Marilyn Vos Savant's intelligence quotient (IQ) score of 228, the highest ever recorded, brought the St. Louis-born writer instant celebrity and earned her the sobriquet "the smartest person in the world." Although vos Savant's family was aware of her exceptionally high IQ score of 228 on the Stanford-Binet test when she was 10 years old (she is also recognized as having the highest IQ score ever recorded of a child), her parents decided to withhold the information from the public in order to avoid commercial exploitation and assure her a normal childhood. Bored with college, Vos Savant left Washington University after two years and launched a career in stocks, real estate, and investment. Her real interest had always been in becoming a writer, but she realized that she first needed to establish a financial base with which to support herself. Within five years, her personal investments afforded her the financial independence to become a full-time writer. Vos Savant wrote novels, short stories, and magazine and newspaper pieces, mostly political satire, under a pseudonym. Vos Savant's attempt at anonymity ended in 1985 when The Guinness Book of World Records obtained her IQ test scores from the Mega Society, a group whose membership is restricted to those with only the highest of the high IQ scores. As members' IQ scores must be higher than 99.999 percent of the general population, membership has been limited to as few as 30 people. Most people's intelligence scores fall within a narrow range on either side of the "normal" score of 100; by contrast, Vos Savant's IQ score of 228 is more than double that of a person with normal intellect and 88 points higher than the genius level. With the publication of her IQ scores in The Guinness Book of World Records, Vos Savant became the focus of media attention. Hardly the stereotypical stuffy supergenius, the outgoing, fun-loving Vos Savant became a favorite on the talk-show circuit. By the time her two children from her first marriage reached college age, vos Savant decided to move to New York City and enjoy her newfound celebrity. In 1987, she married Robert K. Jarvik, the surgeon who developed the mechanical artificial human heart that bears his name. Together, they follow pursuits both intellectual and jovial—the latter of which including ballroom dancing lessons. As vos Savant admitted in a 1994 People article, "My husband's not so hot at the tango, but don't tell him." In 1986, Parade Magazine wrote a profile on Vos Savant that was so popular, they gave her a column titled, “Ask Marilyn.” In it, she answers academic and logic problems. In 1990, one of her readers wrote in with an inquiry about the Monty Hall Problem, a then-obscure probability puzzle, and her response sparked major debate. Her answer was correct. Shockingly, however, over 10,000 scholars wrote in, saying she was wrong, using sexist, derogatory, and vicious name-calling. The absurdity of outrage grew to such an extent that, in 1992, game show host Monty Hall (after whom the probability problem was named), gave an interview to The New York Times. He went into great detail, explaining why vos Savant was correct. There are different psychological factors at play on a live game show when money is at stake, thus altering the variables. Despite the inherent interest in a person with an IQ of 228 and the national outrage over her (correct) Monty Hall response, Vos Savant still lives a quiet life out of the spotlight. She continues to write her column for Parade Magazine and publish books. In 2002, she wrote Growing Up: A Classic American Childhood. It features practical advice for families, featuring everything from car maintenance to choosing a career. Of course, it’s also brimming with activities for children, ages three to 18. No doubt, a preservation of privacy can be found within those pages. Her parents protected her from the spotlight when they discovered they had a child prodigy on their hands and she remains free from the pressures of fame even today. Source: https://biography.yourdictionary.com/marilyn-vos-savant

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