A brainy schoolboy who is obsessed with space took an IQ test and got a better score than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

Julien Deleau-Lees was aged just ten when he passed with flying colours, scoring 162 - the maximum given to under-18s on the intelligence test.

He is now one of the youngest members of the genius club Mensa.

It means he has a higher IQ than German-born physicist Einstein and black hole theorist Stephen Hawking, whose scores were both around 160.

Julien, a Year 7 pupil at King Edward VI school in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks., now intends to follow in the footsteps of his hero, the late Stephen Hawking.

The youngster, who is now 12, said: "I think I would like to do astrophysics and study space and physics. "

"I like quantum physics. Black holes are interesting. I have always been inspired by Stephen Hawking. "

"I found his theories fascinating and I would like to explore his ideas further to improve our understanding of the universe."

Julien travelled to Birmingham to sit the Mensa test in 2022 and says it was "fairly easy"."

He added: "I wanted to take the test when I was eight. I was curious what score I would get but I waited a couple more years."

"The test was fairly easy for me. I look for things that are similar across rows and "
columns - and consider the possibilities.

"If you see a similarity that's quite often where the solution is."

When Julien is not studying for tests or reading up on quantum physics, the youngster blows of steam playing computer games with his friends online.

He added: "I love Minecraft and Fortnite."



"I always really liked maths and physics, specifically space, but I also like games a lot."

"It's not intellectual, I just find them entertaining and fun, especially when you play with your friends."

Julien even built his own super computer after his existing one lacked the memory power he wanted for his gaming.

His proud mum Jane, 58, and estate agent, realised her son was special by his remarkable ability to calculate huge maths problems in his head.

She said: "From a young age he's been bright from a young age. He's been always very mature in his thinking. "

"He's always loved maths since he was really young. Anything to do with maths, he did it recreationally. "

"He would want to do challenges and take them home."

"He's got this ridiculous ability to do these big numbers. I don't know how he stores it all but he can work it out in his head. "

"It's always been remarked that he always gets an answer very quickly."

"He built a big gaming PC. He wanted one that was more powerful than a laptop type. "

"He got all the components, did a shopping list on amazon, and he built it all. He wired it all up and it's all lit up. "

"I can't help him at all. He really does just get on with it. I think he enjoys the challenge. "

"But his biggest love is science. His favourite thing is probably space. He has a huge amount of knowledge about what is going on in space. "

"He can easily explain black holes and stars. He can always go so much deeper than that. "

"He's interested and questions it. "

"He would say he wants to be a quantum physicist and an astrophysicist. "

"He's just very interested in it, he loves it and is fascinated by it. "

"He has a real ability to understand it. He's like a sponge, he just understands very easily. "

"Both his grandparents are surgeons. His father is kind of a whizz of chemistry and maths. "

"It's just the way he is. He loves challenges and being tested. He enjoys tests and quizzes at school. I think he just finds that competitive."

Julien is now studying his GCSEs a year earlier than his classmates and hopes to add Greek and Latin to his CV.

Jane added: "I am really proud of him. I'm more proud of him because he's such a lovely kid. "

"His homework is always top marks. He has his own homework days, he has a timetable. He's acing it."