Myths and famous claims
What was Einstein's IQ?
What is documented
There is no record that Albert Einstein ever took an IQ test. Psychologist Russell Warne concludes he very likely never did, since he was already an adult when the first successful test appeared in 1905. Published claims range from 150 to 207, and the popular 160 has no special basis.
Want your own number? The test is 25 visual puzzles, about 12 minutes, no sign-up.
Was Einstein ever given an IQ test?
Probably not. Psychologist Russell Warne searched the record for an Einstein IQ score and concludes that Einstein very likely never took an intelligence test, because he was already an adult when the first successful test appeared in 1905 (Warne 2023). That first test, by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, was built for children (Britannica, Alfred Binet). The first successful test for adults, the Army Alpha, arrived in 1917, when Einstein was already an international celebrity (Warne 2023). The adult deviation IQ that modern tests use came later still, with the Wechsler-Bellevue scale in 1939 (Wikipedia: WAIS).
Warne's search is careful and well cited, but it is one researcher's published review, not a peer-reviewed study. What it shows is an absence: no test, no date, no score.
Where the numbers come from
The figures attached to Einstein disagree widely, from 150 to 207, which is itself a sign that none of them is trustworthy (Warne 2023). Even one magazine could not keep its story straight: LIFE implied 205 in 1945 and printed 192 in 1954. As early as 1962, a Popular Mechanics writer noted that Einstein never took an intelligence test, while still quoting an estimate of 207 (Warne 2023).
The 160 you see most often has no special basis. Warne found no scholarly study of Einstein's IQ at all (Warne 2023).
Try one · Pattern Recognition
Which tile comes next?
Tap the option you think is right, or show the answer.
Show the answer
The missing tile shows a tiny solid arrow pointing down and to the right (option 4).
How to solve it
- Compare neighboring tiles and name what changes each time.
- From tile to tile, the arrow turns an eighth of a turn clockwise.
- From tile to tile, the arrow gets smaller.
- Everything else stays the same from tile to tile.
- The last tile shows a small solid arrow pointing right. Apply each change once more.
- So the missing tile shows a tiny solid arrow pointing down and to the right.
That was 1 puzzle. The full test has 25.
What a retrospective estimate is, and is not
The closest thing to a serious method is historiometry: rating a person from biographical records. Catharine Cox used it in 1926 for 301 eminent people who had already died (Simonton 2020). Even her careful estimates are not test scores, and no one has applied the method to Einstein (Warne 2023). The guide to historical IQ estimates explains how those numbers were made.
What is documented about his abilities
The record that does exist is about school and work, not test scores. In primary school Einstein was at the top of his class and well ahead of requirements in math (Isaacson, TIME 2007). When shown a newspaper claim that he had failed mathematics, he said he had mastered differential and integral calculus before he was 15. The full story is on the page about whether Einstein failed math.
How 160 sits on the curve
On a modern scale with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, about 99.7% of people score between 55 and 145 (the 68-95-99.7 rule). A score of 160 sits above about 99.997% of people, roughly 1 in 32,000. You can see that position on the IQ 160 page. It describes a point on the curve, not Einstein.
How to judge a famous IQ claim
- Is a specific test named, with a date and an age at testing?
- Was that test available in the person's lifetime, and at that age?
- Does the claim cite a primary source, or only another website?
- Do different sources agree, or do the numbers drift?
- If it is an estimate, who made it, by what method, and does it say so?
Einstein's numbers fail every one of these checks. For other famous cases, see Stephen Hawking's IQ and Richard Feynman's IQ. If you are curious about your own, the free IQ Octopus test gives an estimated IQ with a confidence range.
Sources
- Warne, R. T. (2023, September 14). The search for Albert Einstein's IQ. russellwarne.com (blog of a research psychologist) russellwarne.com/2023/09/14/the-search-for-albert-einsteins-iq/
- Encyclopaedia Britannica. Alfred Binet (read via Wayback Machine, January 2025) www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Binet
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wechsler_Adult_Intelligence_Scale
- Isaacson, W. (2007, April 5). Making the Grade: Did Einstein flunk math? (20 Things You Need to Know About Einstein). TIME content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1936731_1936743_1936758,00.html
- Simonton, D. K. (2020). Galton, Terman, Cox: The Distinctive Volume II in Genetic Studies of Genius. Gifted Child Quarterly. doi:10.1177/0016986220921360 doi.org/10.1177/0016986220921360
- 68-95-99.7 rule. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68%E2%80%9395%E2%80%9399.7_rule