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Marilyn vos Savant is an American magazine columnist, author, lecturer, and playwright. She was listed as having the highest recorded intelligence quotient (IQ) in. There is only one reason: she is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the highest IQ ever recorded. Never mind that this record is based on.
Savant in 2017 | |
Born | August 11, 1946 (age 73) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
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Occupation | |
Residence | New York City, New York, U.S. |
Spouse | Robert Jarvik (m. 1987) |
Website | |
www.marilynvossavant.com |
Marilyn vos Savant (/ˌvɒssəˈvɑːnt/; born 1946) is an American magazine columnist, author, lecturer, and playwright.[1] She was listed as having the highest recorded intelligence quotient (IQ) in the Guinness Book of Records, a competitive category the publication has since retired. Since 1986, she has written 'Ask Marilyn', a Parade magazine Sunday column where she solves puzzles and answers questions on various subjects. Among them was a discussion of the Monty Hall problem, to which she postulated an answer in 1990.
- 4Famous columns
Biography[edit]
Marilyn vos Savant was born Marilyn Mach on August 11, 1946, in St. Louis, Missouri, to parents Joseph Mach and Marina vos Savant. Savant says one should keep premarital surnames, with sons taking their fathers' and daughters their mothers'.[2][3] The word savant, meaning someone of learning, appears twice in her family: her grandmother's name was Savant; her grandfather's, vos Savant. She is of Italian, Czechoslovak,[4] German,[5] and Austrian ancestry, being descended from the physicist and philosopherErnst Mach.[6]
As a teenager, Savant worked in her father's general store and wrote for local newspapers using pseudonyms. She married at 16 and divorced ten years later. Her second marriage ended when she was 35.
She went to Meramec Community College and studied philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis but quit two years later to help with a family investment business. Savant moved to New York City in the 1980s to pursue a career in writing. Prior to starting 'Ask Marilyn', she wrote the Omni I.Q. Quiz Contest for Omni, which included intelligence quotient (IQ) quizzes and expositions on intelligence and its testing.
Savant married Robert Jarvik (one developer of the Jarvik-7 artificial heart) on August 23, 1987, and was made Chief Financial Officer of Jarvik Heart, Inc. She has served on the board of directors of the National Council on Economic Education, on the advisory boards of the National Association for Gifted Children and the National Women's History Museum,[7] and as a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.[8]Toastmasters International named her one of 'Five Outstanding Speakers of 1999', and in 2003 she was awarded an honoraryDoctor of Letters degree from The College of New Jersey.
Rise to fame and IQ score[edit]
Savant was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under 'Highest IQ' from 1986 to 1989[9] and entered the Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame in 1988.[9][10] Guinness retired the 'Highest IQ' category in 1990 after concluding IQ tests were too unreliable to designate a single record holder.[9] The listing drew nationwide attention.[11]
Guinness cited vos Savant's performance on two intelligence tests, the Stanford-Binet and the Mega Test. She took the 1937 Stanford-Binet, Second Revision test at age ten.[5] She claims her first test was in September 1956 and measured her mental age at 22 years and 10 months, yielding a 228 score.[5] This figure was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records; it is also listed in her books' biographical sections and was given by her in interviews.
Alan S. Kaufman, a psychology professor and author of IQ tests, writes in IQ Testing 101 that 'Miss Savant was given an old version of the Stanford-Binet (Terman & Merrill 1937), which did, indeed, use the antiquated formula of MA/CA × 100. But in the test manual's norms, the Binet does not permit IQs to rise above 170 at any age, child or adult. As the authors of the old Binet stated: 'Beyond fifteen the mental ages are entirely artificial and are to be thought of as simply numerical scores.' (Terman & Merrill 1937). ..the psychologist who came up with an IQ of 228 committed an extrapolation of a misconception, thereby violating almost every rule imaginable concerning the meaning of IQs.'[12]Savant has commented on reports mentioning varying IQ scores she was said to have obtained.[13]
The second test reported by Guinness was Hoeflin's Mega Test, taken in the mid-1980s. The Mega Test yields IQ standard scores obtained by multiplying the subject's normalized z-score, or the rarity of the raw test score, by a constant standard deviation, and adding the product to 100, with Savant's raw score reported by Hoeflin to be 46 out of a possible 48, with a 5.4 z-score, and a standard deviation of 16, arriving at a 186 IQ. The Mega Test has been criticized by professional psychologists as improperly designed and scored, 'nothing short of number pulverization'.[14]
Savant sees IQ tests as measurements of a variety of mental abilities and thinks intelligence entails so many factors that 'attempts to measure it are useless'.[15] She has held memberships with the high-IQ societiesMensa International and the Mega Society.[16]
'Ask Marilyn'[edit]
Following her listing in the 1986 Guinness Book of World Records, Parade ran a profile of her along with a selection of questions from Parade readers and her answers. Parade continued to get questions, so 'Ask Marilyn' was made.
She uses her column to answer questions on many chiefly academic subjects; solve logical, mathematical or vocabulary puzzles posed by readers; answer requests for advice with logic; and give self-devised quizzes and puzzles. Aside from the weekly printed column, 'Ask Marilyn' is a daily online column that adds to the printed version by resolving controversial answers, correcting mistakes, expanding answers, reposting previous answers, and solving additional questions.
