4-Year-Old Girl with Sky-High IQ Joins Mensa

4-Year-Old Girl with Sky-High IQ Joins Mensa

By Erica Ho | @ericamho | April 16, 2012 | +

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Meet a 4-year-old girl whose IQ is just 1 point shy of Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. Legos first, the theory of relativity next.

Heidi Hankins, from Winchester, England, is the newest kid on the block to join Mensa, the intellectual organization, with an IQ of 159. At the age of 2, Hankins was reportedly already reading at an 8-year-old level. There are no standardized IQ tests for children under the age of 10, so the toddler was psychologically evaluated.

Back in 2009, Oscar Wrigly joined Mensa at the age of 2 with an IQ of 160 to become the youngest child to ever join the organization. The average IQ in the general population is said to be about 100.

Mensa only recruits members whose IQs belong in the top 2% of the population. According to the Toronto Star, Heidi is one of approximately 90 children under the age of 10 who belong to the British chapter of Mensa.

“She will remember times and events and things you wouldn’t even notice,” Hankin’s father told the Star. “She has a really good memory for times and places and details.”

Erica Ho is a contributor at TIME and the editor of Map Happy. Find her on Twitter at @ericamho and Google+. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

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