character in a sketch show cannot sit an IQ test, which makes this the clearest sign yet that the number was never grounded in anything real.
The genuine biography does not need the invented number. Two engineering degrees, doctoral research begun and left unfinished for a career in comedy, and an Oxford college electing him an Honorary Fellow decades later, is a complete and checkable story on its own.
Both “iq of rowan atkinson” and “iq of mr bean” point to the same unsourced claim wearing two different names.
How we read a number →Lists Atkinson as “BSc Newc, MSc Oxf” and confirms his 2006 Honorary Fellowship.
Confirms his BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 1975.
No interview or biography gives Atkinson a tested score.
No original source located for any version; several unsourced listicles repeat each other.
The sources behind our estimate
The figures that circulate for Rowan Atkinson, what we were able to confirm, and where the two diverge.
An IQ of 178 is the figure most repeated for Rowan Atkinson; 170 and 139 also circulate for the same claim, and the 178 is often reassigned to “Mr. Bean” as though the fictional character had been tested.
No interview, biography or examiner has ever put a number on Rowan Atkinson. The claim appears only on unsourced celebrity-IQ listicles, none of which cite a test, a date or an examiner. That three different figures serve as “the” answer to the same question is itself a sign none of them are real.
A real score does not have three unrelated versions. An invented one, repeated by sites copying each other loosely, does.
Want a number that does hold up? Every figure on this page is somebody’s claim. Take the 30-question test and get a percentile you can check rather than a figure you have to trust.
Rowan Atkinson — frequently asked
What is Rowan Atkinson’s IQ?
No test result has ever been published. The 178 figure that circulates has no traceable source — nor do the 170 and 139 variants sometimes used instead.
Is Mr. Bean’s IQ really 178?
No. That claim attaches the same unsourced number to a fictional character, which cannot itself sit a test.
What did Rowan Atkinson study?
Electrical and Electronic Engineering — a BSc at Newcastle University and an MSc at The Queen’s College, Oxford, where he also began doctoral research.
Did Rowan Atkinson finish his PhD?
No. He left Oxford before completing his doctoral research to pursue comedy.
Does Oxford recognise Rowan Atkinson?
Yes — The Queen’s College made him an Honorary Fellow in 2006.
Why does this page not give a single number?
Because none exists. The 125–140 range reflects his documented engineering education rather than a measured score.
How does my IQ compare with Rowan Atkinson?
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 actors profiles, starting with Natalie Portman.
- 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 actors profiles — same field, same method
More actors
Photograph by PhilipRomano, CC BY-SA 4.0. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by Montclair Film, CC BY 4.0. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by iDominick (PaleyFest, March 2013), CC BY-SA 2.0. Background removed for the portrait above.
An estimate is an inference.
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