Three of her books (Ask Marilyn, More Marilyn, and Of Course, I'm for Monogamy) are compilations of questions and answers from 'Ask Marilyn'. The Power of Logical Thinking includes many questions and answers from the column.
Famous columns[edit]
The Monty Hall problem[edit]
Savant was asked the following question in her September 9, 1990 column:[17]
Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is a car, behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say #1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say #3, which has a goat. He says to you, 'Do you want to pick door #2?' Is it to your advantage to switch your choice of doors?
This question is called the Monty Hall problem due to its resembling scenarios on the game show Let's Make a Deal; its answer existed before it was used in 'Ask Marilyn'. She said the selection should be switched to door #2 because it has a 2⁄3 chance of success, while door #1 has just 1⁄3. To summarize, 2⁄3 of the time the opened door #3 will indicate the location of the door with the car (the door you had not picked and the one not opened by the host). Only 1⁄3 of the time will the opened door #3 mislead you into changing from the winning door to a losing door. These probabilities assume you change your choice each time door #3 is opened, and that the host always opens a door with a goat. This response provoked letters from thousands of readers, nearly all arguing doors #1 and #2 each have an equal chance of success. A follow-up column reaffirming her position served only to intensify the debate and soon became a feature article on the front page of The New York Times. Parade received around 10,000 letters from readers who thought that her workings were incorrect.[18]
Under the 'standard' version of the problem, the host always opens a losing door and offers a switch. In the standard version, Savant's answer is correct. However, the statement of the problem as posed in her column is ambiguous.[19] The answer depends on what strategy the host is following. If the host operates under a strategy of only offering a switch if the initial guess is correct, it would clearly be disadvantageous to accept the offer. If the host merely selects a door at random, the question is likewise very different from the standard version. Savant addressed these issues by writing the following in Parade magazine, 'the original answer defines certain conditions, the most significant of which is that the host always opens a losing door on purpose. Anything else is a different question.'[20]
She expounded on her reasoning in a second follow-up and called on school teachers to show the problem to classes. In her final column on the problem, she gave the results of more than 1,000 school experiments. Most respondents now agree with her original solution, with half of the published letters declaring their authors had changed their minds.[21]
'Two boys' problem[edit]
Like the Monty Hall problem, the 'two boys' or 'second-sibling' problem predates Ask Marilyn, but generated controversy in the column,[22] first appearing there in 1991–1992 in the context of baby beagles:
A shopkeeper says she has two new baby beagles to show you, but she doesn't know whether they're male, female, or a pair. You tell her that you want only a male, and she telephones the fellow who's giving them a bath. 'Is at least one a male?' she asks him. 'Yes!' she informs you with a smile. What is the probability that the other one is a male?
When Savant replied 'one out of three', readers[23] wrote the odds were 50–50. In a follow-up, she defended her answer, saying that 'If we could shake a pair of puppies out of a cup the way we do dice, there are four ways they could land', in three of which at least one is male, but in only one of which none are male.
The confusion arises here because the bather is not asked if the puppy he is holding is a male, but rather if either is a male. If the puppies are labeled (A and B), each has a 50% chance of being male independently. This independence is restricted when at least A or B is male. Now, if A is not male, B must be male, and vice versa. This restriction is introduced by the way the question is structured and is easily overlooked – misleading people to the erroneous answer of 50%. See Boy or Girl paradox for solution details.
The problem re-emerged in 1996–97 with two cases juxtaposed:
Say that a woman and a man (who are unrelated) each have two children. We know that at least one of the woman's children is a boy and that the man's oldest child is a boy. Can you explain why the chances that the woman has two boys do not equal the chances that the man has two boys? My algebra teacher insists that the probability is greater that the man has two boys, but I think the chances may be the same. What do you think?
Savant agreed with the teacher, saying the chances were only 1 out of 3 that the woman had two boys, but 1 out of 2 the man had two boys. Readers argued for 1 out of 2 in both cases, prompting follow-ups. Finally she began a survey, asking female readers with exactly two children, at least one of them male, to give the sex of both children. Of the 17,946 women who responded, 35.9%, about 1 in 3, had two boys.[24]
Woman has | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
young boy, older girl | young girl, older boy | 2 boys | 2 girls | |
Probability: | 1/3 | 1/3 | 1/3 | 0 |
Man has | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
young boy, older girl | young girl, older boy | 2 boys | 2 girls | |
Probability: | 0 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 0 |
Errors in the column[edit]
On January 22, 2012, Savant admitted a mistake in her column. In the original column, published on December 25, 2011, a reader asked:
I manage a drug-testing program for an organization with 400 employees. Every three months, a random-number generator selects 100 names for testing. Afterward, these names go back into the selection pool. Obviously, the probability of an employee being chosen in one quarter is 25 percent. But what is the likelihood of being chosen over the course of a year?
Her response was:
The probability remains 25 percent, despite the repeated testing. One might think that as the number of tests grows, the likelihood of being chosen increases, but as long as the size of the pool remains the same, so does the probability. Goes against your intuition, doesn't it?
