How did Alfred Binet develop the first modern intelligence tests?

Alfred Binet, a French psychologist, developed the first modern intelligence tests in collaboration with Theodore Simon. In 1904, the French minister of public instruction commissioned them to create tests to identify intellectually disabled children who needed specialized education. Binet rejected the approach of earlier researchers like Francis Galton, who focused on trivial abilities. Instead, Binet believed intelligence tests should measure higher-level cognitive skills such as judgment, comprehension, and reasoning.123

Binet's work led to the development of influential scales for measuring children's intelligence between 1905 and 1911. His original test was later adapted and brought to Stanford University by Lewis Terman, resulting in the widely used Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. This test, and others like it, provided an overall score known as the intelligence quotient, or IQ.14