Who is the smartest man ever lived on Earth?
Is it Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton? Maybe Steve Jobs? Well, they were all brilliant men, but there was one person whose genius was even more extraordinary.
This man’s estimated IQ was said to be between 250 and 300! To compare, Einstein’s IQ was 160. How phenomenal is that?!
William James Sidis, the most intelligent man in the world, was a remarkable mathematician and a child prodigy. At the young age of 8, William could speak 8 languages. What’s more, he was a master at multiple dialects. He was also an incredibly talented author.
So, why is that not many people have heard of William Sidis?
William James Sidis was born in 1898 in New York City, in the family of gifted scientists. His father, Boris, has earned four Harvard degrees and was an exemplary psychologist. His mother was an MD. As they were both geniuses, their child had to be extremely smart as well but William surpassed everyone’s expectations.
Believe it or not, at the unthinkable age of just 18 months, Sidis was able to read The New York Times. When he was only 8-years-old, he spoke 8 languages, including Latin, Greek, French, Russian, German, Hebrew, Turkish, and Armenian. He even invented his own language and named it ‘Vendergood’, Bright Side reveals.
Amazingly, Sidis became the youngest person to enroll in Harvard. Interestingly, since his father was well-aware of William’s brilliance, he tried to enroll him at Harvard at the age of 9, but they didn’t accept him then. It was two years later when the institute accepted him.
In 1909, William became the youngest person to be ever admitted to Harvard.
The following year, the youngster’s knowledge of mathematics grew so incredibly rapid, that he started teaching his professors instead. He became a real child prodigy. At the age of 16, he already had a bachelor of arts degree.
His extraordinary life couldn’t go past the spotlights. Unfortunately, he was too young for the massive scale of fame he got.
Not long after William graduated, he shared with journalists he wished to live a ‘perfect’ life. But what he meant by ‘perfect’ was full isolation. Even more strangely, he said he intended to never get married since he wasn’t attracted to women. He wished to avoid as much human contact as possible.
Sadly, ever since he was born, William was cursed with undesired fame.
At the time, America was turning any child showing potential into a prodigy. Boris, William’s father, wanted the same for his marvelous son. So, while raising his child, Boris applied his own psychological approaches.
Unfortunately, William and his father grew apart in the process. Although Sidis enjoyed learning as a young child, he wasn’t feeling the same excitement as an adult. He blamed his father for forcing him into an unasked life. Moreover, he was so angry at his father, that when he passed away in 1923, William refused to attend his funeral.
Later on, like many geniuses usually do, William tried to maintain a low profile. He worked low-income jobs to hide from the spotlights. However, people still recognized his extraordinary mind.
In 1924, reporters discovered Sidis was working a $23-a-week job.
This made headlines once again, but this time it was nearly cruel. They were making fun of his intelligence while saying he was no longer the talented child prodigy he was before. But even though journalists were claiming he wasn’t a genius anymore, William wrote multiple valuable books using different pseudonyms throughout his life. He was just keeping a low profile.
William James Sidis was also a socialist and an activist for the World Was I. In 1919, he was arrested for a demonstration in Boston which turned violent. Even though William was sentenced for 18 months, his family found a way to keep him out of jail. They decided to lock him up in their sanatorium for 2 years instead.
Sadly, a genius like William Sidis spent his life feeling completely miserable. He was working petty jobs to make ends meet, while he could become the person to change the entire world. In 1944, Sidis died at the age of only 46, suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage, the very same condition his father died of.
Could a brilliant man like William Sidis with an IQ of 250-300 lead a better life?
