Meet William James Sydis, the “smartest man who lived.” Sydis’ IQ score is estimated by some, to be somewhere between 50 and 100 points greater than that of Albert Einstein. By the time he was just 18 months old, Sydis was able to read The New York Times. At age 2, he taught himself Latin, and by age 6, he was fluent in eight languages, including Greek, French, Russian, German, and Hebrew. Sidis is not a household name, but he was an extraordinary individual whose brilliance often went unnoticed. Let’s explore the life of one of the most enigmatic and misunderstood prodigies of the 20th century, along with Albert Einstein, and the history of IQ testing. It’s a battle of the brains today on Found Objects podcast.

Follow us on Instagram:

Instagram.com/katybellotte

SOURCES:

Albert Einstein – Biographical. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Wed. 21 Aug 2024.

Anglis, Jaclyn. “The Surprisingly Tragic Story of the Smartest Man Who Ever Lived.” All That’s Interesting, All That’s Interesting, 2 June 2024, allthatsinteresting.com/william-james-sidis.

Barbas, Samantha. “The Sidis Case and the Origins of Modern Privacy Law.” Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts, 2012, pp. 21–69, https://doi.org/10.7916/D8M335S5.

Cherry, Kendra. “Why Alfred Binet Developed IQ Testing for Students.” Verywell Mind, 13 Mar. 2023, www.verywellmind.com/history-of-intelligence-testing-2795581.

Dombrowski, Stefan C. “The Dark History of IQ Tests.” TED, TED-Ed, 2020, ed.ted.com/lessons/the-dark-history-of-iq-tests-stefan-c-dombrowski.

NPR Staff. “Meet William James Sidis: The Smartest Guy Ever?” NPR, NPR, 23 Jan. 2011, www.npr.org/2011/01/23/132737060/meet-william-james-sidis-the-smartest-guy-ever.

Piccotti, Tyler, and Biography.com Editors. “Albert Einstein: Biography, Physicist, Nobel Prize Winner.” Biography.Com, 20 July 2023, www.biography.com/scientists/albert-einstein.

“William James Sidis.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis.