Heidi Hankins: 4-Year-Old Genius Joins Mensa With 159 IQ
Heidi Hankins is smarter than you. Well, unless you happen to be Stephen Hawking. The four-year-old from Winchester, England was recently admitted to Mensa with an IQ of 159.
The Huffington Post reports that Hankins’ score is slightly lower than renowned geniuses like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, but well above the average person’s IQ, which stands at about 100.
Heidi’s father, Matthew, said that he noticed his daughter’s intelligence from a young age. By age 1 Heidi was booting up the family computer. At 18 months she was playing chess. At 2-years-old she was reading at the level of an 8-year-old. Hankins, a lecturer at the University of Southampton, said:.
“We always thought Heidi was pretty bright because she was reading early. I happen to specialize in measuring I.Q.s in children, and I was curious about her and the results were off the scale…. Heidi has really flourished quicker than other children –- academically, artistically and physically.”
The Star reports that Heidi is one of about 90 children under the age of 10 who belong to British Mensa. The Daily Mail reports that the youngest girl to ever be admitted into Mensa was just two-years-old. Georgia Brown was admitted into the society of geniuses with an IQ of 152 when she was 2.
Mensa is full of great thinkers like Stephen Hawking, Isaac Asimov, and Albert Einstein, but the Mensa society isn’t limited to the academic field. Actors Steve Martin, Geena Davis, and James Woods all belong to Mensa, as well as porn star Asia Carrera and Playboy Playmate Julie Peterson.
Tags : 4-year-old genius, genius, heidi hankins, heidi hankins genius, heidi hankins mensa, mensa
Posted: April 18, 2012
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Apr 18, 2012
White children are so cute and so smart.
Apr 18, 2012
Think she would give Dr. Sheldon Cooper(The Big Bang Theory) a good run for his money! ROTFL!
Apr 18, 2012
Being smart is ay least one thing she has going for her. Looks aren't everything.
Apr 19, 2012
wow. Mensa before menses.
Apr 19, 2012
LOL… good one, Joseph Hinkofer!
Apr 19, 2012
Maybe we should have her run the country. We all know the one`s that are are don't have clue on how to do it.
Apr 19, 2012
Yeah, but can she arm wrestle?
Apr 19, 2012
Here's my opinion on Mensa and really what I think of the validity of someone with a high IQ as really being smarter than your average Joe. Does anyone who belongs to it know how to build a house from the ground up, including the electrial, plumbing, etc? Does anyone of them know how to surgically remove a heart and replace it? Does anyone of them know how a vehicle engine works? Does anyone of them know how to set out baited hooks to catch a catfish? Does anyone of them know the seasons to plant certain crops or even better, vegetables for a garden? I've listed some easy things that the average person knows and some things that a specialist knows and some things that kids know and all without having high IQ's. To me true IQ doesn't come from a specialized test. However, I don't hold anything against high IQ individuals because they can do certain things that I can't. I just think the true measure of intelligence can't be measured from paper.
Apr 19, 2012
I think that is pretty amazing! Great for her!
Apr 19, 2012
That's good for her hope she gets many wedgies and her head flushed down the toilet while in school.
Apr 19, 2012
yeah, but can she cook?
Apr 19, 2012
Aw, but the real test of intelligence – is she on Team Edward or Team Jacob?
Apr 19, 2012
Its not that she has a high IQ its what she can accomplish later in life with that IQ. However it is most certainly a gift. Ain't that right Asia Carerra?
Apr 20, 2012
I'm seeing her in 20 years and she driving a bunch of kids to soccer practise in a Volvo and whining about her unrealized potential to the rear view mirror. Oh well.
Apr 20, 2012
Yeah right! They don't let smart people run countries, hasn't history shown you anything!?
Apr 20, 2012
Or driven crazy by the rest of the world's stupidity.
Apr 20, 2012
The real question is, can she make a sandwhich, and iron socks at the same time?
Apr 20, 2012
IQ doesn't mean anything. I see smart ass people every day at work, when it comes to shit you can learn they are the smartest people ever, but when it comes to making a common sense decision, they are dumb as fk.
Apr 20, 2012
I know one MENSA member. Ask him to make a common sense decision and watch him fk it up. I know several very intelligent engineers too, but same thing. Cannot make a simple decision regarding life.
Apr 20, 2012
Wow the child of a father who "happens to specialize in measuring IQ in children" scores high and makes news ,,, Shocker.
Apr 20, 2012
Let's hope she can find the cure for baldness. I mean, cancer.
Apr 20, 2012
amazing, that's all I can say, without sounding stupid.
Apr 20, 2012
So being 4.0 years old with an IQ of 159 put her at a mental age of 6.36 years old. It would only be impressive if she kept her IQ 159 over the years.
Apr 20, 2012
Does anyone know how/where you can get your I.Q. score?
Apr 20, 2012
It's kind of interesting to me from a genetic standpoint. My seven year old Sammy is in Mensa and has also just been made a Davidson Youth Scholar, which is a nationwide nonprofit program to identify and support profoundly gifted kids from ages 5 years to 16 years. There are only about 2,000 in the entire U.S.
Apr 26, 2012
They don't let smart people run countries particularly in democracies because the voters won't accept realities that smart people running for office would like to tell them. If you only allowed those with an IQ over 120 to vote-then we might get smarter politicians. I say might because even smart people want to delude themselves. Barak Obama has an IQ over 140 but he preaches that the key to his success is education. He tells 80 IQ Americans all they need to do is follow his footsteps through an Ivy League education to be successful. This is about as logical as a low IQ lottery winner telling Americans all they need to do to be wealthy is buy lottery tickets. The professions that Obama says Americans should pursue because the wages are high-require degrees that few Americans can pass the course curriculum in. It's the IQ component that limits the supply of graduates and that is why those professions pay more.
Oct 19, 2012
Mensa have their own test. They're pretty darn strict about it too… Do you honestly think that Mensa would just take a fathers word for it?
Oct 19, 2012
I have similar problems, being smarter than average does not mean that you'll be happy in life. I can do stuff in my head but ask me to explain it…? Forget it.
Oct 19, 2012
No. Your IQ doesn't change… Your IQ is your IQ and you're stuck with it save for a brain injury or some other such incident.
An IQ of 159 is remarkable at any age.
Oct 19, 2012
Judge this Asia Carrera lady all you will but it must really irritate you that you earn less than successful pornstars… Hmm.
Oct 19, 2012
You can take a Mensa test for a very reasonable fee (my high school had me tested so not sure of the actual fee) and that will place you in a category (average, gifted, genius etc.) and after that I believe you can request your IQ for an additional fee…
Oct 20, 2012
Your IQ does change. So right now she knows what the average 6 year old knows. But if she learned nothing else, her IQ would consequently drop. Maybe that's true in dogs, but in humans, it is not a set value. That's a ridiculous assertion. Is she your daughter or something? Why make up obscenely false rhetoric to refute my point?
Nov 10, 2012
Intelligence is still a poorly understood construct. Mensa allows many tests to be used for admittance and these tests may be dramatically different. For instance they accept Raven's progressive matrices which requires you to decipher pictures and is considered less culturally biased but they also accept traditional IQ tests. For more information, look up Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences or the work of Robert Sternberg.