The boy is struggling. "If there are 4,700 apples in the orchard, and 16 pickers, the fastest of whom picks 50% more than the slowest..." He turns to his brother for help, only to get a put-down: "Come on, stupid - you don't have to be a rocket scientist to work it out."

This phrase and its alternative - "you don't have to be brain surgeon" - are so widely used that we have come to accept the two professions as the cleverest on the planet. Might one be cleverer than the other? Researchers tried using a test devised at Imperial College, London to find out.

The Great British Intelligence Test focuses on six different areas. It was taken by 329 aerospace engineers and 72 neurosurgeons. Their scores were compared with each other's - and with members of the public.

The engineers proved better than the surgeons at concentration and mental exercises. The surgeons scored much higher in word puzzles.

The strangest discovery was that the public did just as well as the rocket scientists. And though the neuroscientists were quicker at solving problems, they were less good at memorising.

"It shows is that everyone has a range of skills," said one of the study's authors, Aswin Chari. "It is very difficult to be better in everything across the board."

To many, Wernher von Braun was the epitome of the brilliant scientist. Born in Germany, he helped develop the V-2 rocketsAround 5,000 people were killed in attacks on the UK, France and Belgium. in World War Two. He was captured by US forces, and went on to mastermind the rockets used in the ApolloA US space programme which ran from 1961 to 1972 and took 12 astronauts to the moon and the ancient Greek god of the sun, poetry, and archery. space programme.

Writers and film-makers have long delighted in mad scientists. Mary ShelleyShe wrote Frankenstein as part of a contest to write a ghost story. Lord Byron and her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley competed against her. paved the way with her 1818 novel FrankensteinA novel about a scientist who builds a monster out of different human body parts.. Jules Verne gave the world Captain NemoThe inventor of an enormous submarine called the Nautilus. in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1870). In 1933, Norman Hunter dreamt up Professor Branestawm, whose inventions included the unspillable tea cup.

Defining intelligence is difficult. AristotleA student of Plato, tutor to Alexander the Great and the father of political philosophy. promoted the idea of "reason", which meant the ability to control instincts. This held sway for 2,000 years.

In the 19^th Century, George RomanesA Canadian-English biologist who was one of the founders of modern psychology. He was heavily influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. came up with the term "intelligence", meaning a person's ability to adapt to and succeed in their environment. In World War One, the US army developed the IQA means of measuring human intelligence. A person's IQ is usually ascertained by making them sit a standardised test. Some have criticised these tests as a means of evaluating intelligence, claiming that they ignore much of what it means to be intelligent. test to measure mental skills and work out recruits' aptitude for jobs.  

In the 1980s, psychologist Howard Gardner suggested there are different types of intelligence, from logical to emotional. Others argue intelligence cannot be divided up in this way.

Yes. There are many kinds of intelligence, and we all possess at least one. Taking a free kick in football requires minute calculations about how hard to kick the ball and where to place it, even if the player is not aware that he or she is making them.

No. Intelligence is about solving problems, and the ability to do that varies. Learning a language or designing a car is more mentally demanding than kicking a football. If we were all equally intelligent, everyone would be top of the class.