<p>If I recall correctly, Einstein had excellent intuition, but analytically, he wasn’t that exceptional (and thus he relied on assistants for their analytical skills in order to formulate his intuitions). Dean Simonton’s books have a distinction between analytical genius and intuitive genius, and Einstein was definitely of the latter kind. Sort of like me, although I’m definitely far below him.</p>
<p>IMO, the smartest scientist (in terms of some arbitrary weighted average of analytical and intuitive genius) would probably be John von Neumann. Henri Poincaire would also be in consideration. What’s interesting is that geniuses of the past were able to “discover” more fundamental theories (and have influences in so many fields), but the level of intelligence+learning required to understand their theories is far less than the level of intelligence+learning required to understand the abstruse theories of today (like quantum field theory), even though nowadays very few people can name the most intelligent people in today’s ever more specialized fields (even though today’s fields provide ever more opportunity to demonstrate analytical genius, especially thanks to time-saving mechanical aids).</p>