The correctness of the answer depends on how the question is asked. The probability of being chosen each time is 25% but probability of being chosen at least once across the 4 events is higher. In this case, the correct answer is around 68%, calculated as the complement of the probability of not being chosen in any of the four quarters: 1 – (0.754).[25]
On May 5, 2013, Savant made an error in a combinatorics problem. The question was how many different 4-digit briefcase combinations contain a particular digit (say 5, for example). She said the answer was 4000, yet people showed the correct answer—3439—using various strategies.[26] The incorrect answer of 4000 counted those combinations with more than one '5' multiple times (twice for '1535', three times for '1555', for instance). So, the correct answer is to take all possible combinations minus the combinations in which each digit is not a 5 to the nth power, or 10,000 - 94 = 3439.
On June 22, 2014, Savant made an error in a word problem. The question was: If two people could complete a project in six hours, how long would it take each of them to do identical projects on their own, given that one took four hours longer than the other? Her answer was 10 hours and 14 hours, reasoning that if together it took them 6 hours to complete a project, then the total effort was 12 'man hours'. If they then each do a separate full project, the total effort needed would be 24 hours, so the answer (10+14) needed to add up to 24 with a difference of 4.[27] However, this ignores the fact that the two people get different amounts of work done per hour: if they are working jointly on a project, they can maximize their combined productivity, but if they split the work in half, one person will finish sooner and can't fully contribute. This subtlety causes the problem to require solving a quadratic equation and thus to not have a rational solution. Instead, the answer is (approximately 10.32) and (approximately 14.32) hours. Savant later acknowledged the error.[28]
In her January 25, 2015, column Savant answered the question: 'Suppose you have a job offer with a choice of two annual salaries. One is $30,000 with a $1,000 raise every year. The other is $30,000 with a $300 raise every six months. Which option is best in the long run?' Savant claimed that the semi-annual $300 raises were better than the annual $1000 raise. Comments of a reader of her webpage pointed out that this was the same puzzle she presented many years ago, and that it was addressed by Cecil Adams' column 'The Straight Dope' in 1992.[29] At that time Adams wrote, 'Her response is 100 percent correct. It's just not necessarily the answer to the question she was asked.'[30]
Fermat's Last Theorem[edit]
A few months after Andrew Wiles said he had proved Fermat's Last Theorem, Savant published The World's Most Famous Math Problem (October 1993),[31] which surveys the history of Fermat's last theorem as well as other mathematical problems. Controversy came from its criticism of Wiles' proof; critics questioned whether it was based on a correct understanding of mathematical induction, proof by contradiction, and imaginary numbers.[32]
Especially contested was Savants' statement that Wiles' proof should be rejected for its use of non-Euclidean geometry. Savant stated that because 'the chain of proof is based in hyperbolic (Lobachevskian) geometry', and because squaring the circle is seen as a 'famous impossibility' despite being possible in hyperbolic geometry, then 'if we reject a hyperbolic method of squaring the circle, we should also reject a hyperbolic proof of Fermat's last theorem.'
Specialists flagged discrepancies between the two cases, distinguishing the use of hyperbolic geometry as a 'tool' for proving Fermat's last theorem and from its use as a 'setting' for squaring the circle: squaring the circle in hyperbolic geometry is a different problem from that of squaring it in Euclidean geometry. Savant was criticized for rejecting hyperbolic geometry as a satisfactory basis for Wiles' proof, with critics pointing out that axiomatic set theory (rather than Euclidean geometry) is now the accepted foundation of mathematical proofs and that set theory is sufficiently robust to encompass both Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry as well as geometry and adding numbers.
Savant retracted the argument in a July 1995 addendum, saying she saw the theorem as 'an intellectual challenge – 'to find another proof using only tools available to Fermat in the 17th century.''
The book came with a glowing introduction by Martin Gardner whose reputation as a mathematics populariser may have boosted the book's notoriety.
Publications[edit]
- 1985 – Omni I.Q. Quiz Contest
- 1990 – Brain Building: Exercising Yourself Smarter (co-written with Leonore Fleischer)
- 1992 – Ask Marilyn: Answers to America's Most Frequently Asked Questions
- 1993 – The World's Most Famous Math Problem: The Proof of Fermat's Last Theorem and Other Mathematical Mysteries
- 1994 – More Marilyn: Some Like It Bright!
- 1994 – 'I've Forgotten Everything I Learned in School!': A Refresher Course to Help You Reclaim Your Education
- 1996 – Of Course I'm for Monogamy: I'm Also for Everlasting Peace and an End to Taxes
- 1996 – The Power of Logical Thinking: Easy Lessons in the Art of Reasoning…and Hard Facts about Its Absence in Our Lives
- 2000 – The Art of Spelling: The Madness and the Method
- 2002 – Growing Up: A Classic American Childhood
References[edit]
- ^The Time Everyone 'Corrected' the World's Smartest Woman'. Priceonomics, February 19, 2015
- ^vos Savant, Marilyn (25 November 2007). 'Ask Marilyn'. Parade. Archived from the original on 23 April 2008.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- ^vos Savant, Marilyn (23 January 2008). 'Keeping It in the Family'. Parade.
- ^vos Savant, Marilyn (4 May 2013). 'Ask Marilyn: The 'First Sandwich Generation': True Trend or Marketing Invention?'. Parade. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
- ^ abcBaumgold, Julie (6 February 1989). 'In the Kingdom of the Brain'. New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC.
