10 Smartest Star Trek Characters, Ranked

One of the things that makes "Star Trek" the greatest sci-fi franchise of all time is that it's a property that celebrates intelligence and imagination. This comes both in the form of the franchise's numerous shows and movies featuring expertly competent characters, along with philosophical episodes that leave you thinking. With this article, we're focusing more on the former; not just characters that are hyper-competent, but ones who boast supreme levels of intelligence and wisdom. Indeed, every single "Star Trek" show and movie features incredibly smart individuals, some with heightened levels of cosmic awareness.

With that in mind, we've gathered the most intelligent characters in "Star Trek" and examined visible evidence of their impressive brainpower. Each of these characters are experts at what they do, making them valuable allies or formidable foes to the United Federation of Planets. And while these individuals are not impervious to being outwitted, they have the highest mental acumen of characters in the long-running sci-fi property. These are the 10 smartest ones in the entire franchise, ranked.

Better known as Number One, Una Chin-Riley has her own short history in the "Star Trek" universe, though it has finally been growing. The first officer of the Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike, Chin-Riley was initially played by Majel Barrett before being played by Rebecca Romijn in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." The character is an Illyrian, a race known for genetically modifying themselves despite this practice being explicitly banned by the Federation. This not only boosted Chin-Riley's physical capabilities but also enhanced her mental faculties, making her both stronger and smarter.

"Strange New Worlds" really demonstrates how intelligent and capable Number One truly is, making her one of the most memorable franchise first officers in years. In a way, Chin-Riley is just as clinical and calculating as her crew mate Spock, certainly when the job at hand calls for it. At the same time, Chin-Riley has an enormous amount of emotional intelligence too, as she isn't closed off from her feelings like Vulcans. Underrated for numerous talents that she brings to the Enterprise, the original Number One is Pike's strong right hand for a good reason.

Among its main characters, "Star Trek: Voyager" visibly underutilized Tuvok (Tim Russ), the starship's Vulcan chief of security. Initially working as an undercover Starfleet operative infiltrating the splinter faction known as the Maquis, Tuvok joins the Voyager crew as it's catapulted to the other side of the galaxy. Like many Vulcans, Tuvok is shown to have a keenly analytical mind, easily making him one of the smartest individuals on the Voyager. His Vulcan physiology and heritage also makes him an expert in telepathic techniques, and he mentors Kes (Jennifer Lien) to hone her own psionic powers during their time together.

While boasting several expert competencies, Tuvok is an especially sharp tactician, and his status as a successful infiltrator underscores a subtle cunning to his personality. Perhaps due to his heightened intelligence and telepathic awareness, Tuvok endures mental tampering and experimentation in many "Voyager" episodes, compromising his mind. Despite this, he recovers his senses and mental faculties, including overcoming a rare Vulcan neurological disorder thanks to a timely mind-meld in the series finale. A stoic presence on the Voyager and reliable font of tactical and analytical wisdom, Tuvok is a Vulcan of particularly noteworthy intelligence.

As the chief medical officer in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) was always an expert in his field. The series provided a twist in the episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?," revealing that the young physician's parents arranged for him to receive illegal genetic enhancements as a child. This not only improved Bashir's physical condition but significantly boosted his intelligence, something that he concealed from his friends and colleagues until this fifth season story. Bashir's smarts are so game-changing that Starfleet's black ops branch Section 31 tries to forcibly recruit him twice after this revelation.

"Deep Space Nine" bucked franchise norms with Doctor Bashir and the way that he drastically evolved over the course of the series. That even Section 31 went out of its way on multiple occasions to draft Bashir over other established characters is a clear sign of how smart he is. Given that Bashir spends most of "DS9" deliberately holding back to blend in with his colleagues makes his full potential something of a mystery. But one thing that is definitely certain is that Bashir is one of the smartest individuals in Starfleet during the Dominion War and not one to be underestimated.

One of the most enigmatic figures on the Enterprise during the "Next Generation" era is Guinan, the bartender of the starship's lounge. Played by Whoopi Goldberg, the character is revealed to be one of the El-Aurian species, capable of living for centuries. In the second season episode "Q Who," Guinan is hinted at being more than a mere bartender and stands up to the omnipotent Q (John de Lancie). The episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" similarly hints at her possessing a degree of cosmic awareness, as she is the only character cognizant of the timeline fluctuations around her.

Guinan's presence and Goldberg's performance completely changed "Star Trek: The Next Generation," expanding the show's understated gravitas with her sage role. But more than just being a wise bartender, Guinan boasts centuries of experience and accumulated knowledge from her interstellar travels. Even nearly 40 years after the character's debut, there is still so much about Guinan and the El-Aurians that remain unanswered. But based on the interactions that she has with Q and the show's other characters, what is clear is that she's one of the smartest individuals on "The Next Generation."

Another character that "Star Trek: Voyager" made several big mistakes with was Seven of Nine, a liberated Borg drone played by Jeri Ryan. Assimilated into the Borg Collective from an early age, Seven was connected to the vastness of its hive mind for years. Right from her first appearance, in the fourth season episode "Scorpion," Seven displays an incredible technological acumen, developing a weapon capable of combatting Species 8472. And given that Species 8472 is one of the most powerful races in "Star Trek," easily overpowering the rest of the Borg, this makes Seven a clear standout.

