Girl power vision of Lankan whiz kid
A ‘Child Genius’ with an IQ above both the famous physicists Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking!
Who is this 12-year-old mathematics whiz kid called the “human calculator” who has stunned audiences not only in Britain but across the world?
Nishi with Mum Shirani and Dad Neelanga
It is Nishi Amanda Uggalle of Sri Lankan heritage who is vying for the coveted title of ‘Child Genius Winner & Britain’s Brightest Child’.
She is the first-ever Sri Lankan to be part of the final 20 in this contest and as audiences both television and on social media await with bated breath for the final result of this year’s contest held by Channel 4 due on March 2 (yesterday evening British time), many are of the view that the winner is a foregone conclusion.
And it is Nishi who is on their minds and in their hearts. For, she has impressed all with her mathematics prowess and warmed their hearts with a simple quote about “girl power”.
“I’d like to prove that girls are just as good and girls can win too!” declared Nishi during the contest and the Sunday Times learns in an email interview that she is “very keen” on getting more girls into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, as they are often stereotypically “boys’ only subjects”.
Nishi: An IQ higher than that of Einstein and Hawking
The only daughter of Neelanga Uggalle and Shiromi Jayasinghe, Nishi’s Dad works in IT security and is a Vice President in Barclays Bank, while her Mum is an Accountant. The family of three lives in Manchester and Nishi attends a top school, the Altrincham Girls’ Grammar School.
The origins though are very Sri Lankan, as both Neelanga and Shiromi are from Padukka. They had attended Nalanda College and Lumbini Vidyalaya respectively. It was when Neelanga was attached to the British Council in Colombo that he got a promotion to its head office in Manchester, moving there in 2001. Nishi had been born in the UK.
The realization that Nishi was very special came early, when she was still a toddler. “I would read a book to her a few times and she could remember it word for word. She was able to count to 100 by around 2. When she started nursery around 2, the staff found that Nishi liked to do activities that older kids did like puzzles and drawing,” says Neelanga, adding that when she went into primary school at 4, within two weeks her teacher nominated her for the National Gifted and Talented Register.
Nishi received global attention through her MENSA success at the tender age of 10, but is firmly grounded, humble and modest. “I don’t really feel different,” she has repeatedly said, and had set up a maths club for her age group and up to 4 years older, to help those with maths problems.
She is still very much a little girl, engrossed in reading, dabbling in computer programming, baking with her Mum, walking about in the countryside and playing with cats.
She “really loves doing homework and sometimes I have to ask her to stop,” says Neelanga.
Getting down to the contest to find the ‘Brightest Child in Britain’, he explains that schools and organisations run tests at local level to find the best children (between 9-12 years of age). Channel 4, a British public-service TV broadcaster, and MENSA, the High IQ Society also invite child-achievers to take part.
From thousands, the best 100 children are invited for a full day of tests, with the list being narrowed down to 30, followed by another round of testing, a discussion with the family and first visit to the home by a camera crew, to whittle down the number to 20.
The final six-day competition has two rounds each day, with low-scorers leaving daily.
“It’s the hardest competition a child could compete in academically. It’s very difficult to guess who will win, but I have always been in the top 2 of the leaderboard and hope that momentum will continue,” says Nishi, adding that some mental maths could be 354, add 752, add 527, add 329. Or calculate 59 times 6, subtract 34, divide by 8 and multiply by 9. Or spell eleemosynary.
Nishi’s IQ (Intelligence Quotient) of 162 is reported to be over that of Einstein and Hawking which was 160.
In the final round on Friday were eight contestants and yesterday five.
Will self-motivated, hungry-for-knowledge and curious Nishi carry the large trophy home on March 2? Her numerous fans hope so!