Top 10 Smartest People of All Time

These individuals, through their groundbreaking discoveries, innovative ideas, and profound insights, have changed the way we live and understand the universe.

In this list, you'll find some of the most brilliant minds in history, individuals whose intellect and creativity have left a lasting impact on various fields such as science, mathematics, philosophy, and the arts. From the ancient philosophers who laid the foundations of Western thought to modern-day geniuses whose work continues to push the boundaries of what we know, these people have shown what human intelligence can achieve.

The Top Ten

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 - 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory of relativity, but he also made important contributions to the development... read more

Behind Tesla on the list, but equally intelligent in his own right, Nikola Tesla had inexplicably innovative and radical ideas. Most importantly, his ideas were ones that could be three-dimensionally rendered. Albert Einstein, on the other hand, brought forth ideas that were not experimentally verifiable in all circumstances.
The two were in separate domains. When Einstein did bring a conceptual idea to a 3D implementation with the introduction of the atomic bomb, it created as significant an impact as any of Tesla's inventions, arguably more so. Years from now, both will be regarded very highly, as many of their contributions have yet to be fully realized.
Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla (July 10, 1856 - January 7, 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for developing alternating current systems, including the AC induction motor and polyphase power distribution. He also experimented with X-ray imaging, radio-controlled... read more

Nikola Tesla is an underrated and forgotten genius. Einstein was amazingly intelligent, but he was assisted by his very intelligent wife and an assistant. Nikola Tesla was a complete lone wolf.
He had great memory, amazing visualization skills, and was years ahead of his time. He invented the modern world as we know it, with an astounding 700 patents. In my opinion, he is the greatest genius ever. He probably could have single-handedly destroyed the world. An amazing man.

The greatest mind the world has ever seen was able to conduct electrical experiments nearly two centuries ago that scientists still have difficulty replicating today. Some have not been duplicated since his lifetime.
Even more admirable than Tesla's unparalleled genius, however, was his empathy and concern for the betterment of human society as a whole. Illustrated by his desire to give the world an unlimited supply of free electrical energy, Tesla wasn't seeking to make a profit from his genius but instead wanted to improve the living conditions of not only his contemporaries but also their descendants and future generations.
An exemplary individual in every sense of the word, if his name were to be completely claimed by the annals of history and his memory forgotten, it would be a great tragedy for the many who would be deprived of the knowledge of his character and contributions.
Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519), more commonly Leonardo da Vinci or simply Leonardo, was an Italian polymath. His areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpture, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany... read more

He was centuries ahead of his time. CENTURIES. Not decades. He was 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 acquired the technology several decades ago.
He correctly theorized geological 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 a genius. Yes, Einstein was amazing, but remember that da Vinci had none of the technology or schooling of modern times. All he had was unquenchable curiosity for EVERYTHING.

Da Vinci was centuries ahead of his time. He designed a tank, a diving suit, a machine gun, and a few flying machines, among many other things that wouldn't be realized until hundreds of years later. His 4,000 pages of detailed notes about various previously unexplored ideas and concepts are baffling and mark the true extent of his genius.
He was the Renaissance Man of the Renaissance, a true polymath who wouldn't realize his potential even if he were to live to be 500 years old. If he were still alive today, he would be a billionaire simply from licensing fees from all of his reproduced works. Oh yes, and he is arguably the best painter to have ever lived, as his Last Supper and Mona Lisa, two of about 17 examples, prove to be true.
His lifetime achievements provide an astonishing collection of evidence attesting to his name and brilliance. He is the smartest person to have ever lived.
Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist and mathematician who is widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists of all time and a key figure in the scientific revolution. He is best known for formulating the laws of motion and universal gravitation. Newton also made significant contributions... read more

