Who tends to be the smartest person in this world?
this tends to be a common question most people tend to ask themselves
In the landscape of intelligence boundaries of brilliance are pushed by individuals who redefine what it means to be smart.
Move over Einstein and Edison, for we present a curated list of the top 50 smartest people on the plane
From renowned physicists to chess prodigies, political figures to mathematicians
Top 10 smartest people in the world today
- Stephen Hawking
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Stephen William Hawking |
| Date of Birth and Death | January 8, 1942 – March 14, 2018 |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, Author |
| Academic Positions | – Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, University of Cambridge (at the time of his death)<br>- Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge (1979-2009) |
| Education | – University College, Oxford (Began in October 1959, received first-class BA degree in physics)<br>- Trinity Hall, Cambridge (Began in October 1962, obtained PhD in applied mathematics and theoretical physics in March 1966) |
| Motor Neurone Disease Diagnosis | Diagnosed in 1963 at the age of 21 with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease |
| Communication Method | Initially used a speech-generating device through a handheld switch<br>Later used a single cheek muscle after the loss of speech |
| Scientific Contributions | – Collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems<br>- Theoretical prediction of Hawking radiation from black holes<br>- Formulation of a theory of cosmology combining general relativity and quantum mechanics<br>- Supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics |
| Commercial Success | Achieved commercial success with popular science books, including “A Brief History of Time” (Sunday Times bestseller for a record-breaking 237 weeks) |
| Honors and Awards | – Fellow of the Royal Society<br>- Lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences<br>- Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (highest civilian award in the U.S.) |
| Recognition | Ranked number 25 in the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons (2002) |
- Edward Witten
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Edward Witten |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Mathematical and Theoretical Physicist |
| Academic Affiliation | Professor Emeritus, School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton |
| Research Areas | String Theory, Quantum Gravity, Supersymmetric Quantum Field Theories, Mathematical Physics |
| Notable Contributions | Significant contributions to string theory, M-theory, quantum gravity, and super-symmetry |
| Awards and Honors | Fields Medal, Dirac Prize, Albert Einstein Medal, Nemmers Prize in Mathematics |
| Current Position | Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton |
- Noam Chomsky
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Noam Chomsky |
| Date of Birth | December 7, 1928 |
| Nationality | American |
| Profession | Professor, Public Intellectual |
| Fields of Expertise | Linguistics, Political Activism, Social Criticism |
| Academic Affiliation | Laureate Professor of Linguistics, University of Arizona; Institute Professor Emeritus, MIT |
| Publications | Author of more than 150 books on linguistics, war, and politics |
| Ideological Alignment | Anarcho-syndicalism, Libertarian Socialism |
| Educational Background | University of Pennsylvania (Undergraduate), Harvard Society of Fellows (Postgraduate) |
| Academic Achievements | Developed the theory of transformational grammar, earned Ph.D. in 1955, MIT faculty since 1955 |
| Key Theories/Concepts | Universal Grammar Theory, Generative Grammar Theory, Chomsky Hierarchy, Minimalist Program |
| Major Works | Landmark work “Syntactic Structures” (1957), “Manufacturing Consent” (with E.S. Herman) |
| Activism | Anti-Vietnam War activism, New Left association, criticized linguistic behaviorism, exposed Indonesian occupation of East Timor |
| Political Controversies | Anti-war essay “The Responsibility of Intellectuals,” Faurisson affair, commentary on the Cambodian genocide |
| Post-Retirement Activism | Opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, supported the Occupy movement, vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and mass media |
| Cognitive Revolution | Contributed to the development of a new cognitivist framework for the study of language and the mind |
| Current Affiliation | Teaching at the University of Arizona since 2017 |
| Influence | Widely recognized for contributions to anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements, leading critic in various domains |
