Évariste Galois IQ

Évariste Galois was born near Paris in 1811. At the Lycée Louis-le-Grand he discovered mathematics at 15 and quickly outgrew his teachers. He was rejected twice by the École Polytechnique, entered the École Normale, was expelled for his republican politics and was jailed in 1831. His papers to the Academy were lost or rejected. He died after a duel in May 1832, aged 20.

There is no score. LifeScore lists about 165 as an editorial marker, with a wide range of 150 to 180 because his output is so small. The case rests on the depth of a few papers, written mostly between 17 and 20, that later became a whole branch of algebra.

It explains which polynomial equations can be solved with a formula using roots. Galois linked each equation to a group of symmetries of its solutions and showed that the shape of that group decides the answer. It is why there is no general formula for degree five equations.

He was shot in a duel on 30 May 1832 and died the next day. The cause is unclear: accounts mention a romantic quarrel and possibly a political trap. He was a committed republican and had already been jailed for his activism.

Galois stopped asking how to solve each equation and asked what structure all the solutions share. That jump from calculation to structure is the deepest kind of abstract reasoning, and it is why his work was not understood until Liouville published it in 1846.

What supports it

• His papers introduced groups and the core of what became Galois theory before he turned 21.
• Joseph Liouville published and endorsed his work in 1846, fourteen years after his death.
• Teachers at Louis-le-Grand described exceptional mathematical talent alongside poor results in other subjects.

What it cannot prove

• His surviving work is very small, which makes any estimate unstable.
• Romantic legends about his last night have grown over time.
• An editorial marker is a comparison aid built from achievement, not a measurement, and two careful readers could place it ten points apart.

Évariste Galois's IQ is represented here by a retrospective estimate of 165, not a verified test result. Évariste Galois is best known for exceptional abstraction. The useful question is what the surviving evidence shows, not whether a precise modern score can be recovered.

Brilliant, impatient and political. He failed exams he was too far ahead of and fought authority all his short life.

The dominant archetype here is The Rebel. This archetype shapes decision patterns: what feels natural, what creates friction, and what blind spots tend to emerge.

Estimated IQ is 165. This is a rough estimate based on documented accomplishments and contemporary accounts, not a literal measurement.

Hermann Weyl called the final letter perhaps the most substantial piece of writing in the whole literature of mankind.

Évariste Galois' estimate of 165 falls in the profoundly gifted IQ range. Want your own number rather than Évariste's? Take the free IQ test or the quick IQ test. See what an IQ of 165 means, place it on the IQ chart or check how rare it is with the IQ rarity calculator.