Marilyn vos Savant

Marilyn vos Savant, American journalist and author

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Born: August 11, 1946
Age in 2026: 80
Zodiac sign: Leo
Birth year: 1946

About Marilyn vos Savant

Marilyn vos Savant is an American magazine columnist who has the highest recorded intelligence quotient (IQ) in the Guinness Book of Records, a competitive category the publication has since retired. Since 1986, she has written "Ask Marilyn", a Parade magazine Sunday column wherein she solves puzzles and answers questions on various subjects, and which popularized the Monty Hall problem in 1990. It had been assumed she was descended from the physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach, but this is disproven by her grandfather's baptism record. Toastmasters International named her one of "Five Outstanding Speakers of 1999", and in 2003 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from The College of New Jersey. Guinness retired the "Highest IQ" category in 1990 after concluding IQ tests were too unreliable to designate a single record holder.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Marilyn vos Savant timeline

1986Since 1986, she has written "Ask Marilyn", a Parade magazine Sunday column wherein she solves puzzles and answers questions on various subjects, and which popularized the Monty Hall problem in 1990.
1990Guinness retired the "Highest IQ" category in 1990 after concluding IQ tests were too unreliable to designate a single record holder.
1999Toastmasters International named her one of "Five Outstanding Speakers of 1999", and in 2003 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from The College of New Jersey.

The world when Marilyn vos Savant was born

Marilyn vos Savant was born in 1946. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1946

#1 song"The Christmas Song" – Nat King Cole
Top movieThe Best Years of Our Lives
Best-selling bookThe King's General – Daphne du Maurier

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentFirst NBA (BAA) season begins
Top headlineUnited Nations General Assembly holds its first session
Technology milestoneENIAC — first general-purpose electronic computer
Defining fadBaby boom begins
Notable inventionTupperware
World population2.43 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
U.S. population141.4M

1946 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Marilyn vos Savant's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1946	2026
Gas	$0.21	$3.45/gal
Average home	$6,600	$435,000
Average income	$4,300	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.40	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.35	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	141.4M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.