Even after regaining her autonomy by having her connection to the Borg hive mind severed, Seven retains much of the extensive knowledge that it provided her. She frequently takes point on developing experimental technology and leading repair work, including developing a thorium generator to power Caatati vessels. Seven's knowledge extends to ancient extraterrestrial technology, using a long-abandoned communications device to finally restore contact between Voyager and Starfleet. Arguably the smartest person on Voyager, Seven of Nine's contributions are key in getting the vessel home faster than anticipated.

The celebration of smarts throughout "Star Trek" is present as early as "The Original Series" and its main characters. The show routinely featured the crew of the Enterprise using their wits to save the day, including in the episode "Arena," where an overwhelming enemy is overcome with basic chemistry. But the starship's chief science officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) takes that brainy potential to the next level compared to the rest of the crew. That distinction continues during the "TOS" era movies, with Spock shown rebuilding his mental acumen in a matter of months at the beginning of the film "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home."

Spock was so smart that his brain was even stolen once to help power a planetary supercomputer in the infamous "TOS" episode "Spock's Brain." But as unequivocally terrible as that episode is, it does underscore that Spock is the smartest main character from the "Original Series" era. Furthermore, in the episode "Court Martial," Spock plays the Enterprise's computer in chess, revealing him at least as smart as the ship. Indeed, given that he's such a staple in the franchise, it's easy to forget just how ludicrously smart Spock truly is, having set the bar for in-universe intelligence for years.

Whereas Seven of Nine had her connection to the Borg Collective severed after joining the Voyager crew, the Borg Queen remained firmly in control of the hive mind. Often played by Alice Krige, the Borg Queen was invented by a Paramount executive during pre-production on the 1996 movie "Star Trek: First Contact." The character presides over the entire collective and is aware of anything her numerous drones experience as part of their hive mind connection. This means the Borg Queen has immediate access to the sheer wealth of accumulated knowledge that the collective has assimilated.

The level of knowledge that the Borg has is incredible, from its formidable weapons to spacecraft capable of traveling back in time. Like Guinan in "Yesterday's Enterprise," the Borg Queen is aware of changes to the timeline throughout "Star Trek: Picard" Season 2. This suggests that the Borg Queen also possesses cosmic awareness spanning multiple timelines adding to the breadth of her knowledge. All of this information is at the Borg Queen's disposal, making her an infinitely devious antagonist throughout the "Star Trek" franchise.

"Datalore," the Season 1 episode of "The Next Generation," revealed that the Enterprise-D's synthetic senior officer Data had an evil twin brother named Lore. With both "Star Trek" characters played by Brent Spiner, the two androids carry out a contentious dynamic throughout the remainder of "TNG." Despite being deactivated in "TNG," Lore resurfaces in the final season of "Star Trek: Picard," with his memory engrams installed in a composite synthetic being also containing Data. With both programs vying for control of the same body, Data is eventually able to overwrite his brother's programming in their last showdown.

Lore has much of the same computing power and vast stores of information in his positronic brain as his brother. However, given how infinitely devious and completely untrustworthy Lore is, right from his first appearance, that makes him an incredibly dangerous character. As a testament to his cunning, Lore is able to take control of a splinter faction of Borg, cementing just how intelligent he is through his subversion of the collective. A dark mirror of what Data could become, Lore embodies all the calculated malevolence possible from synthetic life.

Data just edges out his brother, given that they both feature largely identical design, including a powerful positronic brain. With his fast computing speed, Data is capable of effortlessly calculating a multitude of complex problems and equations in less than a second. The "TNG" second season episode "The Measure of a Man" specifies that Data is capable of performing 60 trillion operations per second. While real-life modern supercomputers outmatch this speed considerably, we'll cut the "TNG" writers some slack for not imagining such technology would be possible 30 years later.

Antiquated notions on computing technology aside, Data is the smartest individual in Starfleet during the "TNG" and likely reclaims this position after he's reactivated in "Picard." On separate occasions, Data outsmarts both the Borg Queen and Lore, the latter in multiple instances, demonstrating that he's surpassed his brother. After a period of adjustment, Data grows accustomed to an emotion chip, allowing him to develop emotional intelligence. The smartest heroic character in the franchise, Data highlights the noble aspirations of artificial intelligence as only "Star Trek" could depict it.

As smart as an android as advanced as Data is, he's still no match for the limitless omnipotence of Q. Capable of moving freely through time and space, the Q Continuum are capable of untold levels of cosmic power. While not infallible, Q's cosmic awareness appears to spread across divergent timelines and the multiverse, hinting at infinite potential in his understanding of reality. With that immense scope, it's virtually impossible to compete with Q, at least as far as knowledge and a sheer breadth in information is concerned.

Q is the most powerful "Star Trek" character, and a fair bit of that impressive ranking comes from his superior intelligence. Q is aware of developments occurring across the entirety of the space-time continuum, yet he also revels in his knowledge of individual personal lives, too. Frankly, we could've filled this list with all the Q Continuum characters, but, for the sake of variety, we're keeping it to the primary character played by John de Lancie. Even then, that distinction underscores just how smart the entire Q Continuum is, with the primary Q seemingly the most important — and most intelligent — of them all.