Top 10 Smartest People In History

Though his motivation was evil, he was indeed brilliantly manipulative, and because of this combination of both brilliance and world impact, he deserves to be on this list.

This famous man is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, planners and executors of ideas in all of humanity. His speaking capabilities were moving, inspiring, and outstanding, and partly resulted in the mindset shift that was part of the creation of an economic and geopolitical world power in an extremely short timespan. The other factor in creating this unimaginably strong and productive empire came from his abilities of organizing and creating industries and ideas that were absolutely ingenious and successful to his nation. These factors resulted in an influence and change in the world that had never been unmatched, and to this day has not been unmatched in any way. No one in the history of the world has been effective in producing such a strong, patriotic, and energetic country as him; his ability to make all who listened to him rise up to the benefit of their homeland is truly unique. Additionally, he was a brilliant painter and architect, whose creativity is admirable and represents his dedication and long-lasting love of his homeland and country.

Heil! As he is usually portray as evil demon let's skip media campaign and dig deeper, shall we.
Pros:
1. He rallied German people, economy and created powerful country - so very good manager.
2. He had gift for selecting right people for right job. For example it is difficult to find better man for propaganda than Goebels, better man for secret police and execution than Himmler, better minister of war time economy than Speer. Not to mention he HANDPICKED Rommel and Manstein from relative anonymity and propelled them into limelight as field marshals! This was perhaps his biggest asset.
3. He was no coward. His WW1 record proves that having obtained Iron Cross on battlefield and almost blind after gas attack.
4. His intuition was second to none. He predicted nobody will interfere with rearming, breaking Versailes, recapturing Alsas, Austria and Czech. He knew that France demanded different strategy and found Manstein who gave it to him etc. He was right about rotten Soviet system which he almost defeated. He was right about French being lazy and tired despite having equivalent Army etc.
5. He was lucky as he escaped 30 or so assassinations.
6. He had hadn't forgotten to marry Braun in last days of life.
7. He let everyone go (Himmler, Goering, Speer... ) from surrounded Berlin although he didn't have to and addressed Speer as gentlemen wishing him farewell. Nice little touch.

He was centuries ahead of his time. CENTURIES. Not decades. He is the first to research the mechanics of human anatomy. And the way he presented his knowledge of it wasn't possible for us until we got the technology several decades ago. He correctly theorized geographic time while everyone else still believed in the Great Flood. And not only was he a genius in science but also in engineering and art. He is the definition of genius. Yes Einstein was amazing. But remember the Vinci had none of the technology or schooling of modern times. All he had, was an unquenchable curiosity for EVERYTHING.

Not only was he a great inventor, but he also was a brilliant artist who often painted fictional characters (See Above. I'm guessing he never painted Muhammad... )

We can't determine Jesus intellect so it's wrong to place him on top. It's an opinion to say he was Gods son...
Einstein was smart but only in one area. Leonardo was truly a multi genius only born in the wrong century.

He hit his head with an apple and he became one of the smartest men known

Discovers universal laws of motion (at non-relativistic speeds), discovers some of the laws of optics, designs his own telescope, discovers the universal law of gravitation, realizes that the moon is falling towards the center of mass between itself and the earth just as his apple fell toward the center of mass between itself and the earth, invents differential and integral calculus in order to explain why the planets orbit in ellipses, and then turns 26... AND THEN HE TURNS 26!

He single handedly invented calculus, one of the most important tools in mathematics, and composed a model of the universe that we still use today to make predictions about how things should work

Charles darwin was an intelligent man with his ideas of evolution and animals on how they adapt to their surroundings such as when a bird is on a and island their later generations will change according to food supply and food to collect by changing their beak structure

Someone who used his brain to think up a theory with scientific evidence behind it unlike certain other (likely imaginary) individuals on this list.

Is this like a prank or something? Or is this list just the most inaccurate list on the planet? Charles Darwin came up with the theory of evolution which none of us would have come up without him. I can't believe Charles Darwin is number 7! And yet that is my lucky number...

The first man to do magic tricks that tricked many people for many years!

He can walk on water, that's pretty smart, I mean I can't even swim.

There are none wiser than Jesus Christ.

The only comment I have on Galileo's genius, is his genius for astronomy, b he invented the telescope, and I am not atheist, but to be god's son you don't have to be intelligent, however, either way, Galileo was the most smartest human being alive, in my opinion

This guy had a brain for astronomy, I'm a major astronomy fan, and every night when I go outside with my telescope, I thank him for inventing the telescope. Galileo is my major idol, and I believe he should have a way better position on this list

Come on.. I shouldn't have to explain.

