Adhara Perez, the girl genius from Mexico who dreams of working at NASA

 Adhara Pérez’s IQ is 162, which is 70 points above average and two points higher than both Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. Keep in mind that a person is considered gifted when they have an IQ of 130. Her name comes from the constellation Canis Major, one of the brightest in the sky, so it is no coincidence that Adhara Pérez loves outer space and the stars.

The girl genius was born in Veracruz, Mexico, and learned to read at just two years old. Adhara also finished elementary school by the age of five, middle school by six, and high school by seven. 

Adhara was born on August 28th, 2011. Her family noticed she was special from a very young age. By the age of three, she had already learned algebra and the periodic table!

Adhara was bullied for being ‘weird,’ but after seeing doctors, therapists, specialists, and psychologists, she was finally given an IQ test. It was then they realized they were in the presence of a genius! As her mother decided to send her daughter to therapy, the psychiatrist quickly advised Pérez to enroll at the Center for Attention to Talent (CEDAT), an institution for talented children.

Instagram/Adhara Perez

Pérez even wrote a book on the struggles she faced early on with being bullied and her experience being a girl genius with Asperger’s, a disorder classified within the autism spectrum that prevents a person from understanding social cues and causes them to have difficulties relating to others easily. 

Because Asperger syndrome affects the ability to socialize and communicate properly, the girl had a hard time making friends. Her classmates were not able to understand her and, even worse, neither were her teachers. Far from empathizing with her, she was severely mistreated; she was bullied, left out, and even received physical violence. Her teachers scolded her and questioned her lack of interest in class, when in reality she was just bored.

However, she didn’t let people like them stop her and joined the likes of other Latino geniuses including Mexican artist Osbelit Garcia, teenage biomedical engineer Carlos Santamaria Diaz, and inventor Xochitl Cruz Lopez.

She already has two Engineering degrees, having studied Industrial Engineering in Mathematics at the Technological University of Mexico (UNITEC) and Systems Engineering at the CNCI University, where she received a scholarship. She is currently doing her Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the National Polytechnic Institute.

Instagram/Adhara Perez

Adhara wants to be a NASA astronaut when she grows up, and her dream is to colonize Mars. She has even traveled to Tijuana, Mexico to give a presentation at an event organized by the Institute of Art and Culture (IMAC) on black holes. She has been to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas and was invited to study astronomy at the University of Arizona. In 2019, this girl also was on the Forbes’ Mexico list of 100 most powerful women. AT JUST 8 YEARS OLD!

She has also learned English to attend college in Arizona, USA, to study a Postgraduate in Astrophysics! Oh, and did we mention that it’s been reported that she’s developing a smart bracelet that will be able to monitor the emotions of differently-abled children, anticipating and preventing seizures and other outbursts? She is doing this, as she says, in hopes that she can prevent others from being misdiagnosed and help change the world.

With the support of her parents, Adhara has taken different specialized courses about space and gives conferences and speeches all around the country. She has also been invited to several institutions, including the Mexican Space Agency.

Instagram/Adhara Perez

This little girl is just amazing, to say the least! Keep reaching for the stars! We’re rooting for you! Make sure to look out for her and others such as Gloria Goyo Martinez, who shined at the Latin Grammys.

Check our Women’s Special Mujeres In Charge to hear some amazing latinas sharing their journey!