You might think of Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking as the most brilliant minds in history, but their intelligence is just the tip of the iceberg.
Meet William James Sidis, an American child prodigy with an estimated IQ between 210 and 250, far surpassing both Einstein and Hawking, whose IQs were around 160.
For perspective, the average IQ in the UK falls between 85 and 115.
Sidis was in a league of his own, outshining even the most brilliant scientists of the past century, so why isn’t he more well-known?
Born on April 1, 1898, in New York to immigrants from the Russian Empire, Sidis displayed extraordinary intelligence from an early age, reading the newspaper at just 18 months old.
His upbringing played a significant role in his intellect; his father, Boris Sidis, was a renowned psychologist specializing in psychopathology, while his mother, Sarah Mandelbaum Sidis, was a medical doctor.
Perhaps intelligence is hereditary after all.
According to Amy Wallace, author of Sidis’ biography, his parents pressured him to pursue knowledge relentlessly, regardless of his own desires. From a young age, he was surrounded by books, educational materials, and even psychological debates, long before he reached double digits.
By the time he was eight, Sidis reportedly spoke eight languages and had even created his own. At nine, he was accepted into Harvard University, putting most childhood achievements to shame.
However, Harvard made him wait until he was 11 to officially enroll, so he spent two years studying mathematics at Tufts University in the meantime.
It’s said that during his studies, he spent time correcting mistakes and analyzing Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Though no official report cards or grade records exist for Sidis, experts estimate his IQ was 50 to 100 points higher than some of the greatest scientists of the 20th century.
In 1909, he became the youngest student ever to attend Harvard. During his first year, he delivered a presentation on four-dimensional bodies to the Harvard Mathematics Club, leaving many experts in awe.
MIT professor and physicist Daniel F. Comstock even predicted: “I predict that young Sidis will be a great astronomical mathematician, the leader in that science in the future.”
However, this period marked the beginning of Sidis’ struggles.
Attending university at such a young age took a toll on him. He faced ridicule from fellow students and constant scrutiny from the media. According to biographer Amy Wallace, Sidis longed to “be a regular working man.”
After graduating at just 16, he told reporters that he wanted to live “in seclusion” because he “always hated crowds.”
Despite briefly working as an assistant mathematics professor and publishing a book on Euclidean geometry, Sidis became frustrated with how he was treated. He returned to Harvard to study law but dropped out three years later for reasons unknown.
By 1919, he had become involved in socialist causes and was arrested for participating in a communist-led anti-war rally. His notoriety meant his arrest made headlines, and he was sentenced to 18 months in prison after allegedly assaulting an officer.
Sidis’ parents made a deal to have him held at a sanatorium under his father’s supervision at MIT while working.
By his early twenties, he was released and chose to live in obscurity, refusing to use his exceptional mathematical abilities. He took on low-profile jobs as a bookkeeper, frequently changing cities and using fake names to avoid recognition.
Despite this, Sidis continued to write extensively, publishing books both under his real name and pseudonyms. His works spanned various subjects, from U.S. history to streetcar transfer tickets.
In 1925, he published The Animate and the Inanimate, a book on cosmology where he theorized the existence of black holes, 14 years before Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar’s better-known predictions. Yet, Sidis remained in the shadows, even distancing himself from his own parents.
In 1935, he released John W. Shattuck, a book exploring aspects of Native American history, and also invented a unique calendar system for tracking leap years.
Sidis lived quietly until The New Yorker published an article about him in 1937, detailing his reclusive life. Feeling his privacy had been violated, he sued the magazine for libel and invasion of privacy, eventually winning the case in 1944. Tragically, he passed away later that year from a brain hemorrhage.
