He caused a sensation in the United Kingdom.
Rory Bidwell, a 12-year-old British teenager, achieved a maximum score of 162 on the Mensa IQ test, placing him just above the intelligence quotients of Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, estimated at 160. reports the North Devon Gazette.
After his prodigious result, he was contacted by Mensa to join the world's largest and oldest high IQ association, which brings together people who scored in the top 2% of the population.
Its goal: to detect and promote human intelligence in the interest of humanity, to encourage research into the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence, but also to provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members.
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Originally from the county of Devon in southern England, the schoolboy took the two-hour test in the city of Exeter "without any preparation", just days after celebrating his twelfth birthday.
“He even walked calmly to the toilet during a test,” says his mother, ensuring that he did not feel the slightest pressure.
Fortnite and football with friends
From the age of two, Rory showed the first signs of his extraordinary intellectual abilities by completing 100-piece puzzles on his own.
“We always knew he was an incredibly bright boy, but [this test] puts things in context,” his father tells Sky News, who assures that his son told him it was a “very simple test”.
Great Torrington boy achieves maximum score on Mensa IQ test
Published by North Devon Gazette on Thursday 18 January 2024
In addition to this intelligence, Rory is a very athletic and “completely normal” boy, according to his parents.
“He's certainly not sitting there doing quantum physics at tea time.
He's on his PlayStation playing Fortnite and he's told to get out.
He plays football in the park with his friends.
He just has this incredible gift.
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As for how Rory will use his in the future, his father says he "has no idea what he wants to do."
“If he had the choice, he would always want to be a footballer,” says the latter.