What was Einstein's I.Q.?

Factual Questions
1

Did Albert Einstein ever take an I.Q. test? I remember being surprised reading that Richard Feynman took an IQ test in high school and scored only between 120 and 130. Now that makes me feel inferior, considering how little I have done with my IQ of 135 (+/-) and how much he did with his 125 (+/-). For the record, I believe that beyond a certain point (about IQ 120, I’d guess), it’s much more important what you do with your intelligence than how much of it you have. I also believe IQ tests do a very poor job of measuring genius. So I readily admit the answer isn’t very important, but I’d still like to know what it was.

The Botree Forum has some posts on the subject. One says Einstein’s IQ was about 143 and the other says it was never measured but is estimated to be 160. Neither gives a reference. I’ve read two or three biographies of Einstein, but none has mentioned his IQ.

This site implies the average science Nobel Prize winner has an IQ of 155 (with Standard Deviation=16 points) or 152 (SD=15 points). No reference here either.

2

I wouldn’t think that Einstein would have tested very high. I’ve read that as a child he was a slow learner and didn’t speak before the age of nine.

3

IMO it’s sort of futile to attempt to apply a linear intelligence yardstick to intellects which are so far beyond the normal within certain areas of ability.

I’ve taken IQ (and related index) tests and contrary to popular belief you can study for them just like the SAT’s with respect to understanding how to tackle the questions and generally do substantially better than hitting them cold. Like those bad 'ol SATs, IQ tests can predict with some accuracy how well one is likely to do scholastically in certain areas of study that require fair amounts of intellectual horsepower.

4

Einstein was born in 1879. Even if he had waited until he was, say, 20 to take an I.Q. test (very late by present-day American standards), that would still have been only 1899. But I.Q. tests didn’t really even start to come into use until the 1910’s.

Not only would he have been too old to have been in any standard group that would have been given I.Q. tests when they began to be common in the 1920’s and 1930’s, but by that time he already had a physics Ph.D. (and had already discovered relativity). Why would he conceivably bother to take an I.Q. test, and who would be obnoxious enough to ask him to take one?

5

Surely you’re joking, Mr. Winkelried!

6

Einstein often told of how if it wasn’t for his lousy math skills he probably would have never come up with Relativity. He said he was a better physicist because of them.

IQ tests for the most part measures one’s skill in multiple choice test taking and any number of 160 on anything but the oldest tests is an invalid score.

7

I agree with astro. IQ tests are based on average intelligence. Further out on the bell curve, either extremely intelligent or extremely slow, it would be harder to quantify. Also, I imagine the type of IQ test would be a factor to consider. For example, does it evaluate multiple aspects of intelligence or just basic skills.

8

First, most IQ tests score your abilities at pattern matching relevant to your physical age. Pattern matching tests are considered most valid when administered between age 4 and 9, according to people who work with gifted children. No chance Einstein could have had an accurate one, if he ever took one (which nobody has ever said he did - all numbers are estimates).

the late speaking and poor math skills are irrelevant to IQ - people with a profound gift in one area are often well behind in others, and average in something else, and a little ahead in something else. This is called asynchronous development, or multi-aging (for instance, social skills of a 3 year old, math comprehension of an 18 year old, language skills of a 7 year old, all in a 5 year old body).

There are hundreds of IQ tests, indexes, and so forth out there. Some say they can measure accurately up to 160, others to 174, and a very few claim to measure higher than that. Because of the margin of error, classification within a range is probably more accurate than comparing exact numbers. There is a relative match-up between the tests, but the margin of error can be significant. (And yes, you can study for them - heck, you probably SHOULD!) Also, if you look around some of the IQ sites, you’ll find that different forms of IQ appear to have different peaks (ages at which you are smartest - after which it is just a slide right back down), as well - some peak in your 20s, some not until your 60’s. And they probably have not covered anything LIKE all the bases for IQ - they’re always finding more areas where someone is more advanced than someone else, so the IQs that aren’t tested for yet may later be dtermined to be critical factors.

Intelligent use of intelligence is probaby some OTHER form of IQ! And for many people, I think having an obsessive/compulsive approach may help - keeps you focussed on your topic, so you can really get into it in depth. :slight_smile:

For yucks, here’s a link to an online IQ test that claims accuracy to 174 (standard pattern-matching kind): http://cech.cesnet.cz/IQ/index.php

I scored 157, having accidentally skipped one question. I was assessed at 162 as a child, but I don’t feel like I’m smarter than Einstein (granted, never met him!). Guess I’ve already started that slide (being past 20 years old and all…). Any my ‘smart use of smarts’ IQ is probably average.

9

Arnold Winkelried said: I wouldn’t think that Einstein would have tested very high. I’ve read that as a child he was a slow learner and didn’t speak before the age of nine.

RM Mentock replied: Surely you’re joking, Mr. Winkelried!

Sorry, people, I forgot the word “well.” :o
The Los Angeles Times, in their “children’s” section, next to the comics, has been printing a condensed biography of Einstein, a few short paragraphs every day for this week. LA Times links are invalid after about two weeks, so click now if you want to read it!
Einstein the Genius

10

I remember coming across an article (it could have been a magazine or a book) in the late '80s or early '90s in which the authors estimated the IQ of several famous dead persons. From what I recall the highest score was attributed to William Shakespeare, although I think I remember Einstein was quite close. I wish I could remember the piece I am talking about–maybe someone else saw it?

On the web I found this similar link discussing the IQ of famous people:

http://home8.swipnet.se/~w-80790/Index.htm#Note
http://home8.swipnet.se/~w-80790/Index2/Index2.htm

The author mentions that he read in a book that Einstein may have had an IQ of 160.

It is definitely possible to study for IQ tests. I have only taken two in my life, but I noticed even towards the end of the first test how I was becoming more comfortable in A) understanding the questions and B) finding the answers in less time. Both times I scored deep into the genius level, and I was very surprised at the ease of the tests. Of course, if I lacked linguistic skills I would have probably scored lower, which leads one to believe that before you can have an IQ test you have to possess a good grasp of the language the test is in.

11

Remember how your teachers said you were going to amount to something.

12

Thanks for the links, Abe. I especially like the way they bring Marilyn vos Savant down a notch or two.

I remember a somewhat similar ranking of US presidents by intelligence that came out about 10 years ago, based on estimates by historians.

13

Hedra has a great explaination as far as I am concerned. Seems to hit all the high spots.

I’ve noticed a lot of variation in poeple who are said to have IQs of 150. That number is an average of all test scores taken so it is possible to have a very high spike in math and be low or average in other areas.

If Feynman’s high school IQ was accurate (and I don’t think it could have been) he must have a a couple of spikes (in whatever shows written and spoken language skills were high as were physics) and would have had to have been very low scores in other areas to pull his total score down to 120-130) I’d guess he was bored to tears and copied his neighbor’s answer sheet for sport.

Bibliophage’s 135 could be several things but the first two that come to mind is that he has an IQ of a flat 135 in all areas with no differences great enough to make him feel he is better or worse in any particular academic area.

Or two, spikes in verbal areas and grades and accomplishments in the verbal areas made him shy away from math, physics and chemistry - areas where it is easier to measure accomplishments than correct speach or great writing skills.

If the latter is true B. you can afford to be cool for writers can write or begin writing at any age while the math, physics, chemistry guys have to be creative before 23-25 or never break into greatness or come up with that great deed or formula that gets them fame and song and beer and women and whatever else your mother warned you about.

