'Exceptional' Toddler Named Youngest Mensa Member

It can take babies months to learn how to roll over. Joseph Harris-Birtill of the UK mastered the skill in just five weeks, according to his mother. At seven months, around the time many babies become experts at rolling over, Joseph was speaking his first word. And just over a year later, he read his first book out loud from cover to cover. As you may have guessed, Joseph is "an exceptional little being," mother Dr. Rose Harris-Birtill tells Guinness World Records, which has just recognized Joseph as the youngest ever member of Mensa, the high-IQ society admitting only those with an IQ of 132 or above. He was admitted at 2 years and 182 days old, making him 13 days younger than American Isla McNabb was when she joined in 2022, per CBS News.

Rose Harris-Birtill—who, like Joseph's father, David, is a lecturer at Scotland's prestigious University of St. Andrews—says she reached out to Mensa after learning they offer resources and membership "for highly able children." To be admitted to the society at such a young age is "a very unusual accolade and the credit is all his!" she adds. Born Nov. 23, 2021, Joseph already speaks English fluently, can count to 10 in five languages, and knows the Greek alphabet. He's also learning piano, chess, morse code, and "has recently gotten interested in the periodic table," his mother says. "In Mensa, we hope to provide him with a community of peers as a source of further support as his formidable intellect continues to grow and develop," she adds, per Guinness. (More Mensa stories.)