Roe (1952) Study of the Most Eminent
US-Born Scientists
Data crunched from chapter XII of The Making of a Scientist by
Anne Roe, 1952.
Roe gave the 64 scientists tests produced with the help of the ETS (Educational
Testing Service). These tests were also given to some students who also
had to take Stanford-Binet IQ tests. The students' scores were used as
a conversion guide for the scientists' scores. The three groups studied
could be roughly categorized as biologists, physical scientists and social
scientists. It is important to note that the math IQ scores were calculated
by excluding the physical scientists, because the math test was
not hard enough for them. Also notice that it is unlikely that any one
scientist got the lowest (or highest) scores on each of the three areas,
and therefore, it is unlikely that the average low and high scores were
achieved by any particular person.
Flynn Effect size calculation for Roe study:
Presumed revision date of Stanford-Binet Test used: 1937 (the last revision
before 1952). Current revision date: 1986. Stanford-Binet Flynn Effect
size per year: 0.32 IQ. (1986-1937)*0.32 = 16 points, rounded.
IQs of 64 of
the Most Eminent US-Born Scientists (1952)
|
Original IQ Scores:
|
Flynn Effect Corrected Scores:
|
|
Low
|
Median
|
High
|
Low
|
Median
|
High
|
|
verbal
|
121
|
166
|
177
|
105
|
150
|
161
|
|
spatial
|
123
|
137
|
164
|
107
|
121
|
148
|
|
math
|
128
|
154
|
194
|
112
|
138
|
178
|
|
averages
|
124
|
152
|
178
|
108
|
136
|
162
|
For comparison:
- "For persons who went on to take a Ph.D. Wrenn found a median IQ of
141" (Roe, 1952, p.164). Those individuals would have gotten 125 in 1986
tests.
- Linus Pauling had a [rumoured leaked] IQ of 170.
Pauling was a double Nobel Prize winner and would have surely won another one
for discovering the structure of DNA if the US State Department had not
prevented him from going to England to look at the crystallographic data Watson
and Crick had.
Please send comments by e-mail to the author, Rodrigo de la Jara at 
.
This website © Copyright Rodrigo de la Jara. If you want to publish or otherwise disseminate anything from my site that I own the rights to, just e-mail me first, telling me where you will use it. In almost all cases, I'll give permission if I am given credit and a link to my site is given. You do not need permission to simply link to my site.