- ^Vitez, Michael (12 October 1988). 'Two of a Kind'. The Chicago Tribune.
- ^'About – National Women's History Museum – NWHM'. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
- ^'CSI Fellows and Staff'. Center for Inquiry. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
- ^ abcKnight, Sam (10 April 2009). 'Is a high IQ a burden as much as a blessing?'. Financial Times. Financial Times Ltd. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
- ^http://www.parade.com/askmarilyn
- ^Knight, Sam (10 April 2009). 'Is a high IQ a burden as much as a blessing?'. Financial Times. Financial Times Ltd.Castles, Elaine E. (6 June 2012). Inventing Intelligence. ABC-CLIO. p. 3. ISBN978-1-4408-0338-3. Retrieved 31 August 2013. Lay summary (31 August 2013).
And what is that makes Marilyn vos Savant so uniquely qualified to answer such questions? There is only one reason: she is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the highest IQ ever recorded. Never mind that this record is based on a non-standardized test put out by an obscure group known as Mega, supposedly the world's most selective organization of geniuses. Ignore the fact that test scores at the extreme ends of any distribution are notoriously unreliable. . . . None of this is meant to downplay her very real accomplishments; by all accounts, vos Savant is a sensible and grounded woman, and she has won several awards for her work in the fields of education and communications. But her fame came, in the words of journalist Julie Baumgold, 'only because of the glory of that number.' (citing New York magazine 22 (1989):36–42)
- ^Kaufman, Alan S. (2009). IQ Testing 101. New York: Springer Publishing. p. 104. ISBN978-0-8261-0629-2.
- ^vos Savant, Marilyn (12 June 2001). 'Ask Marilyn: Are adult IQ tests more accurate than child IQ tests?'. Parade. Archived from the original on October 24, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
- ^Carlson, Roger D. (1991). Keyser, Daniel J.; Sweetland, Richard C. (eds.). Test Critiques. Test Critique: The Mega Test (Volume VIII ed.). PRO-ED. pp. 431–435. ISBN0-89079-254-2.
Although the approach that Hoeflin takes is interesting, it violates good psychometric principles by overinterpreting the weak data of a self-selected sample.
- ^vos Savant, Marilyn (17 July 2005). 'Ask Marilyn: Are Men Smarter Than Women?'. Parade. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
- ^Thompson, D. (5 July 1986). 'Marilyn's Most Vital Statistic'. The Courier-Mail.
- ^vos Savant, Marilyn. 'Game Show Problem'. marilynvossavant.com. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
- ^Tierney, John (21 July 1991). 'Behind Monty Hall's Doors: Puzzle, Debate and Answer?'. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
- ^Krauss, Stefan and Wang, X. T. (2003). 'The Psychology of the Monty Hall Problem: Discovering Psychological Mechanisms for Solving a Tenacious Brain Teaser', Journal of Experimental Psychology: General132(1). Retrieved from 'Archived copy'(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 2009-05-30. Retrieved 2009-05-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^'Game Show Problem'. marilynvossavant.com. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
- ^vos Savant, Marilyn (1992). 'Ask Marilyn'. Parade.
- ^The problem appeared in Ask Marilyn on October 13, 1991 with a follow-up on January 5, 1992 (initially involving two baby beagles instead of two children), and then on May 26, 1996, with follow-ups on December 1, 1996, March 30, 1997, July 20, 1997, and October 19, 1997.
- ^vos Savant, Marilyn (1996). The Power of Logical Thinking. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 19–21. ISBN9780312156275. OCLC255578248. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
- ^Stansfield, William D.; Carlton, Matthew A. (February 2009). 'The Most Widely Publicized Gender Problem in Human Genetics'. Human Biology. 81 (1). Retrieved 2013-04-07.
Some readers doubted her 1/3 solution, so she asked for data from her women readers 'with two children (no more), at least one of which is a boy (either child or both of them).' She got 17,946 responses by letters and e-mails. Without reporting the sex ratio in the sample, she says about 35.9% of respondents ('about 1 in 3') said they have two boys.
- ^Ask Marilyn: Did Marilyn Make a Mistake on Drug Testing?. Parade, 22 January 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
- ^Comments. Parade, May 5, 2013.
- ^'Marilyn vos Savant • View topic – Unequal Work'. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
- ^Marilyn vos Savant. 'The Correct Solution to the Brad-and-Angelina Math Problem'. Parade. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
- ^'Marilyn vos Savant • View topic – $1000 raise each year vs. $300 raise every 6 months'. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
- ^'The Straight Dope: What's better, a $1,000 raise each year, or a $300 raise every six months?'. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
- ^Fermat's Last Theorem and Wiles' proof were discussed in her Parade column of November 21, 1993, which introduced the book.
- ^Boston, Nigel; Granville, Andrew (May 1995). 'Review of The World's Most Famous Math Problem'(.PDF). American Mathematical Monthly. The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 102, No. 5. 102 (5): 470–473. doi:10.2307/2975048. JSTOR2975048. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Marilyn vos Savant |
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marilyn_vos_Savant&oldid=917588584'
Donald Trump definitely thinks he’s one of the smartest people to ever sit in the Oval Office.
