Autistic Girl, 11, Has IQ Higher Than Einstein and Hawking; Studying for Master's So She Can Work for NASA

Adhara Perez Sanchez, born and raised in Tlahau, Mexico City, has been pursuing a master's degree at the age of just 11 so that she can be an astronaut for NASA one day.

Her talents have seen her hold a higher IQ than both Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

Due to her speech regressing, Sanchez was diagnosed with autism as a three-year-old, which led to her being bullied for her disability during her school days. However, she has not let her disability get in the way of working towards her career goals.

One of the early instances where Sanchez' talents were noticed was when her mother, Nayeli, found that she had memorised the entire periodic table and had taught herself algebra. However, her mother did not think much of this at the time as she felt it had just arisen from boredom.

Remarkably, Sanchez was able to graduate from elementary school as a five-year-old and then just 12 months later, the Mexican had completed both middle school and high school.

Despite burning through education at a very quick pace, Sanchez encountered many difficulties during this period of her life, as the bullying and lack of empathy shown by her teachers caused her to move schools on three occasions.

Nayeli revealed to Marie Claire Mexico on the effect this had on her daughter, saying: "The teachers were not very empathetic, they told me that I wish she would finish an assignment. She began to exclude herself, she did not want to play with her classmates, she felt strange, different."

The mother went on to add: "She could be at school for a while but then she couldn't, she fell asleep, she didn't want to do things anymore. She was very depressed, people did not have empathy, they made fun of her."

To help deal with her depression, Sanchez began seeing a therapist and was recommended to be sent to the Center for Attention to Talent, which specialises in educating the most talented students. This is where she found out about having a remarkably high IQ of 162, which was higher than Einstein and Hawking's score of 160.

Whilst attending an appointment with one of her doctors, Sanchez took notice of artwork in the room of Hawking. After the doctor explained to her about Hawking's life work, the Mexican became fascinated and from there developed her passion for space exploration.

Sanchez has begun her journey to becoming an astronaut by already completing a course in systems engineering, having received a bachelor's degree from CNCI University.

She is studying for a master's degree in mathematics at the Technological University of Mexico and believes this can set her on the path to working for NASA in the future. In particular, she has aspirations of travelling to Mars and exploring the planet.

Speaking to Goalcast, Sanchez explained her ambitions, commenting: "'I want to go to space and colonize Mars. If you don't like where you are, imagine where you want to be. I see myself at NASA, so it's worth a try."

After studying mathematics, Sanchez has aspirations of enrolling in astrophysics at the University of Arizona. She was offered a scholarship by the university, however due to visa complications it was deferred.

Sanchez is keen to inspire other young girls to follow her path, as she makes time away from her own studies to work at the Mexican Space Agency to promote space exploration and mathematics.

Furthermore, the aspiring astronaut is targeting the completion of her G-tests, so that she can get connected with an agency for aspiring scientists and crucially, with connections to NASA.