Olivia Manning: Child Genius

Eileen Wisniowicz, Editor

Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Olivia Manning. What do these people all have in common?

They are all geniuses.

However, while Einstein and Hawking are known around the world for their brains, the 16-year-old girl from Liverpool, England is quite unknown.

Olivia Manning actually is considered “brainier” than both Einstein and Hawking. Manning has an impressive IQ score of 162, whereas, Einstein is believed to have had a score of 160 along with Hawking. Manning discovered her feat when she was a 12-year-old schoolgirl at North Liverpool Academy in Everton. After her IQ test, she was let into the Mensa International non-profit organization. Mensa is the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world and it is a high honor to be let in. In Mensa, Manning will be challenged to fit her level of intelligence and will be able to work will some of the smartest brains in the world.

Manning has probably known for a long time that she is smarter than her fellow classmates, as she recalls only needing 24 hours to memorize her lines for a Macbeth production. However, she humbly discusses how even she was surprised and speechless when she found out her score.

Now, this is obviously an extraordinary story and an extraordinary girl, so why hasn’t everyone heard her name and her many accomplishments? This is most likely due to the fact that she hasn’t made any significant contribution to the world, at least not yet. There are other child prodigies who have astounding IQ scores just like Manning and we’re all expecting great accomplishments from them as they grow up and finish their education.