Pierre-Simon Laplace IQ

Laplace never took an IQ test. Catharine Cox's 1926 study gave him a corrected estimate of 190, the same figure as Newton and Voltaire. Adjusted for the Flynn effect that falls to about 170, so LifeScore uses a range of 170 to 190.

Yes. In 1785 Laplace examined the young Napoleon Bonaparte at the military school in Paris and passed him into the artillery. Years later Napoleon made Laplace Minister of the Interior, then removed him after six weeks, saying he brought the spirit of the infinitely small into government.

The 190 is Catharine Cox's corrected estimate from her 1926 study of 301 eminent people born between 1450 and 1850. She rated each person from biographical records of what they could do as a child and young adult, then corrected for gaps in the record.

Cox's numbers sit on an old ratio-IQ scale. One secondary tabulation subtracts about 22 points for the Flynn effect, which puts Pierre-Simon Laplace near 170.

LifeScore lists 170+, and the working range of 170 to 190 spans both figures. None of them is a test result.

Laplace took existing theory and pushed it to completion. Where Newton left loose ends, Laplace worked out the mathematics in exhaustive detail, often skipping steps with "it is easy to see", a phrase that frustrated later readers.

What supports it

• Cox's 1926 study gave Laplace a corrected estimate of 190, about 170 after a Flynn-effect adjustment.
• His five-volume Traité de mécanique céleste (1799 to 1825) extended Newtonian gravitation to the stability of the solar system.
• His 1812 Théorie analytique des probabilités laid much of the ground for modern statistics.

What it cannot prove

• Cox's scale runs higher than modern deviation IQ.
• He was accused by contemporaries of under-crediting others, so some output reflects synthesis.
• Biographical records of his youth are thin.

Pierre-Simon Laplace's IQ is represented here by a retrospective estimate of 170+, not a verified test result. Pierre-Simon Laplace is best known for exceptional mathematical power. The useful question is what the surviving evidence shows, not whether a precise modern score can be recovered.

Ambitious and politically nimble. Brought Newtonian physics to its most complete form.

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

Estimated IQ is 170+. This is a rough estimate based on documented accomplishments and contemporary accounts, not a literal measurement.

Asked by Napoleon why his book never mentioned God, Laplace is said to have replied that he had no need of that hypothesis.

Pierre-Simon Laplace's estimate of 170+ falls in the profoundly gifted IQ range. See what an IQ of 170 means, place it on the IQ chart or check how rare it is with the IQ rarity calculator.