A two-year-old child prodigy from Great Britain became the youngest ever member of the club of geniuses from around the world (4 photos)

Two-year-old Joseph Harris-Bertill from the UK has been officially accepted into Mensa, the world's oldest and largest society for people with high IQs. At the age of two years and 182 days, he became the youngest member in the organization's history.





While most children his age are just beginning to master the alphabet, Joseph can already read entire books fluently. He also shows interest in Morse code, the Greek alphabet, and even the periodic table. The boy's parents, Rose and David, noticed from the very beginning that their son was ahead of his peers in development.

“It was obvious he was an unusual baby. He rolled over at five weeks, said his first word at seven months, and read his first book aloud from start to finish at 18 months,” Joseph’s mother told Guinness World Records.



By the age of two and a quarter, Joseph could read aloud for 10 minutes non-stop, count to ten in five languages, and count forwards and backwards to over 100. By comparison, most children begin to say their first words at around one year old and begin to read at five or six years old.

The parents, realising that the traditional education system may not be prepared for such exceptional cases, turned to the UK chapter of Mensa for advice.

“I was looking for any additional support and saw that Mensa provides resources and membership for gifted children. We hope that in the future this achievement will be something he will be proud of. It is a truly extraordinary recognition and all the credit goes to him!” Rose explains.





To get into Mensa, you must either pass an IQ test or provide convincing evidence that you are among the top two percent of intellectually gifted people. Joseph demonstrated his abilities from a very early age, and Mensa experts had no doubt about his uniqueness.

The previous record belonged to a girl named Isla McNabb from Kentucky (USA), who was accepted into Mensa at the age of two years and 195 days. Joseph beat this record by 13 days.

Experts note that true child prodigies are extremely rare - estimated at one in 5-10 million children. However, even with such a head start, a favorable environment and family support play a key role in a child's development.

Apparently, Joseph has everything he needs to continue exploring the possibilities of his amazing mind.