Knowledge is humanity's greatest treasure, and this man greatly expanded human knowledge, paving the way for many others, including various sub-disciplines. Other geniuses such as Planck, Einstein, and Bohr have built their theories upon the foundation that Newton laid centuries ago. It is unimaginable to think how much he accomplished in the first quarter-century of his life.
Leonardo da Vinci is a close second. By the way, people who vote for Hitler should have their priorities sorted out. If conquest, manipulation, and the ability to govern large empires should be valued above all else - such as a thirst for knowledge and the desire to share it with others - in measuring intelligence, why not mention Alexander the Great, Nebuchadnezzar, Genghis Khan, Peter the Great, Ivan the Terrible, or Napoleon?
All of them have "accomplished" much more and shaped human history in a much greater way than 'ol Adolf. Or, are people unable to recall history that predates the 20th century?
Stephen Hawking

Stephen William Hawking (January 8, 1942 - March 14, 2018) was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. He served as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge from 1979 to 2009 and is best known for his work on black hole radiation, often called Hawking radiation... read more

I do not dispute that Newton and Einstein are undoubtedly the giants of science, and Shakespeare the giant of art. 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 1970s. Using the results of Einstein, he employed sophisticated mathematical methods with Penrose to show that singularities are not mathematical artifacts but are, in fact, 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 shockwaves throughout the physics world with his discovery that black holes radiate. The result provided mankind's first glimpse of uniting quantum theory with general relativity, which, before this time, seemed irreconcilable. It 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 against the often-perceived superior physics research groups in the USSR, first led by Landau and then by 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 that held valid regardless of spin), leading 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 that black holes exist and took it a step further with quantum mechanics through radiation.... read more
Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei (February 15, 1564 - January 8, 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician. He played a major role in the scientific revolution, championing evidence-based science and making significant improvements to the telescope. His observations, including... read more

Don't get me wrong, Galileo was one of the most intelligent humans of all time, but many mistake him for inventing the telescope. Galileo only made improvements to the spyglass/telescope. He was essentially the founder of modern-day science and astronomy, which is why he should be higher on the list.
Without him improving the telescope, we would only be able to see 2x to 5x times further.

Okay, I'm learning about him, and he did many things. He went against the church that put him under house arrest for the rest of his life. When he was blind in the last year of his life, he made the first pendulum clock.
He did a force experiment.
Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 to April 30, 1945) was a German politician of Austrian descent who led the Nazi Party from 1921, served as Chancellor of Germany from 1933, and held the position of Führer from 1934. As dictator of Nazi Germany, he reversed the Treaty of Versailles, initiated World War II... read more

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.

Hitler was an Aries/Taurus, which means he was very passionate about being number one in everything he did. He was rejected as a painter or artist because his works were too vibrant and were Postmodern Impressionism. Had he been born during the hippie era, when people were into that vibrant technique, he would have been looked up to.
But people were just not into that at that time. After he was rejected in school, he put his passion into another possibility and became the most ruthless leader in history. Yes, the way he did things was wrong. Yes, how he killed many innocent people was wrong, but this was not his objective.
Many people don't understand that an Aries' passion goes beyond the approval of others. They have to be number one at all costs. I, myself, am only an Aries. I have such passion in everything I do. However, I do not have Taurus in me, which helped him finish what he started. Many of my passions die out eventually, and I lose interest before completion. He didn't!
Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin (February 12, 1809 - April 19, 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist. He is best known for formulating the theory of evolution by natural selection, which posits that all species of life descend from common ancestors. In 1858, he and Alfred Russel Wallace published... read more

Charles Darwin was not only a man with the observational skill of a genius, but he also managed to apply his observations to develop logically beautiful and seemingly flawless theories, at least so far. His understanding of humanity is comparable to that of Hitler, Napoleon, Jesus, Buddha, and Shakespeare. Although his achievements have not had an evident impact, he and the philosopher Montaigne were among the first to tackle the subject of sexuality.
His ideas inspired many sexologists, as we now call them, to develop theories that have brought about equality among the sexes and are freeing sexuality today. These ignored facts about Charles Darwin may shed some light on his true greatness.
Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (January 6, 1706 - April 17, 1790) was an American polymath active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and philosopher. Among the leading intellectuals of his time, he was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a drafter and signer... read more

Ben Franklin was a genius in many areas, not just one or two. Science, literature, politics, invention, people skills, and leadership are all areas in which he was an authority. He was not a genius for hire.
He had principles and worked to change the things he deemed important. He changed the world.