- Manahel Thabet
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Dr. Manahel Thabet |
| Recognition as One of the Smartest People | Ranked among the 30 smartest people alive by Super Scholar |
| Professional Affiliations | – Founder and President of SmartTips Consultants<br>- President of Would IQ Foundation<br>- President of the Brain Trust Foundation (MENA/Middle East and North Africa)<br>- Vice President of WIN (World Intelligence Network)<br>- Vice Chancellor of The Gifted Academy<br>- Deputy Director of the Institute for Brain Chemistry |
| Curator Roles | Curator of the Economic Think-Tank group of well-qualified economics advisors |
| Leadership Positions | – Chairperson of the Scientific Committee, Recommendation Committee, and Senior Adviser at the International Asia Pacific Giftedness Conference (2012)<br>- Goodwill Ambassador for Eco International of Prince Albert II De Monaco Foundation<br>- President of IQuestion<br>- Member of Young Arab Leaders<br>- Judge for Drones for Good Awards UAE (2015–2016)<br>- Member of the International Association of Quantitative Finance<br>- Member of advisory board for In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal<br>- Arabian Intelligence Network Supervisor<br>- Editor of Synapsia’s IQ section |
| Awards and Honors | – Genius of the Year by the World Genius Directory (2013)<br>- AVICENNA Award Laureate (2014)<br>- Guinness World Records in Teaching Methodologies (2015)<br>- Brain of the Year award (2015–2016)<br>- Middle East Achievement Award in Science<br>- Freedom of the City of London (2016) |
| Membership in High IQ Societies | – HELLIQ High IQ Society<br>- QIQ High IQ Society<br>- CIVIQ High IQ Society<br>- GRIQ High IQ Society<br>- 4GHigh IQ Society<br>- HighIQWorld<br>- Mensa International<br>- And other aristocratic high IQ societies |
| Global Recognition and Impact | – Influential figure in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields<br>- Middle East Achievement Award in Science<br>- Listed among the most powerful 500 Arabs and the 100 most powerful women in the Middle East<br>- Listed among BBC’s 100 most inspirational women worldwide |
| Overall Recognition | – Acknowledged as one of the smartest and most intelligent economists, scientists, and consultants globally |
- Judit Polgár
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Judit Polgár |
| Date of Birth | July 23, 1976 |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Chess Title | Grandmaster |
| Chess Achievements | – Achieved Grandmaster title at 15 years and 4 months (1991)<br>- Youngest player to break into the FIDE top 100 players rating list at age 12 (1989)<br>- Only woman to be a serious candidate for the World Chess Championship (2005)<br>- Surpassed 2700 Elo rating, reaching peak world ranking of No. 8 (2004) and peak rating of 2735 (2005)<br>- Ranked in the top ten of all chess players (1996)<br>- No. 1 rated woman in the world from January 1989 to retirement in August 2014 |
| Tournament Victories | – Hastings 1993<br>- Madrid 1994<br>- León 1996<br>- U.S. Open 1998<br>- Hoogeveen 1999<br>- Sigeman & Co 2000<br>- Japfa 2000<br>- Najdorf Memorial 2000 |
| Notable Chess Records | – Only woman to have won a game against a reigning world number one player<br>- Defeated eleven current or former world champions in rapid or classical chess, including Magnus Carlsen, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, and others |
| Retirement | Announced retirement from competitive chess on August 13, 2014 |
| Post-Retirement Roles | – Elected as the captain and head coach of the Hungarian national men’s team (June 2015)<br>- Inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame (2021) |
| Honors and Decorations | – Received Hungary’s highest decoration, the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary (August 20, 2015) |
- Andrew Wiles
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Sir Andrew John Wiles |
| Date of Birth | April 11, 1953 |
| Nationality | English |
| Position | Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford |
| Specialization | Number Theory |
| Major Achievement | Proved Fermat’s Last Theorem |
| Awards | – Awarded the 2016 Abel Prize for his work on Fermat’s Last Theorem<br>- Awarded the 2017 Copley Medal by the Royal Society<br>- Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2000)<br>- MacArthur Fellow (1997) |
| Academic Positions | – Appointed the first Regius Professor of Mathematics at Oxford in 2018 |
| Other Honors | – Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society |
- Grigori Perelman
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Grigori Yakovlevich Perelman |
