Through its many local groups and international contacts, Mensa offers a rich variety of experiences to its members. Some members of Mensa include Steve Martin (the comedian), Scott Adams (the cartoonist), Norman Schwarzkopf (retired US Army General), Isaac Asimov (author), Geena Davis (actress), and Marilyn vos Savant (listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ").
Mensa's constitution lists three purposes: to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to encourage research into the nature, characteristics, and uses of intelligence; and to provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members.At Mensa's 50th Anniversary in 1996, Dr. Lancelot Ware, one of the founders, addressed Mensans by stating that he hoped that "Mensa will have a role in society when it gets through the ages of infancy and adolescence." He also said, "I do get disappointed that so many members spend so much time solving puzzles," expressing his desire for Mensans instead to be solving some of the world's problems.
A normal intelligence quotient (IQ) ranges from 85 to 115 (According to the Stanford-Binet scale). Only approximately 1% of the people in the world have an IQ of 135 or over. In 1926, psychologist Dr. Catherine Morris Cox published a study "of the most eminent men and women" who had lived between 1450 and 1850 to estimate what their IQs might have been. The resultant IQs were based largely on the degree of brightness and intelligence each subject showed before attaining the age of 17.
Here are some prominent people from the past and present along with their IQs:
| Marilyn vos Savant | 228 |
|---|---|
| Christopher Hirata | 225 |
| Kim Ung-Yong | 210 |
| Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | 210 |
| Leonardo da Vinci | 205 |
| Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz | 205 |
| Emanuel Swedenborg | 205 |
| John Stuart Mill | 200 |
| Blaise Pascal | 195 |
| Garry Kasparov | 190 |
| Ludwig Wittgenstein | 190 |
| Bobby Fischer | 187 |
| Galileo Galilei | 185 |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | 180 |
| Buonarroti Michelangelo | 180 |
| Madame De Stael | 180 |
| Johannes Kepler | 176 |
| Samuel Taylor Coleridge | 175 |
| Voltaire | 170 |
| Stephen W. Hawking | 165 |
| Charles Darwin | 165 |
| Samuel Johnson | 165 |
| Albert Einstein | 160 |
| Benjamin Franklin | 160 |
| Alfred, Lord Tennyson | 155 |
| Sharon Stone | 154 |
| Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | 150 |
| Ralph Waldo Emerson | 145 |
| Napoleon Bonaparte | 145 |
| Isaac Newton | 130 |