A genius. He invented the glass armonica, improved the postal system, invented the lightning rod, helped create the U.S., and was also morally wise! In his later life, he campaigned to abolish slavery!
Next to George Washington, he may have been the greatest American of all time!
Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. He was a student of Plato and later became the tutor of Alexander the Great. Aristotle's writings covered a wide range of subjects, including physics, biology, metaphysics... read more

While some of his natural science works are dubious (mostly because of his rejection of atomist theories), his metaphysical works are groundbreaking.
Actually, never mind. They are the ground upon which our understanding of reality is built. Truly a genius.

Only gross ignorance of the achievements of Aristotle would place him anywhere but at the top of the list. In fact, he is so far beyond anyone else that there is literally no comparison, except for Plato, his teacher. Western civilization is based upon Aristotle.
Biology, ethics, physics, animal science, philosophy, rhetoric, drama, politics - including the structures of the USA and of constitutional republics - these and more were started by or had their foundation set by Aristotle.

The Newcomers

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Zack D. Films

He is very logical and overall thinks outside the box.
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Edward Kelley

He was a cunning alchemist who worked at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, and it was even said that he had been a secret agent of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Allegedly, he possessed the ability to see spirits and angels. He had one smaller ear. According to reports, he lost part of his leg in a duel.

The Contenders

Pythagoras

Pythagoras of Samos was an Ionian Greek philosopher and mathematician. He is the putative founder of the movement known as Pythagoreanism, which combined religious teachings with a deep interest in mathematics and natural science. He is best known for the Pythagorean theorem in geometry.

This guy structured math and influenced the entire scientific and mathematical body of knowledge ever since. He's clearly a genius.
I won't pretend that I fully understand his work, though, so I'll just stop talking now.

I fear he is in this position because people are ignorant of his achievements, which required both calm, persistent logic and free-flowing, unstoppable creativity.

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

William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He wrote approximately 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and numerous poems. His works are still widely studied, performed, and celebrated globally... read more

William Shakespeare was a genius. How did an uneducated man write countless plays, poems, books, and sonnets, and make millions? Shakespeare knows the answer to that one.
If you are looking for genius, look at him. He also lived at 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 knew which people to pick on to please the king. That takes genius.

He understood human nature better than anyone else. He could summarize a thought and a whole range of emotions in a single sentence. He has influenced the English language more than anyone else.
We quote Shakespeare every hour of every day and don't even realize it. He's wired into our psyche. A true genius!
Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India.
He's widely known for his philosophy of nonviolent resistance, or satyagraha, which helped lead India to independence in 1947. Gandhi's methods and beliefs influenced civil rights movements... read more

His ways and thoughts are principles that can be applied throughout one's life. He lived simply, wearing modest clothing, but became globally famous and helped India gain independence from the mighty British Empire. He also fought against apartheid in South Africa.
Although he had many detractors and still faces criticism today, he persevered, and his revolution of non-violence is still in use.

Mahatma Gandhi was a kind and peaceful man who fought for India's independence with non-violent demonstrations. Although he was quite brilliant and intelligent, he was not known for any kind of work in science. He was perhaps more involved in literature and thought, which makes him less popular than Albert Einstein.
Had he lived longer, he might have had an even greater impact on the world.
Solomon

Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was the third monarch of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the final ruler of all Twelve Tribes of Israel under an amalgamated Israel and Judah. Renowned for his legendary wisdom... read more

Solomon asked God for wisdom above all else, specifically wisdom to lead the people that God put him in charge of as king. He was given wisdom above and beyond any man past, present, or future. Read it in 2 Chronicles 1:8-13. Also, realize that wisdom is not what you might think it is. There is wisdom from the world and wisdom from God. Read James 3:17. Thanks and God bless!

