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Terence Tao was tested by Australian psychologist Miraca Gross at age 9 as part of a longitudinal study of exceptionally gifted children. The Stanford-Binet score of approximately 230 was published in Gross's 1992 study and remains one of the most well-documented childhood IQ measurements in the literature.

Tao took university mathematics courses at age 9, completed his bachelor's degree at 16 and his PhD at Princeton at 20. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 2006, the MacArthur Fellowship the same year, and the Crafoord Prize in 2012. He has been a professor at UCLA since age 24 and is widely considered one of the most productive working mathematicians.

Unlike many high-IQ figures, Tao's number was documented in a peer-reviewed psychometric study with full methodology described. The score is therefore one of the very few "famous" IQ figures with publication-grade documentation behind it.