Intelligence, cognitive style, and psychological comparison
Physicist & Mathematician
Playwright & Poet
Extreme abstraction ability and obsessive focus. Socially withdrawn, highly perfectionistic, and relentlessly systematic.
Extraordinary verbal intelligence with deep psychological insight. High openness and ability to inhabit vastly different perspectives. Created language we still use today.
Historical IQ estimates are approximations based on documented achievements, contemporary accounts, and cognitive analysis. They should be viewed as educated estimates rather than definitive measurements. Both Isaac Newton and William Shakespeare achieved remarkable things in their respective domains, and raw IQ alone doesn't capture the full picture of their intelligence and impact.
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