I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that JvN was the #1 mind of his era

top 1% would be such way out of range. top 0.0001% would still not make it justice.

1 out of every million... Yeah, that sounds about right to me as an actual lower bound.

Not sure if you’re being facetious? There were not 100 people of the same calibre as JvN in the US or even the world surely.

JvN, the finished product, probably you're right.

But of the people born with his tools? How many were born into a setting that even cared for intellectual things? How many of them would be born into a wealthy family that could afford to hire private tutors for all their kids?

Yes - probably a lot of regular commenters on HN are among the top 1% in intelligence.

Maybe top 1% of thinking they are ;)

More likely top 10 - if it’s indeed a typo.

"I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann's does not indicate a species superior to that of man"

- Hans Bethe

The top 1 percentile was a gross understatement that I should have removed immediately ;) I agree with many commenters.

I would, however, like to point out that 20th century had many, many great minds, also working in the same timeframe. Claude Shannon comes to mind first, but there were many others whose contributions are the basis of technology today.