He’s also obsessed with the idea of IQ scores. (He even refers to them in his insults!) Researchers measure a person’s IQ, short for intelligence quotient, with standardized tests. Those tests yield a score that supposedly reflects the person’s intelligence. So plenty of people wonder which presidents have had the highest and lowest IQ scores.
In a study, University of California psychologist Dean Keith Simonton attempted to estimate an IQ for every president. Simonton used variables that correlate with IQ. This historiometric approach looked at factors including each president’s academic performance, writings, and other evidence. U.S. News averaged the four estimated IQ scores shared in the research.
Let’s take a quick look at which presidents Simonton labeled as the smartest and the dumbest, and how well Trump compares.
The smartest presidents
9. James Garfield
- 20th president of the United States
- Party: Republican
- Estimated IQ: 141.5
James Garfield numbers among the smartest presidents. But he doesn’t make the list of the best presidents. As History reports, Garfield swore the oath of office in March 1881. Then, he died in September 1881 from an assassin’s bullet. He served too briefly to make much of an impact. But by contrast, he suffered a long and drawn-out death.
He lay in the White House, near death, for almost three months as doctors failed to locate the bullet in his back. Even inventor Alexander Graham-Bell tried unsuccessfully to find it with a metal detector. So Garfield died politically untested, without having done much governing from the White House.
Interesting fact: Garfield joined the Union army during the Civil War. He represented his home state of Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives only after Abraham Lincoln convinced him to leave the military.
Next: This president introduced charisma as a desirable trait in the Oval Office.
8. Theodore Roosevelt
He’s known as the first modern president. | Hulton Archive/Getty Images
- 26th president of the United States
- Party: Republican
- Estimated IQ: 142.275
Theodore Roosevelt entered the White House as William McKinley’s vice president. Then, he became the 26th president after McKinley’s assassination. Want some proof of his intelligence? As president, Roosevelt promoted the novel idea that the government should mediate between conflicting forces: capital and labor, isolationism and expansionism, conservation and development.
The Miller Center characterizes Roosevelt as the first modern president. He made the presidency the center of American politics with his bold personality and his aggressive use of executive action. Roosevelt wanted to make society more fair and equitable. Additionally, he “believed that the government had the right and the responsibility to regulate big business so that its actions did not negatively affect the general public.”
Interesting fact: One of the smartest presidents, Roosevelt introduced charisma into the political equation. By winning a second term, he became the first president elected more on his character than his party affiliation.
Next: This president helped end the Revolutionary War.
7. John Adams
The second president was politically isolated. | Wikimedia Commons
- 2nd president of the United States
- Party: Federalist
- Estimated IQ: 142.5
A Harvard-educated lawyer, John Adams became a vocal critic of Great Britain’s power in colonial America. During the Revolutionary War, he traveled to Paris to secure aid for the colonists’ cause. Later, he helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris. (That treaty ended hostilities between America and Britain.) Adams then became the first vice president of the United States. And later, he assumed office as the nation’s second president.
Though he ranks among the smartest presidents, scholars report that Adams’ independence left him politically isolated. (Even his own cabinet opposed many of his policies.) But according to the Miller Center, that’s at least partly because Adams believed the executive branch of the government should stand above politics. He refused to enter into political conflict. In fact, he characterized conflict and anarchy as the biggest dangers to American society.
Interesting fact: As a delegate in the Continental Congress, Adams nominated George Washington to serve as commander of the colonial forces in the American Revolutionary War. And he later nominated Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence.
Next: Scholars say this politician remained too independent to succeed as president.
6. Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter promised honesty and transparency in government. | Hulton Archive/Getty Images
- 39th president of the United States
- Party: Democrat
- Estimated IQ: 145.1
Jimmy Carter campaigned for the presidency by promising a return to honesty and the elimination of secrecy in the American government. As History reports, Carter built a constituency — at a time when Americans felt disillusioned with the executive branch of the government after Watergate — by marketing himself as an outsider to D.C. politics.
As president, he tried to portray himself as a man of the people. He also represented himself as a new type of Democrat. But the Miller Center reports that Carter’s stubborn independence, which helped him on his path to the White House, became his downfall once he attained office. He refused to engage in give-and-take with Congress. And he didn’t respond flexibly in dealings with either friends or foes, which curtailed his effectiveness.
Interesting fact: Carter, though one of the smartest presidents, enjoys much higher regard today than when he lost his bid for re-election. He has an active and “exemplary” post-presidency to thank for that.
Next: This is the only president to have earned a doctorate degree.
5. Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson is the only president with a doctorate. | Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
- 28th president of the United States
- Party: Democratic
- Estimated IQ: 145.1
Woodrow Wilson consistently ranks as one of the nation’s greatest presidents. He numbers among the smartest presidents, too. History reports that Wilson advocated for democracy and world peace. As president, he tried to keep the U.S. neutral during World War I. But he eventually called on Congress to declare war on Germany in 1917. After the war, he helped negotiate a peace treaty that included a plan for the League of Nations.
Wilson himself didn’t see his vision realized. But the Miller Center reports that “there can be no doubt that his ideal inspired many Americans and that it shaped much of American foreign policy for the remainder of the twentieth century.” At home, he enacted banking reform, tariff reduction, and federal regulation of business. He also established support for labor and collective bargaining, and federal aid for education and agriculture.