Jesus Christ should be first, then following him would be Solomon, since God gave him the intelligence and wisdom to rule a country fairly. Solomon was the wisest man (remember, man) on Earth. Following him, I believe, would be King David.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (August 28, 1749 - March 22, 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in various meters and styles, as well as prose and verse dramas, memoirs, an autobiography, literary and aesthetic criticism, and treatises on botany... read more

If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, the picture of Einstein's personal library must be worth at least 10,000 words because among his books, the name GOETHE was the most representative author (52 books in total). The day that Willard Gibbs becomes synonymous with Johann Goethe will be the day that everyone understands why Goethe is #1 beyond anyone the future has yet to produce.
Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 - October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman often called America's greatest inventor. He held over 1,000 U.S. patents, including for the phonograph (1877), the incandescent light bulb (improvements, 1879), and the motion picture camera (1891).... read more

He improved many inventions: the telephone, microphone, telegraph, projector, phonograph, and photography. Without his work, these things wouldn't be as useful as we know them to be. His developments were vitally important for technology, even without the invention of the electric light bulb.
I strongly believe his achievements demonstrate much optimism and perseverance. You only have to read his quotes to notice that. For instance, he tried more than a thousand times to make a light bulb and never gave up.

He was terminated from school just as he and his mother threatened the school teacher. Moreover, he had only three months of formal education, but he invented more than the schooled ones.
Oh! The so-called "Magician of Menlo Park." Lastly, his curiosity made his teachers hate him. He was the first scientist to have an invention laboratory.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era, born in Salzburg. He composed more than 600 works, including symphonies, operas, chamber music, and choral pieces. His most famous compositions include... read more

He was a great musical composer. If you think about it, by the time he was 20, he had written enough symphonies to last a lifetime. Not only was he great, but he was also a great prodigy.
He taught himself to play the violin at 7! How could you do this when you're angry at your father and your mother dies? He was in grief! Yet he could do these magnificent things. Without Mozart, Beethoven couldn't have done anything.

Although Albert Einstein was a smart mathematician and physicist of his century, Mozart, in my opinion, is the Einstein of music. Even people usually call him a "musical genius." Not to mention, although Einstein loved music, he started falling in love with Mozart's music the most.
Plato

Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He was a student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle. His works, written in the form of dialogues, have had a lasting influence on Western philosophy... read more

Founded modern theories and common ideas as we know them. And this was also when technology was young.

Set the stage for Western metaphysics for the next 2,500 years or so. Only Kant comes close to Plato's significance.
Archimedes of Syracuse

Archimedes of Syracuse was an ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, and inventor. He is famous for his contributions to geometry, calculus, and mechanics, as well as for inventions like the Archimedes screw, a water-lifting device still used in some applications today.... read more

As Leo Valdez himself said (I always make sure I have a credible Rick Riordan character as my source), "He was like the Albert Einstein of Ancient Greece." Given that statement coming from a fictional character, I could argue that half the people on this list would be nothing without him and maybe Copernicus. (With the exception of Hitler, sadly. Yes, despite the fact that he was a terrible person with bad motives, he was smart.)

He was probably the first physicist in history and one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. He pioneered the method of infinitesimals, which eventually led to the invention of calculus around 1800 years later by Leibniz and Newton. He approximated the value of Pi and formulated what is probably the oldest physical principle, Archimedes' Principle.
He invented many tools, like Archimedes' screw. He was centuries ahead of his time.
Socrates

Socrates (c. 470 to 399 BCE) was a classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition. Although he wrote no works himself, his ideas are known through the dialogues of his student Plato and the writings... read more

The Father of Philosophy. His student, Plato, could also easily be in the top 100, along with Plato's student Aristotle.
Other than the obvious logic of the truth, which no man (except Jesus) understood better, this allowed him to break down any subject. If intelligence is based on proving or disproving things, I wonder where a lot of people on this list would be had they not benefited from the words of Jesus and Socrates on thought.

