From: John Clark (jonkc@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Mon Nov 30 1998 - 00:04:13 MST
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The man with the highest IQ ever may have been a fellow by name of
William James Sidis (1898-1944). He could read The New York Times when
he was 18 months old and just a few yeas later solve its crossword
puzzle in his head, he didn't write anything down until he'd finished
all of it. Just for fun when he was seven he developed a set of
logarithms in base 12. At eight he was given the final exam in anatomy
from the Harvard Medical school, he passed. At the same age he was
given the entrance test for MIT, he passed. At age nine he knew dozens
of languages and could pick up a new one in a day or two.
Sidis's IQ can only be approximately known even though he took many IQ
tests, the tests were just not up to the task, he was off the charts.
Abraham Sterling, director of New York City's Aptitude Testing
Institute said " he easily had an IQ between 250 and 300, I have never
heard of anybody with such an IQ. I would say that he was the most
prodigious intellect of our entire generation".
So what did this prodigious intellect accomplish in his 46 years? Not
much, if he's remembered at all it's for writing the definitive book on
streetcar transfers, perhaps the most boring tome on the planet. I'm
not sure what the moral is, maybe it's not to push gifted children too
hard as Sidis's parents did, or maybe it's that high IQ and genius are
not quite synonymous.
John K Clark jonkc@att.net
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