Who is the smartest person in all of history?
I'm writing for a topic in psychology and it has to do with intelligence.
I'd like to incorporate different types of intelligence, and so I thought it'd be helpful to ask a varied array of people for their opinion on who is the smartest person (famous) they know, because I'm assuming different people will consider intelligence from different perspectives.
So Basil, in your opinion, who is the smartest person that has ever lived?
June 9, 2012
38 Comments • Newest first
Dr.Gerald Robotnik mmmmhmmmmmm he got da IQ of over 300
The guy who thought of the way to control people through religion
IQ, what's the extent of it's display of intelligence?
[quote=xVolcomStone]I'm saying Tesla or Hitler.
Not even lying on the Hitler part. If the guy didn't go crazy, he woulda really been onto something as a leader.[/quote]
Sure he was a brilliant statesman but when it actually came to running a country, he failed miserably. Just look at how he handled WWII. If he just listened to his generals Germany might have won the war.
Oh and why has no one mentioned composers? Science is definitely not the only form of intelligence. I would nominate Mozart and Beethoven for two of the greatest geniuses of all time.
Marcel Duchamp.
@Meowijuana: I believe he's intelligent too... it's just the whole bit about ruminating about castration and replacing your same-sex parent as the counterpart's lover is sort of... no. ._.
I say he's intelligent in the sense that he was able to introduce an approach that embraced the sort of idea that humans are programmed to not know what's going on in some of their capacities, say at the subconscious level.
You can't say who the smartest one is. Every intelligent scientist throughout time used basic and other peoples' knowledges and discoveries to find something new. Comparing Pythagoras (who lived some 100-400 years before Christ), Tesla (around 1800 if I recall correctly) and Einstein (1920-40s) isn't able to do so. Besides, everybody had a field they were specialized in. But they could've been the smartest around that time. Give it a thought
hitler. hes a genius. He wrote a book in jail about his plan, and ppl read it. PPl didnt think he would do that, so they didnt expect it, but hitler did everything according to plan.
Freud, Newton, Sagan, deGrasse Tyson, Hawking, Einstein, Tesla, Aristotle, Darwin.
Tesla.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla
All I have to say to you guys.
It would seem that most here find that intelligence to be attributed to those in a scientific field.
I'm going to have to go with an entire time period here for never before had such advancements been made. I speak of the Greek philosophers. Previous to them, they had rules of thumb but never asked why or how those things came to be. They were masters in all fields, science, math, grammar, and rhetoric. To me these were the most intelligent people, for they were not just masters of one field, but all of the fields that encompassed ancient philosophy.
Philosophers it is, for me. But I suppose that is a very vague title so I'll put up the well known Socrates/Plato as well as Aristotle who created the division of classes which seem so natural to us now (math and science grouped, grammar and language grouped).
Come on guys.
Tesla doesn't compare to Gauss.
I believe Gary Kasparov has an IQ of 215. But he hasn't made any scientific advancements or such, so I wouldn't consider his intelligence to be useful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn7-fVtT16k
You decide!
@Fiercerain @Criticism
ok so maybe smart isn't the word. but i do believe he was intelligent
Sheldon Coupar
Obviously George Washington
The Unabomber. Although not the smartest, he was pretty smart. The guy had an IQ of 164 or something and killed 3 people and injured about 20 in a time span of 25 years of something. The dude got into harvard at the age of 16... amazing
[quote=Ickest]If you mean someone who doesn't exist anymore: Einstein.
If you mean anyone: Dalai Lama.
But honestly, I think it's me. I know everyone says this about themselves but I actually feel like the smartest person. Whenever I look at something or someone in society, I just judge them and analyze them to the point where I know every detail about them. Even on the internet i.e. Basil, I know I'm smarter than everyone that I have ever seen post whether I've argued with them in a thread before or just read their opinions. I may seem like I'm blowing smoke, but I'm going to change the world - just watch. [/quote]
What's your name then? So I can remember it when it happens.
OT: I'd go with Newton or da Vinci.
[quote=rlbmut]Adolf Hitler[/quote]
This man was brilliant, although he did make several severe blunders..
[quote=NewZealand]Ok...
Sir Issac Newton
Nikola Tesla
Leonardo Da Vinchi
Notice there is no Stephen Hawking.
This is because these 3 were born in the "Darker" ages of technology.
Sir Issac Newton:
You know why.
Nikola Tesla:
Mastermind behind Thomas Edison, Nikola was the puppet master.
Leonardo Da Vinchi:
Worlds greatest artist, years ahead of his time.
We did not know about physics or chemistry, yet he created a picture of a human body so complex even Stephen Hawking would gawp at it. (Huehue)
No one can say these people are not the smartest.
PS:
Eddie Van Halen:
He wrote Eruption=Good.[/quote]
Eruption = Good? That's easily one of the greatest guitar solo's ever! >.< But he isn't the best guitarist though.
Tesla, Hitler, Da Vinci or Galileo.
@Meowijuana: Please.. please not Freud... Not 'Dr.' Sigmund. He had some useful ideas, but no.. I still cringe at this proposals. @_@
I'm saying Tesla or Hitler.
Not even lying on the Hitler part. If the guy didn't go crazy, he woulda really been onto something as a leader.
Since Nikola Tesla was mentioned already, I'd say the next best pick is Martin Seligman.
everyone here is a idiot, its obvs Chuck Norris
I really like Tesla since he was born on the same day as me.
Nikola Tesla, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein.
Doc Brown
freud or newton
Jesus.
Gauss.
Euler, Archimedes, and Ramanujan also come to mind.
Granted, these are simply people that were brilliant in fields I'm interested in, but if there were ever a way to reliably express intelligence in an objective way that's not compartmentalized, I think Gauss would definitely be <10 if not <5 of all time.
[quote=As0n3]nope, chuck testa[/quote]
Old meme is ooolldddd.
OT: Nikola Tesla, Neil Degrasse Tyson, stephen hawking, etc.
It's hard to say one person is the smartest, a lot of people have contributed greatly to mankind.
nope, chuck testa
isaac newton or nikola tesla
me odviously...
OT i would say albert einstien
he figured out how to travel back to the future...
EDIT: wrong movie
Possibly John Von Neumann - he mastered calculus when he was still 8 years old...