Interesting fact: Wilson remains the only U.S. president to have a doctorate degree. He studied at Princeton University as an undergraduate and at the University of Virginia as a law student. Then, he earned a Ph.D. in political science at Johns Hopkins University.
Next: This president balanced the federal budget.
4. Bill Clinton
Clinton managed some impressive achievements despite his private actions overshadowing his presidency. | Wikimedia Commons
- 42nd president of the United States
- Party: Democratic
- Estimated IQ: 148.8
Some people would feel surprised to see a president who was impeached on the list of the most intelligent commanders-in-chief. But Simonton reports that Bill Clinton numbers among the smartest presidents in U.S. history. Upon his inauguration in 1993 at age 46, he became the third-youngest U.S. president in history up to that time.
Scholars are just beginning to identify the parts of Clinton’s administration that will likely be historically significant. For instance, he overhauled the operations of the Democratic Party while retaining its traditional commitments to providing for the disadvantaged, regulating the excesses of the private marketplace, supporting minorities and women, and stimulating economic growth. Clinton also eliminated the federal deficit. And he oversaw the strongest economy in recent memory.
Interesting fact: As a high school student, Clinton shook hands with President John Kennedy at the White House. He later said that event inspired him to pursue a career in public service.
Next: This president was born into one of America’s wealthiest families.
3. John F. Kennedy
He is one of the most beloved presidents in history. | National Archive/Newsmakers
- 35th president of the United States
- Party: Democratic
- Estimated IQ: 150.65
John F. Kennedy numbers among the most beloved and smartest presidents in American history. He served in the Navy. After his older brother was killed on a secret mission, Kennedy decided to fulfill the destiny his father once intended for Joe Jr. He aspired to become the first Catholic president of the United States. He successfully ran for Congress in 1946 and for the Senate in 1952.
The Miller Center reports that as president, Kennedy never had the chance to follow through on his many promises. Assessments of his presidency have varied widely. But according to the Miller Center, “Kennedy still commands fascination as a compelling, charismatic leader during a period of immense challenge to the American body politic.”
Interesting fact: As a student at Harvard University, Kennedy wrote a senior thesis — about the British government’s unpreparedness for World War II — that was later published as an acclaimed book, Why England Slept.
Lightroom 8.1. Next: This president articulated principles such as “all men are created equal.”
2. Thomas Jefferson
The founding father had a very high IQ. | Wikimedia Commons
- 3rd president of the United States
- Party: Democratic-Republican
- Estimated IQ: 153.75
It should surprise few people that Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, numbers among the smartest presidents. History reports that Jefferson thought that the government should play a limited role in citizens’ lives. Yet even though Jefferson promoted individual liberty, he owned slaves.
The Miller Center predicts that Jefferson will always be celebrated for articulating America’s “fundamental and universal principles of self-government.” But some of those principles, such as “all men are created equal,” have been turned against him. He, just like many of his contemporaries, struggled to reconcile conflicting claims such as nation-building and natural rights, power and liberty, or slavery and freedom.
Interesting fact: The purchase of the Louisiana territory goes down as one of the biggest achievements of Jefferson’s administration. Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the territory and the area beyond, all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Next: This president, though incredibly intelligent, failed because he hated politics.
1. John Quincy Adams
Despite his intelligence, he didn’t make a great president. | Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
- 6th president of the United States
- Party: Democratic-Republican
- Estimated IQ: 168.75
The most intelligent president of all? John Quincy Adams. Download drama great teacher onizuka. Adams lands at the top of the ranks of the smartest presidents. But he doesn’t number among the most effective. History characterizes Adams as an outspoken critic of slavery and supporter of free speech. He became James Monroe’s secretary of state and served as the chief architect of the Monroe Doctrine to prevent European colonization in Latin America. Then, he won a contentious presidential race.
As a study by Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight concluded, an obvious correlation exists between estimated presidential IQ and success as president. In general, smarter presidents perform better. But Adams proves the exception. The Miller Center reports that Adams failed as a president because he abhorred party politics. He was a poor politician just as politics began to matter more.
Interesting fact: Adams studied at European universities and became fluent in seven languages. You don’t see that skill in the Oval Office anymore!
Next: This man was one of the dumbest presidents — and one of the most indecisive — in American history.
Dumbest presidents
Not every president could land at the top of the chart. But not all was lost for the presidents with lower intelligence. In fact, not everybody believes that a higher IQ means a better president. As Scientific American reports, “There are three basic views on the relationship between IQ and success in the Oval Office.” The first view holds that the smarter the president, the better. The second view argues that you only have to be smart enough to succeed as president. And the third view contends that someone can actually be too smart for the presidency.
9. William Howard Taft
He didn’t have much talent for leadership. | Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
- 27th president of the United States
- Party: Republican
- Estimated IQ: 126.9
William Howard Taft starts our list of the dumbest presidents. History reports that Taft proved more successful as an administrator than as a politician. According to the Miller Center, “Taft had a challenging task as President: living up to the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt.” Taft had limited political experience and skills. And he felt naturally critical of his own abilities, which only hindered him further.
