Had to resize and compress them for easy FR viewing
The originals are so large and sharp you can see the film grain.
Posted on 01/26/2015 8:10:21 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Who was the smartest person to ever live? There are certainly many worthy contenders. Today, the very name of "Einstein" is synonymous with genius. Others may suggest Stephen Hawking. Those who appreciate literature and music may proffer William Shakespeare or Ludwig van Beethoven. Historians may recommend Benjamin Franklin.
Before I submit my own suggestion, we must first discuss what we even mean by smart. Colloquially, we routinely interchange the words smart and intelligent, but they are not necessarily the same thing. There is an ongoing debate among psychologists, neuroscientists, and artificial intelligence experts on what intelligence actually is, but for our purposes here, a simple dictionary definition will suffice: "capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc."
Implicit in this definition of intelligence is general knowledge. An intelligent person capable of understanding quantum mechanics is useless to society if he is completely ignorant. So, a truly smart person will know a lot of things, preferably about many different topics. He should be a polymath, in other words.
Finally, there is the element of creativity. Creative people think in ways in which most other people do not. Where society sees a dead end, a creative person sees an opportunity.
Which person from history was the bodily manifestation of intelligence, knowledge, and creativity? Our blog's namesake, Isaac Newton, of course!
What was Newton's IQ? It's impossible to say. IQ tests didn't exist in the 17th Century, and if they had, Mr. Newton certainly would not have deigned to spend 90 minutes filling out ovals on a multiple choice test. Besides, he likely would have finished the test early and then spent the remaining time correcting errors and devising more difficult questions.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearscience.com ...
I’m not seeing Howard Hughes being mentioned so I thought I’d toss the name out
Leonardo daVinci has a reasonable claim to the title, IMHO.
Except for Adam's ex-wife.
I had heard that as well. I don’t know why Stephen Hawking frequently shows up on lists of top 10 highest IQs. There are plenty of people with higher IQs that don’t make those lists, like James Woods, Benjamin Netanyahu, Garry Kasparov, and Marilyn Vos Savant.
I think he gets a 'handicap'. (like in golf)
My friend thought Feynman was very clever, but not working on the most important work to be done. But of course Feynman was from the US and not from Europe, so take that into account.
Leonardo’s knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and mechanical engineering was stunning because his knowledge was far more accurate than his contemporaries. If he were alive today, he would be correctly describing science and engineering principles for the 26th century. Not many people know he designed the first practical contact lens. Something that didn’t really catch on until the middle of the 20th century. The fact that he understood the importance of the front surface of the eye for refraction was well ahead of his time. This was something that would not be understood until the 1850s.
Paul, the apostle.
“The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right. ~ Mark Twain ~
The hotness factor of a given individual woman among X women approaches infinity as X approaches 1.
The Stainless Steel Rat.
Every time I see that photo I want to cry for them both.
According to the media, and depending on which election year it was, the contenders would be Gore, Kerry, Obama and Hillary. All of them have been declared the smartest person on earth, at one time or another.
“will sixty gallons be sufficient?”
“Solomon on the authority of God”
Wise and intelligent are not the same thing
This was a very interesting article and the author makes a strong argument for Isaac Newton. I think that it is very likely that the smartest person whoever lived is / was not even well known to the public. Brilliance is no guarantee of great success. Even Nikola Tesla who did a lot more than just pioneer our entire modern electric grid very nearly died in his youth. His inventions and might have never been developed without the proper economic conditions and a lot of luck. If he had been born 25 years earlier it is likely that his inventions likely would not have come to fruition. He could very well have died a penniless old eccentric... oh that is right he did.
If it were not for my extreme modesty, I'd be perfect. . .
Does Born get any points for having Olivia Newton-John as a granddaughter?
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