 "Five things to know about Lydia Sebastian, the Mensa IQ topper")
Lydia Sebastian, a 12-year-old Indian-origin girl in the UK has achieved the highest possible score of 162 on a Mensa IQ test, outplaying the score card of great physicists like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Sebastian is from Essex and has joined the one per cent of all entrants to attain the highest marks in the Cattell III B paper supervised by Mensa, the society for people with high IQs.
Here are five important things to know about Sebastian and Mensa
1. The Kerala connection
Born to 43-year-old Arun Sebastian, a radiologist at Colchester General Hospital, and mother Erika Kottiath, who is an associate director at Barclays Bank. Her parents hail from 'The God’s Own Country', that is , Kerala, and settled in Langham, Essex in the UK.
2. A Literature freak
More From This Section
Lydia is a die-hard fan of the Harry Potter book series. She has read all seven of the Harry Potter book series, thrice. The Daily Mail, has quoted her father as saying: "She also had an early interest in reading. When she was a few years old, she was reading books that were for children several years older. Maths, for which she won a prize when she was at primary school, is her favourite subject .”
3. The rare trio
It is rare to score the maximum in the Mensa IQ test. Only one per cent of people, who have taken the test so far have achieved this feat. Lydia joins Nicole Barr, a 12-year-old from Harlow, Essex, and Aahil Jouher, a 10-year-old from Blackburn, in the elite club this year.
4. What is Mensa ?
Mensa, the high IQ society, provides a forum for intellectual exchange among its members. It has members in more than 100 countries around the world, and activities like the exchange of ideas through lectures, discussions, journals, special-interest groups, and local, regional, national and international gatherings; the investigation of members' opinions and attitudes; and assistance to researchers, inside and outside Mensa, in projects dealing with intelligence or Mensa.
5. How to join Mensa ?
Membership of Mensa is open to persons, who have attained a score within the upper two percent of the general population, on an approved intelligence test that has been properly administered and supervised.