Nikola Tesla is an under-rated and forgotten genius. Einstein was amazingly intelligent but he was assisted by his very intelligent wife and and an assistant. Nikola Tesla was a complete lone wolf. He had a great memory, amazing visualization, and was years ahead of his time. He invented the modern world as we know it with an amazing 700 patents. He was an amazingly open-minded mind. He in my opinion is the greatest genius ever. He probably could have single handily destroyed the world. Amazing man!

The man ahead of time. One of the most intelligent person in History of human kind.

Without his work on AC electicity, life as we know it today would not be possible.

Once in a great while there comes along a human with the right arrangement of brain cells and life choices and experiences whom is capable of helping the human race advance along the scale of civilization to use the energy contained within the very fabric of the universe. Also where's Tesla?

It makes me sad seeing Jesus ahead of Einstein. Religion in front of science.

He revolutionized the entire science community in his free time

I do not dispute that Newton and Einstein are undoubtedly the science giants and Shakespeare the art giant. But I have to vote for Hawking, and let me explain why.

Stephen Hawking is admired by many, but not necessarily for the same reasons. Let's start off with what he was originally known for: his research in relativity in the late 1970's. Using the results of Einstein, he used sophisticated mathematical methods with Penrose to show that singularities are not mathematical artifacts, but in fact are real and generic. That is, black holes are real, and he concluded this well before the identification of Cygnus X-1.

In 1974, Hawking sent shock waves throughout the physics world with his achievement that black holes radiate. The result provided mankind's first glimpse ever of uniting quantum theory with general relativity, which before this time seemed irreconcilable; it has also set the direction for theoretical physics ever since.

If you read Kip Thorne's account of the golden age of relativity, there is no doubt that Hawking stands as the most prominent physicist from that period of time. In a way he is also a Cold War icon, symbolizing the West's trump card to the often-perceived superior physics research groups in the USSR, first led by Landau and then Zeldovich. In fact Zeldovich was one of the first to suggest black hole radiation, but only in a spinning one by analogy to a spinning metal sphere. This led Hawking to develop his stunning 1974 result (one which held valid regardless of spin), leading the Soviet physicists to conclude they were wrong.

Einstein himself did not believe in black holes or quantum theory (although he contributed to the foundations of the latter, while talking to Max Planck). Hawking showed black holes exist, and took it a step further with quantum mechanics with the radiation.

All of this before he communicated his science to the public, in A Brief History of Time. No other living person can claim to be as monumental in both popular and scientific circles.

Notice in the above description, I did not mention his disability.

Stephen Hawking is probably the smartest person ever known. Jesus is the most powerful person ever. (I believe he really is true, 1000s of years ago, that is. ) Albert Einstein had to have most of his theories backed up by Stephen Hawking, right? Ok, so maybe Albert discovered the theory of relativity, and Jesus saved us all from death, but come on, Stephen Hawking has much knowledge of the universe and is currently helping us, in 2012, a lot. (ever seen science channel on DirectTV? ) (channel 284) There's a show called "Stephen Hawking's brave new world. " And that's all I have to say about this. But, I'm only 9 years old. So I can be disproven. And to show you how smart I am, I once gave a star/black hole/wormhole lecture to 5th grade. (skipped a grade. ) And I'm sorry for punctuation because I'm running out of battery. So that's my conclusion.

He's contemporary, living in our time and has a very creative mind. Basically he can build off all the other scientific info gathered and come to more exact conclusions.

Among us smart folk, Einstein is considered "a little slow", and Hawking "means well", but you have to be a little clever just to appreciate the accomplishments of Goethe.

I saw him on the list and I was too curious to avoid looking him up and seeing his descriptions and works and such. I am absolutely convinced that he should be quite a lot higher up on the list than this.

Probably the best boxer ever.

He's a BrainiaC! Muhammad was a top bloke and a real player in the game.

He is a pretty swell guy, I'm sure he is very handsome too, but I guess I'll never know for sure. I know for sure that he is better than everyone else on list.

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. "
Literally every piece of modern literature (since the Elizabethan age) can be traced back to Shakespeare. His words are embedded inside each of our subconsciouses. He is the epitome of greatness.

William Shakespeare was a genius. How does an uneducated man write millions of plays, poems, books, sonnets, and make millions? Shakespeare knows the answer to that one. If you are looking for genius, look at him. And also he lived in a time when there was a great risk of being killed if he ever slightly offended the king. He was able to be funny and he knew which people to pick on to please the king. That takes genius.

