Walter O'Brien is a genius. He has the fourth-highest IQ ever recorded, higher than that of Einstein. 

As the series trailer states: “My name is Walter O’Brien, and I am a genius. Einstein had an IQ of 165. Mine is 197."

Mr O’Brien grew up near Enniscorthy in Co Wexford before moving to Co Kilkenny. He has since moved to the US where he heads Scorpion Computer Services, specialising in international security.

He hacked into NASA's computers at the age of 13 and was also instrumental in tracking down the Boston bombers.

The 39-year-old has inspired a new CBS television series titled Scorpion (which was O’Brien’s hacking name in Ireland).

Mr O'Brien employs over 2,000 geniuses all around the world, who solve difficult problems for the likes of the US military and high-net-worth individuals.

He is said to be personally responsible for catching the Boston bombers by writing an algorithm that tracked motion on all the cameras within a two-mile radius of the blast. And has also been linked with preventing nuclear meltdowns from happening.

The series is from the same team behind Prison Break and Mr O'Brien hopes the show will make computer studies "cool".