Eve Wedderburn, a 13-year-old girl from Scotland, joins the ranks of Albert Einstein, Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking after a Mensa test credited her with an IQ of 160. According to Mensa, the average person would expect to score 100 while a genius score is anything above 140. Albert Einstein was thought to have an IQ of 160.
She was invited to join the élite Mensa society after her Einstein-level test score placed her within the top one percent of the population. Candidates for Mensa membership must score at or above the 98th percentile on a standard IQ test. Marilyn Vos Savant entered Guinness Hall of Fame for having an IQ higher than Albert Einstein had. Savant is credited with a score of 228, the world’s highest recorded test score, according to Mensa.
Eve told The Scotsman , “Parts of the main exam were quite tricky, such as the picture tests, but some parts I did find easy.” She was surprised to learn her intelligence was on par with Albert Einstein’s, “I didn’t think I would do so well and just thought I would do OK, so I was quite amazed when I heard that I had been compared to someone like Albert Einstein.”
The girl’s mother operates a vacation cottage business. Though not as bright as Einstein, she was also remarkably intelligent. The woman told The Courier , “I was in the top three per cent and she was in the top one so the fact that mum didn’t get in makes it even better for her! She is fairly embarrassed and modest about it so hasn’t told anyone at all, but we are proud of how well she has done at what started out as just a bit of a laugh.” Albert Einstein won the Nobel Peace Prize, but Eve just wants to “go to university.”
The extraordinarily smart Scottish girl enjoys creating artwork and participating in sports. She does enjoy math and English classes, but said she’s nervous that her instructors will treat her differently. She said, “I am not looking forward to meeting my teachers back at school – I just don’t know what they will make of it.”
Earlier this year, an 11-year-old Romanian living in the UK topped Albert Einstein’s score with a score of 162! See how well you stack up against the likes of Albert Einstein by taking a Mensa challenge here , and then post your results in the comments!
[Image by DonkeyHotey on Flickr]