Kurisu Makise IQ: How Smart Is Kurisu?
Fan analysis, for fun · Last reviewed September 2026
Kurisu Makise's IQ is estimated at 165 to 180.
Kurisu graduated from university at 17, had a paper published in the journal Science and builds a working device to send memories back in time. She is the most credentialed genius in anime.
This is a fan analysis for fun. Kurisu Makise is fictional, so nobody has taken a real IQ test. The range reflects what the character actually does in the story.
- Estimated IQ
- 165 to 180
- Thinking style
- Skeptical and rigorous
- Known for
- Inventing the Time Leap Machine
- Source
- Steins;Gate (visual novel 2009, anime 2011)
Who is Kurisu Makise?
Kurisu Makise is an 18-year-old neuroscience researcher at an American university who has already had work published in Science. She comes to Akihabara to give a lecture and gets pulled into Rintaro Okabe's small, chaotic lab and its accidental time machine.
She is a skeptic by nature. The fun of Steins;Gate is watching her reason her way from 'impossible' to 'here is how it works'.
The evidence: how smart is Kurisu?
- 1
Published in Science
Before the story starts, Kurisu has skipped ahead through school, graduated from university at 17 and had a paper on memory and the brain published in Science, one of the world's top research journals. For a teenager, that is a genuinely elite credential.
- 2
The Time Leap Machine
Okabe's lab has discovered it can send short text messages into the past. Kurisu takes that further. Using her knowledge of how memories are stored in the brain, she designs the Time Leap Machine, which compresses a person's memories into a tiny data packet and sends them to their past self, up to about 48 hours back.
- 3
Her thesis
Kurisu writes a paper on the theory of time travel. Her father, a scientist who resents her talent, steals it. The story makes clear that her work is the real thing, important enough that powerful people want it and enough to change history.
How Kurisu thinks
Thinking style
Skeptical and rigorous
Kurisu starts from doubt. She wants evidence, tests and a mechanism before she believes anything. Once she has them, she moves fast from theory to working hardware, and she is willing to say she was wrong.
Three strengths
Scientific rigour
She challenges every claim, including Okabe's, until it holds up.
Theory to prototype
She turns a strange discovery into a device that works reliably.
Cross-disciplinary knowledge
She draws on neuroscience and physics together to solve the lab's problems.
Two blind spots
Hiding feelings
She deflects with sarcasm when things get personal, especially with Okabe.
Her father
Her need for her father's approval makes her vulnerable to him, with serious consequences.
Kurisu Makise's personality type
MBTI type (fan consensus)
INTJ
Kurisu Makise is most often typed INTJ by fans: skeptical, independent and driven by ideas. INTP is the usual alternative.
Big Five profile
- OpennessVery high
- ConscientiousnessHigh
- ExtraversionLow
- AgreeablenessModerate
- NeuroticismModerate
Kurisu is curious, disciplined and more introverted than she seems when arguing. She is kind underneath the sharp tongue, and her anxiety shows mostly around her father.
Curious how your own Big Five compares with Kurisu's? Take the free personality test.
Kurisu vs Rintaro Okabe, Hermione Granger and Senku Ishigami
| Character | Estimated IQ | Thinking style |
|---|---|---|
| Kurisu Makise | 165 to 180 | Skeptical and rigorous |
| Rintaro Okabe | 140 to 155 | Improvised, persistent |
| Hermione Granger | 140 to 155 | Research-driven |
| Senku Ishigami | 170 to 190 | Practical science |
- Kurisu vs Rintaro Okabe: Okabe has the ideas and the stubbornness; Kurisu has the science to make them work.
- Kurisu vs Hermione Granger: Two top students. Hermione masters what is known; Kurisu discovers what is not.
- Kurisu vs Senku Ishigami: Senku is the builder, Kurisu the theorist. Together they could run a university.
Real genius comparison
Kurisu vs Albert Einstein
Einstein's relativity is the reason time travel is even discussed in physics. Kurisu's work picks up exactly where his ideas lead: what time is, and whether information can move through it.
Albert Einstein's estimated IQ is 160+, a historical estimate from biographical records, not a test score.
Read Albert Einstein's IQ profileHow we estimate fictional IQs
We look at what the character actually does: problems solved, plans that work, how fast they learn and how they compare with other brilliant characters in the same story. The range is a fan estimate, not a measurement.
Even the low end of the range, 165, would score higher than about 99.999% of people, roughly 1 in 136,074. Real tests become much less reliable this far above average.
Based on the Steins;Gate anime and visual novel.
Kurisu Makise IQ: common questions
What is Kurisu Makise's IQ?+
Kurisu Makise's IQ is estimated at 165 to 180. Kurisu graduated from university at 17, had a paper published in the journal Science and builds a working device to send memories back in time. She is the most credentialed genius in anime. It is a fan estimate for fun, based on what Kurisu does in the story.
What is Kurisu Makise's MBTI personality type?+
Kurisu Makise is most commonly typed INTJ by fans. Kurisu Makise is most often typed INTJ by fans: skeptical, independent and driven by ideas. INTP is the usual alternative.
Is Kurisu smarter than Rintaro Okabe?+
Okabe has the ideas and the stubbornness; Kurisu has the science to make them work.
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