14

Quoth Abe:

Marilyn vos Savant ran something along those lines recently (October 1999). The article doesn’t mention Einstein or Shakespeare, but it lists the following:
John Stuart Mill, 190
Leibnitz, 185
Pascal, 180
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 175
Voltaire, 170
John Q. Adams, 165
Tennyson, 155
Mozart, 150
Emerson, 145
Darwin, 135
Newton, 130
Washington, 125
Haydn, 120
Martin Luther, 115
Rembrandt, 110
Copernicus, 105
The original research was done in 1926 by Catherine Morris Cox, and was based on intelligence exhibited before the age of 17.
As far as Einstein’s IQ, knowing it wouldn’t tell us anything about Einstein, but it might tell us a lot about the concept of IQ. If he scored anywhere below the 150’s or so, I think that that would indicate some serious flaws in the test.

15

“Everybody knows” that Einstein was a terrible student, just as “everybody knows” people believed the world was flat in 1492, and everybody knows that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, and…

Reports of Einstein’s academic difficulties have long been exaggerated, and are (to a large degree) just plain wrong. The whole legend strikes me as a fraud, a way of convincing slow learners and lousy math students that they too could be “geniuses” if they just applied themselves.

16

I could do without the fame and song, but the women and beer sound pretty good about now. For what it’s worth I tend to score around 125-130 on math-based tests and 135-145 on verbal-based tests. I majored in physics in college, which shows you how dumb I really am. Of course I dropped out. I’ve already started writing. No sense waiting until I’m failling apart.

17

I have the notes I took when I read Subtle is the Lord by Abraham Pais, but I don’t have the book itself. My notes covering pp 36-62 say, in part “AE was generally a good student but failed his college entrance exam at age 16. When he did get into college, he was a mediocre student who neglected his laboratory assignments & skipped lectures.” I’m not very surprised. Traditional schools reward following the rules, and they don’t know what to do with someone who makes his own.

18

now imagine if goethe, mill, and kant had only used their IQs writing columns for PARADE

19

I’m waiting for the day when someone claims ol’ Albert didn’t speak until his teens…

Many times I’ve heard or seen advice given to parents who are worried about their children’s speech and language development, and as often as not someone brings up the “Einstein didn’t speak until late” story. I’ve asked several times for evidence of this (blurbs in newspaper columns don’t count, though a quote from a good biography would help), and still haven’t gotten it. Frankly, I think it’s a bit of modern urban folklore. And even if it’s true, it’s irrelevant. If a three year old is not speaking, the parents should be concerned, regardless of any trivia about the early development of some random famous person.

20

I know you said that it would be irrelevant, but I have a couple Einstein biographies handy (Pais, Gribbin). They do mention that his family was worried because he started talking late (Pais refers to a manuscript by his sister Maja, a copy in the Princeton Archives), but both mention that he would form whole sentences, working his mouth, before uttering them entire between the ages of two and three (Interestingly, Maja was born when Einstein was 2 1/2). According to both biographies, he consistently ranked first in his class, even at age seven.

Arnold, I know that the LA Times qualified their comment by saying he didn’t speak well by nine, but I’d be curious what the writer of that article meant by that if the article didn’t have other errors: Einstein’s family didn’t move to Zurich, they moved to Milan when he was fifteen, leaving him behind in Munich to finish school. The “military-style classes” were in Germany, not Switzerland. To avoid the draft {Pais: “By law, a boy could leave Germany only before the age of seventeen without having to return for military service.”), he dropped out of school, whereupon the school officially expelled him. He moved himself to Zurich, self-studied for the ETH (what the article calls the Swiss Polytechnic) exam which he took 18 months early–and easily passed the math and physics parts, but the exam also included political and literary history, German, French, biology, chemistry, drawing, and an essay. He was encouraged by an examiner to finish school, in Zurich, and retake the exam, which he did. There were no “courses” in which he had done poorly. His wife was a fellow physics student, not a mathematician. The article also implies that the three articles published in the Annals of Physics together started a single branch of physics–in fact, they were each seminal works in statistical mechanics, relativity, and quantum theory (the last one winning him his Nobel prize).

bibliophage’s description of Pais’s account of the college years is accurate enough. Pais quotes Einstein: “In all there were only two examinations; for the rest one could do what one wanted…a freedom which I thoroughly enjoyed…up to a few months before the examination”. Some of us can probably relate.