"Jewish Genius," by Charles Murray

[JohnEngelman]

Commentary April 2007

As soon as Jewish children born under legal emancipation had time to grow to adulthood, they started appearing in the first ranks of the arts and sciences. During the four decades from 1830 to 1870, when the first Jews to live under emancipation reached their forties, 16 significant Jewish figures appear. In the next four decades, from 1870 to 1910, the number jumps to 40. During the next four decades, 1910–1950, despite the contemporaneous devastation of European Jewry, the number of significant figures almost triples, to 114.

To get a sense of the density of accomplishment these numbers represent, I will focus on 1870 onward, after legal emancipation had been achieved throughout Central and Western Europe. How does the actual number of significant figures compare to what would be expected given the Jewish proportion of the European and North American population? From 1870 to 1950, Jewish representation in literature was four times the number one would expect. In music, five times. In the visual arts, five times. In biology, eight times. In chemistry, six times. In physics, nine times. In mathematics, twelve times. In philosophy, fourteen times.

Disproportionate Jewish accomplishment in the arts and sciences continues to this day. My inventories end with 1950, but many other measures are available, of which the best known is the Nobel Prize. In the first half of the 20th century, despite pervasive and continuing social discrimination against Jews throughout the Western world, despite the retraction of legal rights, and despite the Holocaust, Jews won 14 percent of Nobel Prizes in literature, chemistry, physics, and medicine/physiology. In the second half of the 20th century, when Nobel Prizes began to be awarded to people from all over the world, that figure rose to 29 percent. So far, in the 21st century, it has been 32 percent. Jews constitute about two-tenths of one percent of the world’s population. You do the math.

https://www.commentary.org/articles/charles-murray/jewish-genius/

 

[ll74]

Do you have an opinion on this ?

 

[JohnEngelman]

I have admired Professor Richard Herrnstein ever since September 1971 when he had an article published in the Atlantic that was entitled "IQ." I found the article fascinating, and convincing. It introduced ideas he was later to combine with Charles Murray in The Bell Curve, which was published in 1994.

I have read The Bell Curve, and I agree with it, except for two matters, which are unimportant to the central thrust of the book. First, Herrnstein and Murray argue that even in low skill, low paying jobs people with high IQs are more productive. I think the concept of overqualified is appropriate here. I suspect that an intelligent person in a low skill, low wage job who lacks an obvious way to get anything better, is likely to be bitter about his circumstances in life. This bitterness is likely to influence the way he behaves toward his boss, his coworkers, and the customers of his company.

Second, The Bell Curve claims that an IQ test is the best single way of picking the best candidate for any job. If I was the manager of a computer shop that used C++ in a Unix environment, and I had a choice between an applicant with an IQ of 120, who knew both, and an applicant with an IQ of 140, who knew neither, I would hire the applicant with the IQ of 120. I would need to train the applicant with an IQ of 140, and I would not have the time.

Other than that, I found The Bell Curve to be convincing, I have read "Jewish Genius" several times, and I agree with all of it.

 

[LeahWill]

Commentary April 2007

As soon as Jewish children born under legal emancipation had time to grow to adulthood, they started appearing in the first ranks of the arts and sciences. During the four decades from 1830 to 1870, when the first Jews to live under emancipation reached their forties, 16 significant Jewish figures appear. In the next four decades, from 1870 to 1910, the number jumps to 40. During the next four decades, 1910–1950, despite the contemporaneous devastation of European Jewry, the number of significant figures almost triples, to 114.

To get a sense of the density of accomplishment these numbers represent, I will focus on 1870 onward, after legal emancipation had been achieved throughout Central and Western Europe. How does the actual number of significant figures compare to what would be expected given the Jewish proportion of the European and North American population? From 1870 to 1950, Jewish representation in literature was four times the number one would expect. In music, five times. In the visual arts, five times. In biology, eight times. In chemistry, six times. In physics, nine times. In mathematics, twelve times. In philosophy, fourteen times.

Disproportionate Jewish accomplishment in the arts and sciences continues to this day. My inventories end with 1950, but many other measures are available, of which the best known is the Nobel Prize. In the first half of the 20th century, despite pervasive and continuing social discrimination against Jews throughout the Western world, despite the retraction of legal rights, and despite the Holocaust, Jews won 14 percent of Nobel Prizes in literature, chemistry, physics, and medicine/physiology. In the second half of the 20th century, when Nobel Prizes began to be awarded to people from all over the world, that figure rose to 29 percent. So far, in the 21st century, it has been 32 percent. Jews constitute about two-tenths of one percent of the world’s population. You do the math.

https://www.commentary.org/articles/charles-murray/jewish-genius/

"So far, in the 21st century, it has been 32 percent. Jews constitute about two-tenths of one percent of the world’s population. You do the math."

68% of Nobel prizes in the 21st Century have been won by non-Jews?