10 Smartest Minds on the Planet Right Now

2. Christopher Hirata

With an IQ of 225, this pleasant faced guy occupies the penultimate position on the list. As a child prodigy, Christopher Hirata made headlines by bagging a gold medal at the international physics Olympiad when he was just 13. The following year, he joined Caltech and earned a PhD from Princeton when he was 22. He is currently assisting NASA, in its bid to colonize Mars.

1. Terrence Tao

 We have definitely saved the best for last. With an IQ of 230, this math genius deservingly has garnered the top honors in the list. This young mathematician with Australian and American roots is a champion at the random matrix theory and other things that we mortals struggle to understand.

If you think that math is tough, just take a look at the subjects that Tao has mastered, which includes the likes of partial differential equations, analytic number theory, harmonic analysis, additive combinatorics, ergodic, random matrix theory and Ramsey theory. 

Tao is a mathematics chair at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He received his PhD from Princeton when he was just 20 and by 24 he was a full professor at UCLA.

Read More:

The Best Employers to Work for in 2013

8 Jobs That Will Never Die