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A mind is a terrible thing to waste, right? Well this is the other end of that quote. Although each individual possesses unique attributes which define how intelligent they are, we have a list of some of the definite contenders.
We’ve given them superhero nicknames to keep things spicy.
1. PAUL ALLEN: THE MOTIVATOR
Billionaire Paul Allen reportedly has an IQ of between 160 and 170. Allen was born in 1953 in Seattle and made friends with Bill Gates while still at school. He talked Gates into leaving Harvard so the pair could start Microsoft in New Mexico. He is also the Chairman of the Seattle Sounders.
https://twitter.com/PaulGAllen/status/992557454431940608
2. NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: NOVA
Neil deGrasse Tyson is a high profile American research and astrophysicist associate at the American Museum of Natural History, among other accolades. Tyson is a New York native who achieved pop culture fame presenting the educational PBS show NOVA from 2006 to 2011. In 2001 Asteroid 1994KA was renamed 13123 Tyson as a result of his prestigious accomplishments. He is also totally delightful on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/994418579792637952
3. KIM JONG-UN: THE LONER
Although Guinness did away with the Highest IQ category in 1990, South Korean prodigy Kim Jong-Ung was a candidate with a whopping IQ of 210. His early life was all about studies and he is quoted saying he didn’t have much of a social life. That’s the price of madness!
https://twitter.com/HistoryInPix/status/852356721062367238
4. EDWARD WITTEN: THE REMARKABLE
Edward Witten is a scientist famous for his investigation contributions to string theory, M theory, quantum gravity and supersymmetry. That’s some heady stuff!
Witten is described as "the most remarkable physicist of his generation" and "the world's greatest living theoretical physicist." He was included in TIME magazine’s Most Influential People List of 2004.
https://twitter.com/ucsantabarbara/status/974063586501971968
5. ANDREW WILES: THE SOLVER
Born in Cambridge in 1953, Andrew Wiles is an award winning English mathematician perhaps best known for officially proving Fermat's Last Theorem in 1995. This theorem was so unsolvable that it even crept into pop culture, referenced in Dr Who, Star Trek, The Simpsons and the movie Bedazzled.
Before he cracked it, The Guinness Book of World Records listed the 358-year-old theorem as among the earth's "most difficult mathematical problems."
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiElpMsFyba/?tagged=andrewwiles
6. GRIGORI PERELMAN: THE BADASS
Grigori Perelman was born in 1966 and is known as a math genius and overall free thinker (aka kind of a weirdo). He is totally famous for cracking the Poincare conjecture, one of topology's most mind-bending problems. Shortly thereafter, he quit math and moved in with his mom in Saint Petersburg.
In 2006 Perelman was honored with the super hyped Fields Medal for his work and contribution toward furthering the knowledge of geometry and especially the Ricci flow. He was kind of meh about it.
“I’m not interested in money or fame; I don’t want to be on display like an animal in a zoo,” he said at the time. The Kurt Cobain of math?
https://twitter.com/fermatslibrary/status/923898607622909953
7. SAUL KRIPKE: HE WHO WILL BE NAMED
Kripke was born in 1940 in Long Island, NY, was a child prodigy, and grew up to be an award winning logician and philosopher. He is best known for jointly developing the Kripke Platek set theory and his "Kripkenstein" theory. He also really likes naming things after himself.
His peers dig him too. He was voted seventh most crucial philosopher of the previous 2 generations by a group of them.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BU-KLRHldyp/?tagged=saulkripke
8. AKSHAY VENTKATESH: THE ACHIEVER
Also a prodigy, Venkatesh was born in 1981 in India but raised in Australia. Early on, he was a Bronze medal winner at the International Physics Olympiad in 1993 at 11. He turned around and bronze medaled at the next International Mathematical Olympiad, too. Double Threat.
https://twitter.com/InfosysPrize/status/799494564826513408
9. SHAHRIAR AFSHAR: THE INNOVATOR
Next up is an inventor, Shahriar Afshar. He was born in 1971 and grew up to be an entrepreneur and physicist with several groundbreaking inventions. Afshar is famous for his 2004 Afshar experiment, an optical experiment that investigates (and he thinks contradicts) the quantum physical principle of complementarity. This is a heated debate in some corners of the internet.
He has held several prestigious teaching positions and is, CEO and CTO of consumer electronics startup Immerz.
Among his notable inventions is the award winning "4D" Soundkix tactile mini speaker, which is arguably just as cool as disproving complementarity.
https://twitter.com/MISanduk/status/924625578514436097
10. MAGNUS CARLSEN: THE MOZART OF CHESS
Born in Tønsberg, Norway in 1990, Magnus Carlsen is the current World Chess Champion. He qualified as a grandmaster in 2004 when he was a wee 13 years old.
At the 2013 World Chess Championship, he defeated Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand and took the world champion title for all the chess cred.
The ladies think he’s a looker and he’s done modeling work for G Star Raw, and been called "the Justin Bieber of chess." This is the only time Mozart and Justin Bieber have ever been mentioned at the same time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc_v9mTfhC8