What is Mensa?

Mensa was founded in England in 1946 by Roland Berrill, an Australian barrister, and Dr. Lance Ware, a scientist and lawyer. They met by chance on a train in England and then had the idea of forming a society for very intelligent people, the only qualification for membership of which was a high IQ (intelligence quotient). The original aims were, as they are today, to create a society that is non-political and free from all racial or religious distinctions. The society welcomes everybody whose IQ is higher than that of 98% of society, independently of what they do in life. The objective is that those people can meet and get to know each other and participate in a wide range of social and cultural activities.

Today Mensa is a big international organization, which is present in over 100 countries. Since 1994 this includes Luxembourg. This site is the online presence of Mensa Luxembourg. Mensa international's site (www.mensa.org) contains links to the sites of the Mensa chapters elsewhere in Europe or the world.

What is Mensa Luxembourg a.s.b.l.?

Mensa Luxembourg is the Luxembourgish chapter of Mensa International. Since 2001, Mensa Luxembourg is an independent association. Before that date, Luxembourg and Belgium formed one common chapter. Mensa Luxembourg is a politically and religiously neutral association (a.s.b.l.) of intellectually gifted people from out bigger region, of all professions and social layers, with the objective of bringing intellectually gifted people together, so that they can meet for social and cultural activities and exchange thought with each other. Currently Mensa Luxembourg is the only organization for intellectually gifted people in Luxembourg.

What kind of people are Members of Mensa?

There is simply no one prevailing characteristic of Mensa members other than high IQ. There are Mensans in every age group, however most members are aged between 20 and 49 years.  In education they range from preschoolers to people with multiple doctorates. There are Mensans in almost any occupations and social layers: Mensa has professors and truck drivers, scientists and fire fighters, computer programmers and farmers, artists, military people, musicians, actors, office workers, police officers, glass blowers... There are famous Mensans and prize-winning Mensans, but there are many whose names you wouldn't know. Many Mensans have a good sense of humor and like to talk ... a lot. Some are millionaires, others are on welfare. For most members, Mensa activities are good opportunities to exchange ideas with each other, or just to spend a good time among like-minded people.

What are the goals of Mensa?

Mensa essentially has three goals:

• to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity,
• to encourage research of the nature, the characteristics and the usefulness of intelligence, and
• to promote stimulating intellectual and social activities for its members.

How many members does Mensa have?

Today there are some 134,000 Mensans in 100 countries throughout the world. There are active Mensa organizations in over 40 countries on every continent except Antarctica. Membership numbers are also available for specific National Groups.

Who are famous Mensa members?

Here are a couple of examples of famous Mensans:

• Isaac Asimov, Science-Fiction author.
• Sir Clive Sinclair, inventor of the Sinclair Spectrum Computer. Mensa chairman for 17 years.
• Marylin vos Savant, is listed in the Guinness Hall Of Fame with an IQ of 228.
• Geena Davis, actress.
• Dr. Julie Peterson, has been a Playmate and today is a doctor
• Adrian Cronauer, Radio personality who inspired the movie "Good Morning Vietnam".
• Donald Petersen, ex-Chairman of Ford Motor company.
• Adam Osborne, founder of "Osborne Computer".
• Richard Bolles, bestseller-author
• Bobby Czyz, a former two times World Boxing Association (WBA) Cruiserweight champion.
• ... and many more ...

What does «Mensa» mean?

The word "Mensa" means "table" in Latin. The name stands for a round-table society, where race, color, creed, national origin, age, politics, educational or social background are irrelevant.

What opinion does Mensa have?

Mensa does not take sides on political, religious or social subjects. Mensa united members from many diverse countries and cultures with many different attitudes and traditions. For this reason, it is not possible that Mensa would defend a specific point of view.

Mensa on the Internet

There are a great number of National Groups on the Internet, here are a couple of links:

• Mensa International
• Mensa Belgium
• Mensa Deutschland
• Mensa France
• Mensa UK
• Mensa USA

The entire list is available at:
National Groups

Mensa Logo (M-blem)

Mensa Logo represents a table with a globe above it but may also be seen as a stylized person. In Latin Mensa means “Table” and “mens” means “mind”.

It can be used only by official Mensa Groups.