Master minds
Sheer genius. MARION McMULLEN looks at some high profile members as the world’s oldest IQ society turns 75
TOP American sci-fi writer and trained chemist Isaac Asimov once said: “People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”
A member of Mensa, he was a maths genius and professor of biochemistry at Boston University and is said to have taught himself to read when he was only five. His famous Foundation books have just been turned into a major series for Apple TV+ starring Jared Harris, and a crater on Mars also bears his name.
Asimov had an IQ of 160 but once claimed he pushed that number up to 300 by finishing an IQ test book in 15 minutes instead of the recommended 30 minutes.
But he said testing could be misleading and pointed out: “I have been a lifelong beneficiary of intelligence tests. I don’t think much of them. I believe they only test one facet of intelligence – the ability to answer the kind of questions other people with the same facet of intelligence are likely to ask.
“My 1Q rating has always been out of sight, but I am perfectly aware that in many respects I am remarkably stupid.”
Inventor and computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair was chairman of British Mensa for 17 years and joined in 1959. Sir Clive, who passed away last month at the age of 81, is said to have had an IQ of 159. He once said: “If the press gives the impression that Mensa is eccentric that is because it is.”
The average IQ is between 85 to 115 and experts believe scientist Albert Einstein would have scored 160 or more on the test – the same as Professor Stephen Hawking.
Mensa is the world’s oldest and largest IQ society and the only criteria to join is the ability to demonstrate you have an IQ in the top two per cent. It was founded 75 years ago in 1946 by barrister Roland Berrill and scientist and lawyer Dr
Lance Ware and membership rose to almost
40,000 when Sir Clive Sinclair was in office.
Sir Clive brought computers into people’s homes with his ZX models and provided inspiration for some of today’s gaming industry bosses. Many learnt their craft on the ZX80 or ZX81 – or its rival the Commodore 64 – when they were growing up. And it was in the early 1970s that he invented the pocket calculator – a drastic reduction in size at the time.
Sir Clive launched his new electric vehicle the Sinclair C5 in 1985. The battery-powered one-seater tricycle cost £399 and was introduced as a means of revolutionising transport, but it failed to prove popular – eventually sending Sinclair Vehicles into receivership.
The inventor left school at 17 and worked for four years as a technical journalist with Practical Wireless. He was 22 when he formed his first company called Sinclair Radionics and he went on to bring out the digital watch and the first pocket television.
Novelist Leslie Charteris, creator of The Saint books starring dashing thief Simon Templar, was an early member of Mensa and was fluent in several languages and worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood where he would often go sailing with film stars like Errol Flynn and Gregory Peck.
He wrote a guide book to learning Spanish and devised his own sign language called Paleneo, but once pointed out: “Any stupid remark, quoted enough, becomes gospel.”
It’s no joke but Mrs Brown comedy star Brendan O’Carroll is also a member of Mensa with a reported IQ of 153. The comedy favourite has said: “Anyone who underestimates me is a very silly person.”
Former Countdown maths whizz Carol Vorderman has a high IQ of 154 and is a member of the society. She was studying engineering at Cambridge when she was 17 and joined Channel 4 TV quiz Countdown in 1982 when she was 21 after her mother saw a newspapers advert for a “woman with good mathematical skills”.
Beetlejuice and Thelma and Louise film star Geena Davis has a reported IQ of 140 and is a member of Mensa. She speaks fluent Swedish and can play the piano, flute and organ and her off-screen work has included setting up non-profit research organisation the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.
Mensa is now a global organisation with 145,000 members in 100 countries. Its motto is “Where everyone is different, so no-one is”.
The Isle of Man brought out a series of stamps this year to celebrate the society’s anniversary. Fittingly they include hidden puzzles, codes and cyphers.
British Mensa Chief Executive Cath Hill said: “Mensa’s 75th anniversary is a huge milestone for the society, and we are delighted that the Isle of Man Post Office has chosen to celebrate it with us by issuing this beautiful set of stamps.”
Brainy codebreakers need to work out the key to solve the cypher ... but they might need a magnifying glass. The puzzles contain logic and non-verbal reasoning, and also many secrets hidden in microtext and cyphers.