The Peculiar Nature of Geniuses

How do we define genius? If it's by IQ alone, then Nathan Leopold wins hands down. Leopold was born in 1904 to a wealthy German Jewish immigrant family in Chicago. A child prodigy, his IQ tested out at 210, where the cutoff for mere genius is 140.

By age 19, Leopold had already graduated from the University of Chicago and was planning on studying law at Harvard University. He spoke fivelanguagesfluently, and was a nationally recognized expert on birds. He had identified a Kirtland's warbler that had been thought extinct.