Lydia Sebastian’s Mensa IQ test score was higher than both Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, the Economic Times reports.
The 12-year-old schoolgirl from Essex achieved the highest possible score of 162 on a Mensa IQ test, beating the scores of both men, who are believed to have received a 160 and are commonly referred to as “geniuses.”
Her score makes her a part of the one percent of entrants to attain a perfect score on the Cattell III B paper supervised by Mensa, the society for people with high IQs, completing it with time to spare at Birkbeck College in London.
Lydia started expressing interest in taking the test last year, but just decided to take it during her school’s holiday break.
British Indian Girl Lydia Sebastian Has IQ Higher Than Albert #Einstein & #StephenHawking http://t.co/8NGuwfQJD3 pic.twitter.com/5cBGyuhC3M
— India West (@IndiaWest) September 8, 2015
“Lydia had looked at the websites for the IQ tests herself and had shown an interest in them and talked to my wife about them, so she said: ‘Why don’t you go ahead with them’?” her father, Arun Sebastian , a radiologist at Colchester general hospital, said, according to the International Business Times.
“She was talking about it for over a year. When I heard she had the maximum possible mark, I was overwhelmed, and so was my wife,” he added.
Lydia, a student of Colchester County High School in Essex, said she was nervous about the test at first, but then she eventually became relaxed and said it was much easier than she had expected.
12-year-old Brit Lydia Sebastian scores a higher IQ than #AlbertEinstein . Very impressive! http://t.co/WpTbHClsKl
— Albert Einstein (@AlbertEinstein) September 7, 2015
Lydia is talented in many areas, and has read all of the books in the Harry Potter series at least three times. She has also been playing the violin since she was 4, and she started talking when she was only 6-months-old.
“When she was a few years old she was reading books that were for children several years older than her,” Arun said. “Maths is her favourite subject; she won a prize for that when she was at primary school.”
#LydiaSebastian , Indian-origin girl in UK with IQ higher than #AlbertEinstein & @stephenhawk ing @ibnkhabar pic.twitter.com/8rlgaTP518
— Akash Soni (@Akashtv1) September 7, 2015
Lydia joins Nicole Barr, a 12-year-old from Harlow, Essex, as well as Aahil Jouher, a 10-year-old from Blackburn, in achieving perfect scores this year. The Cattell III B has 150 questions. The highest score for an adult is 161, while the highest score for anyone under 18 is 162.
[Photo by Central Press / Getty Images]