Can you ever think of whatever he did. He was a first class philosopher, historian and much better legend of political sciences than both Einstein and newton put together in physics.

In soviet Russia, Marx vote for You!

He found one of the most astounding mathemathical thing in the world it was so ahead of its time it had to be covered up.

His name sounds like a dinosaur.

Hitler was a dysfunctional loser but Pythagoras and others here were major contributors to humanity. Hitler killed millions

New thoughts and ideas in an era of violence and might is right. Undid what the colonial powers took centiries to put in place, all by his words.

Gandhi was able to do what few have done in history. He liberated India, a nation of millions without lifting his fist. His tactics shook the mighty British empire.

Because he told people how to get success without violence. Mahatma gandhi the greatest man in indian history show the world that if we have patience and we wre right then things will always happen in our favour.

KNOWN AS ONE OF THE WISEST OF MEN OF ALL TIME

He had so much swag his dick weighed a ton.

Solomon was noted to be the wisest man ever. We can only assume by his accomplishments that he had one of the highest IQs ever!

He revolutionized music in a way no one else could of. He wrote over 40 symphonies by the time he was 35. Plus, if you listen to his music, people say you will get smarter. Some of his most famous works are Requiem, Rondo Alla Turca, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and much more.

I think Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is the smartest man in history because he wrote 600 songs in 35 years and he also died at age 35

A well trained piano player and a genius. He should be number one

Yeah the smartest man of our time hands down. A good damn PARTICLE! 1!

He discovered a particle that no one even knew existed

He organized and systematized knowledge in several areas, he invented and systematized logic as science, as well as psychology, physics, metaphysics, biology, and literary theory.

Aristotle should be number 1. He discovered the laws of logic and he constructed formal logic.

Just try reading his logical works.

Archimedes invented so much in maths and physics, without him, Albert Einstein wouldn't have created his theories. He's the smartest man that ever lived for sure, born into a poor family, and made such good use of his recources, I'd say he was the biggest genius, just forgotten because he was from the greek era.

Agreed one of the smartest and anyone that is good in mathematics knows that he was the man. A Brilliant Mathematician and Innovator. The Sicilian salute you sir.

His devices predate all other similar ideas by nearly 2000 years.

Paul was the person most directly responsible for the adoption of Christianity by nearly the entire Western world. He must be one of the smartest people to ever live to have spread the message of Jesus to so many. His work has changed the history of the world dramatically.

He was a genius with great charisma and practical knowledge, also an excellent soldier and leader. Very well rounded. He also had bipolar and functioned well without "modern medication".

Set the stage for Western metaphysics for the next 2500 years or so. Only Kant comes close to Plato's significance.

GREAT ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER, AUTHOR

His dick ran deep. SO DEEP. So deep it'd put your ass to sleep.

The man of steal! So persuasive in his speeches, no notes to read on, no teleprompter, brilliant and genuine, knows how to play political game internationally. He did a lot of things so far more than any other leaders in the Philippines now.

Marcos made more contributions for his country than all of the presidents combined. He solved the rice crisis in 1968. The Philippines went from being in a rice crisis to being an exporter. He built more roads, schools, bridges and hospitals than his predecessors combined. Marcos is the smartest Filipino in history.

He had been one of the influential and brilliant President of the Philippines with all his projects being continued by the succeeding until this time where a new government worst than his administration had been established... those projects that seemed to be impossible and very ambitious.

This is Martin Luther, the guy who kickstarted the Protestant Reformation. Not Martin Luther King, the civil rights leader.

Its funny we have so many dumb people voting for the 10 smartest people in history.

Martin Luther is a lot smarter and more gifted with a broad range of talents than he is given credit.

Art of war can be applied in most any reg life situation if tweaked a little.

He is possibly the greatest general that ever lived. Most of his teachings are being followed today.

Carl Sagan had on of the greatest multi-disciplinary understandings of science in the 20th century. While physicists such as Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking outmatched him in their ability to work out new physical laws to our universe and applying mathematics to this. Carl Sagan had a working and comprehensive understanding of all of their work, and works across all disciplines of Science as well as a deep understanding of the philosophy of science, and a myriad of academic sections within the humanities. He is probably one of the greatest thinkers of our time, and it's nice to know that at least the internet has given him some of the fame and respect that he deserves.

Carl Sagan was a brilliant man, who got a whole generation interested in science. He was well ahead of his time, and deserves to be far, far, far higher on this list. He had a message of scientific curiosity, and a cautious optimism that I wish more people would take to heart. That Jesus... A man, who arguably, might not have even existed, ranks so much higher than a man who's impact on the world is undeniable is baffling.

