Who says geniuses aren’t born? One of those people is Kim Ung-Yong, a South Korean civil engineer and former child prodigy who displayed amazing feats of intelligence shortly after his birth. Today he is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the person with the highest IQ in the world. The 53-year-old started speaking at the age of 6 months and understood algebra at 8 months old. By the time he was 2, he was fluent in 4 languages: Japanese, Korean, German and English. When he was 3 years old, he mastered even more languages. His IQ at the age of 2 was an amazing 210. For perspective, the average IQ score is between 85 and 115. A score above 130 indicates exceptional intelligence and a score below 70 may indicate mental retardation. Kim began attending college at the age of 4 and graduated at 15. As a young teenager, he was scouted by NASA and served there 4 years as a researcher. In 1978, at the age of 16, he decided to return to South Korea. After years of pushing himself to the limit, he began to feel a sense of emptiness and void in his life. In 2007, he served as adjunct faculty at Chungbuk National University, in 2014 he had become associate professor at Shinhan University, eventually becoming Vice President of North Kyeong-gi Development Research Center. According to Kim, having a high IQ isn’t always a gift. He missed many things ordinary children experience and insists that life without human relationships is purposeless. Kim’s message is simple and clear: “Being special is not as important as living an ordinary life.”
