Schoolgirl, 13, has a higher IQ than Einstein and Stephen Hawking – but just wants to be a popstar when she grows up
A GENIUS teenager has a higher IQ than Einstein and Stephen Hawking – but just wants to be a popstar when she grows up.
Schoolgirl Suryanshi "Sury" Ranjan, 13, was talking at two, a competitive chess player by three and reading fluently by the age of four.
Just a few months ago Sury joined the ranks of the global super bright squad by taking two supervised tests with the exclusive Mensa society.
Incredibly, the South London teenager achieved the maximum possible result for under 18s of 162, putting her in the top one per cent of the world by IQ.
'ADELE INSPIRES ME'
The student at Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton, South London, said she was "proud" to join the club – but is just as happy singing and hanging out with her friends as working out complex maths puzzles.
And she revealed that despite being a brain box, she wants to be a popstar when she's older.
She told the Sun Online: "Adele is my inspiration, there's so much emotion in her music. "Her songs are amazing. I would love to write songs like her one day."
The Year 8 pupil was born in Mumbai and grew up in West Bengal, where she'd finish off her maths work in 10 minutes before falling asleep from boredom.
I just see things differently to my friends and think differently. I think it's a good thing, it's nice when you get to explain things to your friends
After moving with her family to Kingston Upon Thames, Sury passed entrance exams to 13 different schools with flying colours.
But she insists she's just a regular young teenager – despite having aspirations to study biomedical engineering at Princeton University.
"I don't feel different, we are all just kids, we're all just having fun," she said.
"I just see things differently to my friends and think differently. I think it's a good thing, it's nice when you get to explain things to your friends."
IQ do you think you are?
- Andy Warhol – 86
- Britney Spears – 104
- Dwight D. Eisenhower – 122
- George W. Bush – 124
- Jodie Foster – 132
- Arnold Schwarzenegger – 135
- Shakira – 140
- Meryl Streep – 143
- Barack Obama – 145
- Snoop Dogg – 147
- Carol Vorderman – 154
- Albert Einstein – 160
- Stephen Hawking – 160
- Bill Gates – 160
- Sury Ranjan (aged 13) – 162
- Tara Sharifi (aged 11) – 162
- 70% of the population fall between 85 and 115. Less than 3% score higher than 130. 140 is considered the genius benchmark.
Proud dad Abhijay Ranjan, 45, said it was an "experience" to have such a clever daughter.
"I was a bit apprehensive at first," he told the Sun Online. "I wanted her to have a normal childhood, we were worried she'd be on her own.
"It's like having a third adult in the house – she never wanted to play with a barbie doll, all her toys had to be intellectually stimulating."
Parents Abhijay and mum Niti, a 42-year-old nutritionist, were left reeling from their only child's precociousness.
Her proud dad, a banker with a background in quantum mechanics, said: "By the age of four or five she could already talk like an adult and used to advise us on various things.
"When her mum had an altercation with her brother she sat her down and told her: 'It's not worth it, family comes first.'"
It's like having a third adult in the house – she never wanted to play with a barbie doll, all her toys had to be intellectually stimulating.
Dad Abhijay, who also took the Mensa tests while waiting for his daughter, said he'd "never hear the end of it" after scoring a genius-level 142, significantly less well than his gifted child.
Genius physicists Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking never officially had their IQ tested, but are widely believed to have the equivalent score of 160 – two points less than Sury.
An average age-specific IQ is 100 and typically around 60 per cent of the population score between 85 and 115, with the so-called genius benchmark at 140.
Abhijay added: "We are very proud of her and do want her to realise her full potential. She's such an all-rounder.
"We never wanted her to be purely academic and thankfully she's not just that. It's one thing to be clever but there are other things that are more important."
What is Mensa?
Mensa is the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world.
The only requirement for membership is to score at or above the 98th percentile on IQ or other approved intelligence tests.
Scoring 140 or above is 40 points higher than the national average, and often designated as a 'genius' level of intelligence.
It is believed Eintsein and Stephen Hawking both had an IQ of 160, though neither were officially tested.
To become a Mensan, you tend to need to score at least 132 in the diagrammatical Culture Fair test and 148 or above in the Cattell B III, whoch focuses more on verbal reasoning ability.
The organisation aims to 'create a society that is non-political and free of all racial or religious distinctions'.
It was founded in 1946 in the UK by Roland Berrill, a barrister and Dr Lance Ware, a scientist and lawyer, but now has around 134,000 members in 100 branches across the world.
Its name Mensa, meaning table in Latin, is chosen to symbolise the round-table nature of the club.
Famous members include Sylvester Stallone, Carol Vorderman, Shakira and Sharon Stone.
Sury is certainly a young Mensan – but others have pipped her to the post.
The current youngest member is just fours years old – and the youngest-ever member was only two years and four months old at the time of joining.
While the oldest member ever was 103, after joining when she was already in her 90s.
Think you're an undercover mastermind? Take our IQ challenge to find out now.
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