You might think you know genius when you see it but as a new book shows, the very definition and idea has had a fluid history. From the divine to the profane, what we mean when we say when we say that potent word.
In 1917, a young psychologist at Stanford University did something strange: he tried to measure the IQs of dead people. Despite the challenge of testing the mental agility of deceased subjects, Lewis Terman claimed that reports of childhood activities, accomplishments, and pastimes could supply the essential data.