According to science, who is the most intelligent person in the world?

Who is the most intelligent person in the world? When we ask ourselves this question, various historical figures come to mind almost instantly. It is inevitable not to think, for example, of Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Stephen Hawking, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, or even Marilyn vos Savant, the woman who entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1985, for reaching an IQ of 228. points. Amazing, no doubt.

Now, if there is something that we all know, it is that our world has never lacked geniuses. They are people who have stood out exceptionally in a specific field of art or science. There we have Mozart, Frida Kahlo or William Shakespeare. Thus, Before revealing who, according to science, is the most exceptional person, it is important to define what intelligence is.

Robert J. Stenberg made it clear in a 1997 study. Intelligent is someone who has mental abilities to adapt, select and configure any environmental context. Even more, It is especially so who demonstrates the ability to grasp truths, relationships, facts, meanings.etc.

In essence, the truly prodigious person goes beyond genius in a specific area of ​​knowledge; He masters countless disciplines. An iconic example of this was undoubtedly Sir Isaac Newton.

Intelligence is not only related to mastering multiple knowledge, it is expressed above all through creativity and the capacity for innovation. Something that Isaac Newton owned.

The smartest person in the world: Isaac Newton

In 2015, space RealClear Science published an article in which he specified why we can consider Isaac Newton the most intelligent person in the world. Likewise, figures such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, the well-known scientific popularizer, defend this preference among all the geniuses who have been part of our history.

Thus, and although it is true that we do not have any data regarding the intellectual quotient of the famous author of works such as Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica, the fact is that we don’t need it. Isaac Newton’s vast and varied works speak for themselves. His mind went beyond genius: he was a highly creative scholar.

Malcolm Gladwell, journalist and renowned popularizer on creativity and intelligence, explained something interesting in Off the charts: Why some people are successful and others are not. The intelligent person is not only the one who accumulates a lot of knowledge. He is the one who, in addition to harboring a lot of knowledge, uses it creatively to contribute great advances. And Newton was a scholar with great power of innovation.

A prodigious mind that dominated countless areas of knowledge

The most intelligent person in the world contributed notable advances in several areas of knowledge. That is to say, he was not limited to being someone merely brilliant whose entelechies did not materialize into anything. Isaac Newton stood out for the following:

In 1687, He stated his theory of the law of universal gravitation. He invented the orbital cannon in an experiment with which to demonstrate that one object orbits another. He stated the 3 laws of motion (inertia, force, attraction-reaction).He was a notable figure in alchemy.. He wrote the chemical recipe for the philosopher’s stone. Let us think that this discipline was the precursor of chemistry, and that thanks to it elements such as phosphorus were discovered. In 1704, he published his work Optics, in which he reformulated everything that was known until then about light.He invented a theory about the cooling state, key to the development of our refrigerators. He invented coins that were impossible to counterfeit. He also established calculus, since algebra and geometry could not explain everything.He designed powerful telescopes.He was a great theologian, publishing striking theories about the apocalypse. He invented new items for pets.

What do these advances reveal about the most intelligent person in the world?

If we consider Isaac Newton the most intelligent person in the world, it is due to various factors.. We only have to analyze his discoveries, his inventions and his intellectual concerns.

Isaac Newton was a multipotential person: He was interested in various areas of knowledge and in all of them he contributed and established valuable advances.Not only did he accumulate great knowledge, but he innovated with it. He had a highly creative mind. He was a curious, persistent and sagacious figure. He did not give up easily when he wanted to achieve or investigate something. We know that he ventured into the world of economics and that he investigated blackmailers and counterfeiters. Tenacity is a trait of high intelligence.

It is often explained that Isaac Newton’s lofty genius came at a cost. It is suspected that he suffered from bipolar disorder, combined with psychotic tendencies. In addition, it is assessed whether he was on the autism spectrum.

The curious “curse” of highly intelligent people

Newton’s biographers tell an amazing story. When he sought to study the way light hit the eye and how it captured visual information in an inverted manner, A small blunt needle was stuck between the eye and the orbital bone. He experimented with himself.

Many medical historians, analyzing his writings and documents, They suspect that the great genius suffered from numerous mental health problems. There is talk of bipolar disorder, psychotic episodes and even schizophrenia. He was a tormented man who never felt integrated into society. During the last years of his life, he conceived of himself as sent from God.

He became obsessed with the occult and the study of Bible. He even predicted that the end of the world would happen in the year 2060. His genius ended up dancing with madness, letting his effervescent mind drag him into isolation and loneliness. Once again, that old myth that the most intelligent people are not always happy seems to be confirmed…

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