Beyond Einstein: The Man with the Highest IQ Ever

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William James Sidis is often regarded as the smartest man to have ever lived, with claims about his extraordinary IQ making him a legendary figure. His intellectual prowess is said to have surpassed that of geniuses like Albert Einstein and Elon Musk. However, much of what is known about Sidis comes from fragmented stories and claims—many of which are disputed.

So, who was William James Sidis, and how much of his reputed genius can be confirmed?

A Prodigy Born into a High-Pressure Environment

Born on April 1, 1898, in New York City to Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, William Sidis seemed destined for intellectual greatness. His father, Boris Sidis, was a prominent psychiatrist and a pioneer in abnormal psychology, while his mother, Sarah Sidis, was a physician. Boris Sidis was determined to nurture his son's talents and applied his theories of child-rearing, pushing William to his intellectual limits from an early age.

According to family accounts, William could read by 18 months and reportedly devoured complex texts like The New York Times at a very young age. By the time he was 8, he allegedly spoke eight languages, including Latin, Greek, French, Russian, and Hebrew, and had invented his own language, "Vendergood." He was eventually accepted into Harvard University at the age of 11, setting a record as the youngest person to attend the prestigious institution.

These achievements contributed to William's status as a child prodigy, but they also set him on a difficult path. Boris Sidis’s high expectations put enormous pressure on William, and his social development suffered as a result.

Academic Success and Social Withdrawal

At Harvard, Sidis’s intellect made him a spectacle. In 1910, at just 12 years old, he gave a public lecture on four-dimensional bodies to the Harvard Mathematical Club, which left the audience astounded. William graduated cum laude in 1914 with a Bachelor of Arts degree at the age of 16.

However, his fame came at a cost. Overwhelmed by the attention, William began to withdraw from public life. After graduating, he reportedly told journalists that he aspired to live the “perfect life,” which, in his view, meant avoiding people altogether. He became a recluse, dedicating himself to obscure interests like streetcar transfers, and worked menial jobs to escape the spotlight.

Controversies Surrounding His IQ and Legacy

William’s IQ has been a topic of much speculation. Some sources, notably his parents, claimed his IQ was between 250 and 300. To put this in context, Albert Einstein is estimated to have had an IQ of around 160, and contemporary entrepreneur Elon Musk is thought to have a similar score.

The Civil Service Exam that William took later in life added fuel to the controversy. When Sidis reportedly performed poorly on the exam, his sister claimed that the score was his IQ test result—a claim that was later debunked. In truth, William’s placement on the Civil Service list had nothing to do with his intelligence, and any supposed test score remains a mystery.

Ironically, William’s father, Boris, was a vocal critic of IQ tests. Boris viewed them as "silly, pedantic, and misleading," a stance that further muddied the waters when it came to verifying William’s intellectual capability.

Sidis’s Later Years: Political Activism and Personal Struggles

By the time he was in his early twenties, William had shifted his focus from mathematics to other subjects, publishing works under various pseudonyms. His most notable publication, The Animate and the Inanimate (1920), delves into the origins of life from a thermodynamics perspective, showcasing his intellectual curiosity beyond just mathematics.

His life took a darker turn when he became involved in political activism. In 1919, William was arrested during a socialist May Day parade in Boston that turned violent. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for sedition but avoided jail time through an agreement orchestrated by his father, who sent him to California instead. This marked the beginning of his estrangement from his family.

In his later years, William lived a largely solitary life, working low-paying jobs and obsessively collecting streetcar transfers. In 1937, The New Yorker published a scathing article portraying him as a lonely eccentric, which led William to file a lawsuit for invasion of privacy. He won the case in 1944, but by then his health had deteriorated. That same year, William died at the age of 46 from a cerebral hemorrhage, the same cause of death as his father.

Fact vs. Fiction: The Reality Behind Sidis’s Genius

There is no doubt that William Sidis was an exceptional intellect, but many of the stories surrounding him are exaggerated or speculative. His early achievements, such as his acceptance into Harvard at age 11 and his fluency in multiple languages, are well-documented. However, the claims about his astronomical IQ remain unsubstantiated. Much of the myth surrounding Sidis comes from his parents, particularly his mother, who had a reputation for making exaggerated claims.

William’s intellectual legacy has been scrutinized by figures like Norbert Wiener, a fellow child prodigy and founder of cybernetics, who described Sidis as truly gifted but deeply troubled by the pressures placed upon him. Other scholars have questioned whether Sidis may have been on the autism spectrum, potentially with Asperger's syndrome, given his social difficulties and intense focus on specific interests.

The Sidis Enigma: Genius or Myth?

In today’s world, William Sidis remains a polarizing figure. Was he truly the smartest man to ever live, or was he a tragic victim of unrealistic parental expectations? The truth likely lies somewhere in between. While Sidis's genius is undeniable, his life serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of pushing a child to extreme limits in the pursuit of intellectual greatness.

Though we may never know the full extent of his intelligence, Sidis’s story challenges our understanding of what it means to be a genius and raises important questions about how society values intellect.

Sources:

1. The Prodigy: A Biography of William James Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy by Amy Wallace
2. Norbert Wiener: A Life in Cybernetics by Pesi R. Masani
3. The Animate and the Inanimate by William James Sidis
4. The New Yorker Archives: William Sidis Lawsuit, 1937
5. Harvard University Archives: William Sidis’s Enrollment and Lectures

Read William's book ANIMATE & INANIMATE for FREE on the Sidis website.

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