In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony god's blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my intelligence.

Man knew what he was doing. Manipulated the world.

The toppest of the blokes.

Abraham Lincoln was better than George Bush and has made a great difference. He knew what was right, and what was obviously wrong. He spoke the truth and made one of the greatest speeches in the world and freed slaves.

Because He was a great guy always honest and the 17th president of the United States
Maybe he was the smartest president of the United States

John Locke KNOWS the island like the island knows him! He knows that the island will keep dragging people back no matter what and he is the only one that understands that the people on the island need the island as much as the island needs them! He is the Lord of the island.

I voted for him because Thomas Hobbes is a douchbag

GREAT BRITISH PHILOSOPHER, HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL IN DEVELOPMENT OF EPISTEMOLOGY, LAYING FOUNDATION OF SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY, AND HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL POLITICAL PHILOSOPHER LAYING FOUNDATION FOR SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY AND LIBERTARIANISM

He was the greatest singer. Singing at the age of 5.

No. He was a child meslester.

He invented algebra and estimated the worlds circumference 1500 years ago

At least smart than a brick and you really can't say that about the other contenders

He's a totally cool guy and he knows about space and stuff! If I had a dad I hope he'd be like Neil deGrasse Tyson and he could teach me about space and be funny.

Doubt it, he was tossed out of two graduate programs. He is photogenic, but compared to other scientists, not unusually bright.

The Father of Philiosophy, his student Plato also could easily be in the top 100 and Plato's student Aristotle as well. Other than the obvious logic of the truth which no man (except Jesus) understood better. This allowed him to break down any subject and if intelligence is based on proving or disprroving things, I wonder where a lot of people on this list would be had they not beneifited from the words of Jesus and Socrates on thought?

GREAT ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER, TEACHER

"How can the person who explained the unsustainability of 'right versus wrong', way before Nietszsce did, not be top here. "

Leader of the famous Russian Revolution, that had a great effect on the world today.

He was a great and smart leader.

Without him the world would be a different place.

The greatest of all time

Genghis. Khan. He good.

He is the greatest leader in the world
He was able to conquer half of world

He is. The man

Two Nobel prizes anyone? Discovered radiation? She deserves more credit

He could do it all.

The most competent human being who ever lived.

Great philosopher, author, composer, and contributor to Western culture.

Picked apart morality and laid the foundation of what will eventually be an embrace of humanity for humanity's sake, as opposed to the constructed systems of morality that have historically sucked the life out of us, creatively, spiritually and existentially.

Mathamatical genius! Wrote symphonies as a child and while deaf

Gauss need to say more?

ONE OF THE GREATEST OF ALL PHILOSOPHERS

0% vote; enough said

Really, do you even have to ask why, if so, then haha

He created apple the world most valuable company starting in his garage :@

Mustafar, the planet of fire

Edison did a lot for America and should not be in the lower half of this list. He invented many things and might have been a president of the United States of America. I am nit 100% sure because I am only in seventh grade, but still I do not know anything about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe or Peter Higgs and I completely disagree that Michael Jackson would be 22 places higher on this chart than Thomas Edison. And I think Abe Lincoln, one of my favorite presidents, should be so low on the list either! And this is all coming from a 13yr old girl.

He should be at the top of the list.

He had so many inventions that are proven useful.

Save philippines from spanish by writing novel against occupying the philippines

The national hero of the countru of phillipines

He didn't bow to anyone except God Almighty and was a brave soldier of Prophet Muhammad's(SAW) Ummah!

He stopped the victory march of alexander the great by starting a mutiny in alexander's army..

Try to learn about him he was great

The man who was behind the great muaraya empire and the one who did, nt allowed alexander the great to attack over india. And he was the one to a poor boy the king of the vast india.

William james sidis had the hihgest iq score ever recorded:250 to 300. He had the greater raw intelligent than any other man. He should be first on the list.

He ivented the crapper

Without Alexander the Great, the world would be a fraction of what it is today.

As far as commanders I place Alexander the great over Gangis Khan because of technological dependence and the ability to diffuse cultural differences in conquered territory. If it counts as anything he was educated by Aristotle.

He is the first black African who win the European war and make his country Ethiopia uncolonized. He was really smart.

Wonderful leader ever seen! Plus he is the real hero of africa

Best personality ever lived.