Historians agree that Taft’s kind and judicial temperament undermined his success as a president. He had little talent for leadership. Plus, he often failed to take initiative. He responded indecisively, and thus produced few accomplishments during his term as president.
Interesting fact: As president, Taft typically ate a dozen eggs, a pound of bacon, and mounds of pancakes for breakfast. Such an unhealthily large breakfast reportedly left him sluggish for most of the morning.
Next: This president was the father of the Democratic party.
8. Andrew Jackson
Jackson is a favorite of President Trump. | Wikimedia Commons
- 7th president of the United States
- Party: Democratic
- Estimated IQ: 126.25
History reports that Andrew Jackson’s leadership in the American Revolutionary War made him “America’s most influential — and polarizing — political figure during the 1820s and 1830s.” As America’s new political party system developed, Jackson shaped the Democratic party. He supported states’ rights and the extension of slavery into the new western territories.
Jackson received little formal schooling. (That probably explains his place among America’s dumbest presidents.) But he still made an impact. As the Miller Center puts it, “The Democratic party was Jackson’s child; the national two-party system was his legacy.” He defined himself not by enacting a legislative agenda, but by thwarting one. During his two terms, Congress passed only one major law at his behest. He also vetoed 12 bills, more than his six predecessors combined.
Interesting fact: Jackson played a role in forcing the relocation of Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi, a major source of modern criticism.
Next: This man remains the only U.S. president who never married.
7. James Buchanan
He failed to take a stand on slavery. | Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
- 15th president of the United States
- Party: Democratic
- Estimated IQ: 125.925
James Buchanan numbers among the dumbest presidents. He proved no match for a nation on the brink of civil war. History reports that during Buchanan’s tenure as president, seven southern states seceded from the Union. Buchanan felt morally opposed to slavery. But he also believed the U.S. Constitution protected it. As president, he tried to maintain peace between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions.
However, Buchanan has become notorious for failing to take a stand on either side of the issue of slavery. Strong presidential leadership might have prevented civil war. Yet Buchanan remained passive. In fact, historians cite his passivity as a major contributing factor to the advent of the Civil War.
Interesting fact: Buchanan remains the only U.S. president who never married. His niece, Harriet Lane, assumed the social duties of First Lady while he held office.
Next: If he’d lived longer, this president might have been able to prevent the Civil War.
6. Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor did his best to hold the nation together. | National Archive/Getty Images
- 12th president of the United States
- Party: Whig
- Estimated IQ: 125.65
Zachary Taylor, who preceded Buchanan, also tried to hold the nation together despite the major rift between the north and the south. Nonetheless, the Miller Center posits that had Taylor lived to run for a second term, we might not have had a Compromise of 1850 or even a Civil War. “The question remains: If Taylor had survived, would he have been able to stamp out the most burning issue that faced the nation in 1850 — the expansion of slavery westward?”
The Miller Center characterizes Taylor’s presidency as “too short-lived to have substantially impacted the office or the nation.” He assumed office in 1848 and died suddenly in 1850. Nobody remembers Taylor as a great president. And most historians think he was too non-political to enact much change.
Interesting fact: Taylor received only a rudimentary education as a child, likely the reason he numbers among the nation’s dumbest presidents.
Next: This president never attended school as a child, and later learned math from his wife.
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5. Andrew Johnson
He believed it was a guaranteed right to own slaves. | Library of Congress/Handout/Getty Images
- 17th president of the United States
- Party: Democratic
- Estimated IQ: 125.65
Andrew Johnson, whom Simonton ranks as one of the dumbest presidents, believed strongly in the Constitution and thought that it guaranteed the right to own slaves. He continued to believe in the right to slave ownership. But he advocated for the preservation of the Union as southern leaders began to call for secession. However, Johnson proved unable to compromise and incapable of dealing with congressional challenges.
Johnson assumed office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The Miller Center reports that “historians view Andrew Johnson as the worst possible person to have served as President at the end of the American Civil War.” He committed to obstructing political and civil rights for black Americans. So historians characterize him as “principally responsible for the failure of Reconstruction to solve the race problem in the South and perhaps in America as well.”
Interesting fact: Johnson never attended school. He was apprenticed to a tailor by his early teens. So his wife helped him improve his reading and writing skills, and she tutored him in math.
Next: This president became the most popular in the history of modern polling.
4. George W. Bush
George W. Bush was mocked for his intelligence throughout his presidency. | TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images
- 43rd president of the United States
- Party: Republican
- Estimated IQ: 124.875
George W. Bush served from 2001 to 2009. So your reaction to seeing him on the list of the dumbest presidents probably depends on your politics. History reports that Bush’s time in office was shaped by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In response to those attacks, Bush declared a global war on terrorism. He also established the Department of Homeland Security and authorized wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Miller Center reports that Bush’s legacy remains a source of controversy. An objective evaluation likely won’t happen for years. Bush entered office as one of only a few presidents to lose the popular vote. Nonetheless, he became the most popular president in the history of polling, reaching a 90% approval rating, after September 11.
Interesting fact: Many historians think Bush’s initial response to 9/11 will go down in history as his greatest moment as president.
Next: This president avoided taking a stand.
