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.
