<p>I recently had the chance to visit MIT, and was astounded by the ultra-intelligence of the populations that seemed to dominate every field. This is one of those entertaining questions, but who, from the people you met in college, has the highest IQ? (Please name some of his or her accomplishments). For example, I know someone who attends MIT, placed top 20 in Putnam, and programs neural network for fun. College is an interesting place for observation, as there are people even smarter than the example that I mentioned-Reid Barton!- Crazy IQ probably.</p>
<p>I disagree with this question, sort of. I think that the term intelligence seems to be a bit oversimplified, philosophically as well as scientifically. While IQ is determined from a test that has a .9 correlation with working memory (which studies show has proven to be the X-Factor for prodigies,) spatial navigation and logical reasoning can be studied. In addition, the vocabulary portion on IQ tests is asinine; supposedly, people who study the dictionary have a higher aptitude than that of people who don’t. I don’t want to sound like a neo-Howard Gardner optimist or anything, but intelligence manifests itself in many ways. I know someone with an IQ of 164, and he’s an idiot.</p>
<p>I spent the 10 minutes typing a much longer post, but the wi-fi on this Amtrak malfunctioned and I lost it. So, there’s a mediocre synopsis above.</p>
<p>Trust me, there are loads of idiots at MIT. I’m first among them :D</p>
<p>i befriended the YOUNGER BROTHER of a PHD student (in math, studying symplectic geometry) at MIT who scored IN THE TOP 500 of the putnam competition and who was also an acquaintance of IK. DOES THAT COUNT? he’s not much like his brother and just recently graduated high school - at the age of 20 (!) whereas his brother went to university at 14 (!) - but i don’t doubt their biological relation, he IS smart.</p>
<p>I’m in high school, and even though I’ve taken few honors classes, I’ve had the ability to intermingle with a few ridiculously intelligent folks. Most score highly on the PSAT, AP tests, and ACTs. All tread the delicate line between stress and disaster without a second thought. A friend of mine took AP Physics B in her sophomore year and passed at the top of the class. She intends to balance five AP classes with Chamber orchestra, dance, vocal, and violin lessons, chess club, and Science Olympiad this year.</p>
<p>I met a girl at a piano camp back in the late 70s. She was an accomplished violinist, pianist, fencer, and mathematician. She graduated very young from Johns Hopkins, and was (at that time) THE YOUNGEST Rhodes Scholar. She was level-headed and fun, too!</p>
<p>I lost contact with her, but from stalking her on Google, I don’t think she ever did anything professionally. I will always wonder what happened.</p>
<p>I know another girl who attended my high school for a year. She was from England, and her dad was a visiting professor in our city. She was 13 and taking HS junior level courses with us. A few years ago, I was watching NOVA, and they were interviewing her! She worked under Stephen Hawking and is now a physics professor.</p>
<p>My D’s fiance was a child prodigy. He started college at a top university (fortunately local to where he grew up) at 12 and began a Ph.D. at an Ivy at 16. He is now a scientist on the faculty at Harvard but never mentions his childhood exceptionality and strives to be a “real boy” in his adult life – and succeeds! 
(You should hear his mother, though, and I am being no better on this thread.) ;)</p>
<p>IQ doesn’t determine success. Yea it’s pretty cool to say you have a pretty high IQ and can remember things really well but IQ test scores also go up as you get older. So how do you correlate that? It is similar to the SAT the more you practice the better you will get. I myself have never taken an IQ test because it just doesn’t matter to me what it says. Another thing about the IQ test is it doesn’t take into account creativity. Albert Einstein never took an IQ test. I completely agree with marshallmeyer12 on this. Creative people are the ones that make the world different. If you say Albert Einstein IQ was something you are wrong because he never took an IQ test. And some people estimate it but how do you estimates someone’s IQ? So it is therefore illogical to presume someone’s IQ if they have never taken an IQ test.</p>