3. Warren G. Harding
He was one of the worst presidents in history. | Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
- 29th president of the United States
- Party: Republican
- Estimated IQ: 124.3
Warren G. Harding makes the top three dumbest presidents in U.S. history. So we can’t say we feel surprised to learn that most historians rank him as the worst president of all. History reports that Harding served just two years (from 1921 to 1923) before dying of an apparent heart attack. His cabinet members and other government officials became involved in criminal activities that overshadowed his short-lived presidency.
The Miller Center notes that historians do give Harding some credit for bridging the gap “between Wilsonian idealism and the business prosperity of the Coolidge and Hoover years.” But Harding failed to make a big impact because he viewed the office of the president as largely ceremonial. He avoided issues as much as possible. And he had no message to communicate to Congress or to the American people.
Interesting fact: Though he opposed Woodrow Wilson’s plan for the League of Nations, Harding took few strong stands on political issues.
Next: This man, though technically one of the dumbest presidents, studied law under Thomas Jefferson.
2. James Monroe
His IQ may have been relatively low, but he was highly qualified. | Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
- 5th president of the United States
- Party: Democratic-Republican
- Estimated IQ: 124.125
James Monroe, though one of the dumbest presidents according to Simonton’s research, entered office as one of the most qualified men to ever assume the presidency. As the Miller Center explains, “His success as a politician was the result of hard work and a steady and thoughtful manner. He was noted for his integrity, frankness, and affable personality, and he impressed those whom he met with his lack of pretension.”
History reports that as president, Monroe acquired Florida. He also dealt with the issue of slavery in new states that joined the Union through the 1820 Missouri Compromise.
Interesting fact: During the American Revolutionary War, Monroe was with George Washington and his troops at Valley Forge. In his time with the army, Monroe also became acquainted with Thomas Jefferson, then governor of Virginia.
Next: This president signed legislation establishing America’s first national park.
1. Ulysses S. Grant
He weakened the American presidency. | Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
- 18th president of the United States
- Party: Republican
- Estimated IQ: 120
Though he ranks as the dumbest president in American history (at least so far), Ulysses S. Grant enjoys at least a little bit of fame as the victorious commanding general of the Union Army during the Civil War. History characterizes Grant as an aggressive and determined leader who became a national hero after the war.
However, the Miller Center notes that Grant hasn’t gone down in history as a great president. “He came into office wanting to serve all the American people and was determined to avoid party politics. At the same time, he did not really understand politics, which hindered his effectiveness as President.” He weakened the American presidency. But he did fight to protect the rights of African-Americans more than any other 19th-century President.
Interesting fact: Grant supported pardons for former Confederate leaders, but also worked to protect the civil rights of freed slaves.
Next: Here’s what we know about how Donald Trump compares to the dumbest and smartest presidents.
What we don’t know about Donald Trump’s IQ
We don’t know that much frankly. | Tom Pennington/Getty Images
How about Donald Trump? We don’t have an actual IQ score. But let’s start with what we know. As The Washington Post explains, Donald Trump attended Fordham University before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied economics for two years. He took undergraduate classes at the university’s famed Wharton School of Business, a school known for its graduate program. And he graduated in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in economics.
As for what we don’t know? Newsweek reports that despite the long and storied history of Donald Trump’s “weird obsession with IQ,” we don’t have any evidence that Trump has taken any of the standardized tests that measure IQ. (The BBC notes that there is no single “IQ test.” In fact, Mensa accepts results from more than 200 tests.) According to Newsweek, “Trump’s IQ score, then, is a mystery, and it could be that he’s never actually had it calculated.”
Snopes recently debunked a chart purportedly showing Donald Trump’s IQ. The chart itself was based on Simonton’s research. But its claims about Donald Trump’s IQ score did not come from a real study. Rumors that Donald Trump has an IQ score of 156 have circulated since at least August 2015. They apparently stem from an article that Snopes characterizes as “full of logical missteps and factual inaccuracies.”
Next: There are a few things we do know about Donald Trump’s intelligence.
What we do know about Donald Trump’s IQ
He has the vocabulary of a 10-year-old. | Win McNamee/Getty Images
We don’t know Trump’s IQ since Simonton’s study took place before Trump took office, but we can tell how he thinks about intelligence. Trump’s continuous references to IQ scores and his narrow view of intelligence have been widely criticized, perhaps most notably by Howard Gardner, the Harvard University psychologist who put forth the theory of multiple intelligences.
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Ironically, however, Politico notes that “Trump’s professional history indicates a skill at dealing and deceiving, inspiring and selling, and such attributes would likely qualify as a type of intelligence in Howard Gardner’s book.”
Even though we can’t quantitatively analyze Trump’s intelligence, we can quantitatively analyze his vocabulary. Politico notes that Donald Trump speaks like a third-grader. He uses a limited vocabulary that, to the chagrin of much of the educated class, inspires trust in many voters.
But it’s not just Trump who speaks with a limited vocabulary. As illustrated by a study by The Guardian, George Washington and fellow Founding Fathers had a vocabulary that reflected 20 years or more of education. Modern presidents don’t register much more than a 10. So your estimation of whether Trump numbers among the smartest presidents or dumbest presidents likely depends on your interpretation of what he says — and what you think his presidency means for the country.
Additional research from Dean Keith Simonton and U.S. News.
Read more: This Is the Most Loved U.S. President of All Time
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