BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- A 12-year-old British girl has achieved the maximum score in the Mensa IQ test, surpassing physicists Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Lydia Sebastian scored 162 on Mensa's Cattell III B paper, the maximum score for under-18s. The IQs of both Hawking and Einstein are believed to be 160.
"I don't think I can be compared to such great intellectuals such as Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. They've achieved so much. " said Lydia Sebastian, who is currently in Year 8 at Colchester County high school in Essex, England.
The top adult score in the Cattell III B test, which primarily tests verbal reasoning, is 161. The club allows entry for those with IQs 148 or over, the top 2-percent of the population.
Lydia achieved 162, placing her in the top 1-percent of the population.
Her father, Arun Sebastian, a radiologist at Colchester general hospital, said, Lydia has looked at the websites for the IQ tests herself and has shown an interest in them. Her mother, Erika Kottiath, is an associate director at Barclays Bank.
Lydia has reportedly read all the seven Harry Potter books thrice. Maths is her favorite subject and she won a prize for Maths when she was at primary school.
(Agencies)