It doesn't matter if you are the smartest person in the world if you don't know what happiness and true freedom are.
Most people relate brains with success, but they are just rats in the rat race. Socrates is number one.
Carl Friedrich Gauss

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (April 30, 1777 - February 23, 1855) was a German mathematician who made seminal contributions to number theory, algebra, statistics, analysis, and differential geometry. His 1801 work Disquisitiones Arithmeticae laid the foundations for modern number theory.... read more

Greatest mathematician of all time. He had to spend a lot of his valuable time on land measuring and astronomy (boring, repetitive jobs with lots of numerical data analysis). But in his free time, he saw so much further than all other mathematicians that his notes were a valuable source of mathematical discoveries for centuries.
On his 18th birthday, he thought up a geometrical construction for dividing a circle into 17 equal parts (unsolved at the time). Oh, and he invented the telegraph (the basis of all modern communication), but just on the side.

Gauss could have advanced mathematics and science by 100 years or more had he published his results as he discovered them. It took more than a century to understand his notes after his death.
When Jacobi visited him and proudly presented the discovery of Jacobians, Gauss pulled some old dusty notes out of his drawer and showed Jacobi that he had already solved the problem about 30 years earlier, much more rigorously, but thought of it as a trivial matter not worth much effort. Jacobi returned home deeply impressed and wrote in his diary that he had met a genius of gigantic proportions.
Marie Curie

Marie Skłodowska Curie (November 7, 1867 - July 4, 1934) was a Polish born naturalized French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel, and won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery... read more

23? I'm surprised. She is one of the most intelligent and clever people in all of history. She discovered two elements, Polonium and Radium, plus she invented the X-ray.
Without her, many people could have had broken bones and we would have never known. So, if you have broken a bone and appreciate it being fixed, vote for Marie Curie. Not to mention that Marie Curie also faced hardships, such as scientists going against her. So, for these reasons, Marie Curie is one of the most intelligent people in history.

I see she is the only woman on the list, but what more could I have expected from this century? Marie Curie won Nobel Prizes twice. She was also the first woman to earn a doctorate in Europe. Her investigations led to the discovery of radioactivity as well as the element radium.
Did I mention the fact that she also had to overcome pig-headed sexists all the while?
Muhammad

Muhammad ibn Abdullah (570 AD - 632 AD) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader who founded Islam, one of the world's major monotheistic religions. According to Islamic belief, he was the final prophet, tasked with confirming the teachings of earlier prophets such as Adam, Abraham, Moses... read more

He was really wonderful. Once, a lady came to him and asked him to order a divorce from her husband because of her husband's dirtiness in dressings, etc. The Prophet Muhammad called the man and advised him to be tidy and come to his gathering. When he came back, tidy and smart, the prophet asked the lady whether she still wanted the divorce. The lady smiled, withdrew her allegation against her husband, and requested the prophet to order him to remain smart like this.

He is the best man of all time. No one was like him, nor can anyone be like him. He showed millions of people in the world the right path. His teachings and sayings will be followed by millions of Muslims until the world ends. He is the greatest person of all time. After all, he was the last messenger of Allah. He predicted things thousands of years ago that scientists now prove. He is the most intelligent man who could ever be on this earth.
Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847 - August 2, 1922) was a Scottish born inventor, scientist, and engineer credited with patenting the first practical telephone in 1876. He co-founded the Bell Telephone Company in 1877, which later evolved into AT&T.... read more

Alexander Graham Bell, an ancestor of mine, may have produced the telephone, but that invention is only a grain of sand in his ocean of ideas and capabilities. His knowledge will continue to shine down upon us.

Not only did he invent the telephone, but he also invented the metal detector, which almost saved President Garfield's life.

The man changed the world as we know it. Without him, who knows where we would be?
Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include nine symphonies, five piano concertos, one violin... read more

Ludwig van Beethoven was a genius. His symphonies were phenomenal. How could he make music while he was deaf? Look at Ode to Joy. That was legit.
This guy was a piano genius.

It is not hard to explain why. He composed his 9th Symphony, arguably his greatest, while he was completely deaf. You can't beat that, guys.

He proved that even though you are a disabled person, you can always do possible things! He contributed so much to music.