The cyclonic monk, born in 12 jan 1963. In 1893 he went to America and at chicago parliament of religions made history by his thrilling speech. He was amazingly intelligent. He wrote thousands of books. He was famous for his invincible sharp memory.

God among men, better than hitler

He is our true GOD. He showed us in his various movies that he is the person humanity can and should depend on. His career and his wisdom should show everyone, that America is still the Land of the Free and that everybody can make it from a dishwasher to a millionaire.

Could have been a doctor but decided to play on the Yankees.

Martin luther king. Junoir was a great man! He was a leading person in the black struggle for civil rights. Before he came, blacks had diffrent schools, toilets, buses and even water fountains. His killing at memphis was a bad, bad day.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Putin was able to bring Russia's failing state to become a modern day economic powerhouse. Only 13% of Russians live in poverty opposed to 40% in 1998 and 99% during the Soviet Era.

Russian president very smart and very rech

A solid three point shooter

Sup homie what you up to this morning I'm going for a swim

He built the ark and saved many animals from being drowned or hurt

Many people don't know this truth.. But this is the truth.
# Normal person (uses 5 to 10% neurons)
# Sir Issac newton ( used 14% neurons)
# Albert Einstein (used 19% neurons )
# Swami Vivekananda (used 65% neurons)
# Srinivasa ramanujan ( Used...100% neurons)

Even the gravitation was not discovered by the Newton.

For more information PUNCH INTO GOOGLE - AJIT VADAKAYIL ISSAC NEWTON THE CALCULUS THIEF.

The genius of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837) transformed every form of Russian literature he touched. What I admire most is the ease of his invention, his range and his own impish courage. His life was as poignantly short as that of Mozart, whom in many ways he resembled.

Almost everything about Pushkin was paradoxical. He was at once urbane and mischievous, a man who had affairs with some of the most beautiful women of his day, yet always thought of himself as ugly. He was descended on one side from aristocrats, but on the other from Gannibal, the famous African slave of Peter the Great who became a leading general. He took great pride in his mixed blood, and always kept an inkstand with an African figure on his desk. But the many sketches he made of himself are bitter caricatures.

The one who first discovered the value of pi and.. Telescope before Galilei but the books were spread all over the world and the Indians left behind

He is the is the greatest astronomer ever. A person who can calculate the approximate diameter of earth can do any thing. He was also one of the greatest mathematician an gave us "sin" a word of trigonometry so I think he will be on the top 10 list. He was the great scientist and mathematician.

Many people don't know this truth.. But this is the truth.
# Normal person (uses 5 to 10% neurons)
# Sir Issac newton ( used 14% neurons)
# Albert Einstein (used 19% neurons )
# Swami Vivekananda (used 65% neurons)
# Srinivasa ramanujan ( Used...100% neurons)

Even the gravitation was not discovered by the Newton.

For more information PUNCH INTO GOOGLE - AJIT VADAKAYIL ISSAC NEWTON THE CALCULUS THIEF.

Let's be honest with ourselves here.

He crafts some of the most compelling poetry you will ever hear, all with a "9th Grade" education.

He has over 40 points of IQ on Einstein and that's the lowest estimate we have because our most brilliant minds can't even measure how intelligent he is. The current estimate is 210 IQ which is 60 on Einstein. Enough said.

He was the genius mathematician and astronomer who wrote 'The American Practical Navigator. ' He went to school for two years as a small child, but was taken out of school to be indentured at a ship chandelry, but at that ship chandelry he self-educated himself by doing things like studying math, astronomy, and even reading Newton's Principia. He knew many different language by comparing his English Bible with many other language translations of the Bible. He was so smart that Harvard awarded him a diploma- and he never even went to school there or anywhere.

Without him, so many lives of men at sea would be lost if not for his ocean navigation book which is still used a lot today.

He schooled himself and got a Harvard degree without going to Harvard! In my eyes he easily makes the top 20.

GREAT AMERICAN PRESIDENT AND STATESMAN

He had an influence on Adolf Hitler and we all know that Adolf is the most intelligent man of all time.

Just for his influence on Hitler he deserves to be on here.

He was an influence on Adolf so he deserves to be on here.

He influenced the most intelligent man to ever live.

He deserves a spot on this list with his undeniable influence to the fuhrer.

GREATEST SPORTS MIND EVER

It seems like Stephen A. Is the last word in sports journalism and that alone deserves my vote. The other commentators are just shills for the networks and pander to the league executives.

Stephen A. Knows his stuff. I don't like his verbal dueling with Skip however. It seems like Stephen A. Is shooting an unarmed man.