| Date of Birth | June 13, 1966 |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Fields of Contribution | – Geometric Analysis<br>- Riemannian Geometry<br>- Geometric Topology |
| Career Highlights | – Contributions to the study of Alexandrov spaces in collaboration with Burago, Gromov, and Petrunin |
| – Proved the soul conjecture in Riemannian geometry (1994)<br>- Proved the Poincaré conjecture and Thurston’s geometrization conjecture (2002-2003) | |
| Career Decisions | – Abruptly quit research job at the Steklov Institute of Mathematics (2005)<br>- Quit professional mathematics due to ethical concerns (2006) |
| Recognition & Awards | – Declined the Fields Medal in 2006 for contributions to geometry<br>- Poincaré conjecture proof recognized as the “Breakthrough of the Year” by Science journal (2006)<br>- Met criteria for the Clay Millennium Prize (2010) |
| Rejection of Awards | – Declined the one-million-dollar Clay Millennium Prize in 2010, citing unfair decision and downplaying his contribution to solving the Poincaré conjecture |
| Current Status | Lives in seclusion in Saint Petersburg, Russia<br>Has not accepted offers for interviews since 2006 |
- John Sununu
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | John Henry Sununu |
| Date of Birth | July 2, 1939 |
| Nationality | American |
| Birthplace | Cuba |
| Ancestry | Greek, Hispanic, Lebanese |
| Political Career | – 75th Governor of New Hampshire (1983–1989)<br>- White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush |
| Historical Milestones | – First Arab American, Greek American, and Hispanic American to be Governor of New Hampshire and White House Chief of Staff |
| Family Connections | Father of John E. Sununu (former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire) and Christopher Sununu (current Governor of New Hampshire) |
| Party Affiliation | Chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party (2009–2011) |
- Ruth Lawrence
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Ruth Elke Lawrence-Neimark |
| Date of Birth | August 2, 1971 |
| Nationality | British-Israeli |
| Occupation | Mathematician, Professor of Mathematics |
| Academic Affiliation | Einstein Institute of Mathematics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Research Focus | Knot Theory, Algebraic Topology |
| Notable Achievements | Recognized as a Child Prodigy in Mathematics |
| Public Recognition | Best known for her exceptional mathematical abilities as a child prodigy |
- Magnus Carlsen
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen |
| Date of Birth | November 30, 1990 |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Chess Title | Grandmaster |
| World Chess Champion Titles | – Five-time World Chess Champion<br>- Reigning four-time World Rapid Chess Champion<br>- wo six-time World Blitz Chess Champion<br>- Reigning Chess World Cup Champion |
| FIDE World Chess Rankings | Held the No. 1 position since July 1, 2011 |
| Highest Rating | Peak rating of 2882, the highest in history |
| Unbeaten Streak Record | Holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at the elite level in classical chess |
| Chess Achievements as a Prodigy | – Finished first in the C group of the Corus chess tournament at age 13<br>- Earned the title of grandmaster a few months later<br>- Won the Norwegian Chess Championship at age 15<br>- Finished joint first in the top group of Corus at age 17<br>- Surpassed a rating of 2800 at age 18, the youngest at the time to do so<br>- Reached No. 1 in the FIDE world rankings at age 19 |
| World Chess Champion Titles (Continued) | – Became World Chess Champion in 2013 by defeating Viswanathan Anand<br>- Retained his title against Anand in 2014<br>- Won both the 2014 World Rapid Championship and World Blitz Championship, holding all three titles simultaneously<br>- Repeated the feat in 2019 and 2022<br>- Defended his classical world title against Sergey Karjakin in 2016, Fabiano Caruana in 2018, and Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2021<br>- Declined to defend his title against Nepomniachtchi in 2023, citing a lack of motivation |
| Playing Style | Known for his attacking style as a teenager, Carlsen has developed into a universal player, using a variety of openings to make it harder for opponents to prepare against him and reduce the utility of pre-game computer analysis |
Conclusion:
As we delve into the minds of these extraordinary individuals, it becomes evident that intelligence knows no bounds.
From the complexities of theoretical physics to the strategic brilliance of chess, these geniuses are shaping the world
Their stories inspire us to reach new heights, demonstrating that the pursuit of knowledge and innovation
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