HARVARD THINKS IT’S FOUND THE NEXT EINSTEIN -  AND SHE’S 23

Harvard University believes the world’s next Einstein is among us — and she’s a millennial.

At age 23, Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski is already one of the most well-known and accomplished physicists in the U.S.

The Cuban-American Chicago native graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in just three years with a 5.0-grade point average, the highest possible, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard with full academic freedom — meaning she can pursue her own study on her own terms without staff interference.

Pasterski first attracted the attention of the scientific and academic community after single-handedly building her own single-engine airplane in 2008, at age 14, and documenting the process on YouTube.

MIT professors Allen Haggerty and Earll Murman saw the video and were astonished. “Our mouths were hanging open after we looked at it,” Haggerty recalls. “Her potential is off the charts.”

At age 16, she piloted the aircraft herself over Lake Michigan, becoming the youngest person  ever to fly their own plane.

“I couldn’t believe it,” recalls Peggy Udden, an executive secretary at MIT. “Not only because she was so young, but a girl.”

Pasterski had first flown a plane at age 9, an experience she casually relayed to a teacher at her public high school, the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora. The teacher replied: “That’s nice, but what have you done lately?”

“That’s become my mantra ever since,” Pasterski told the Chicago Tribune in a 2016 interview. “That’s nice, but what have you done lately?”

An only child, Pasterski admits she’s not on social media and, unlike the majority of her peers, has never had a boyfriend, smoked a cigarette, or drunk an alcoholic beverage. Instead, she spends her free time exploring the concepts of quantum gravity, black holes, and spacetime, the mathematical model that combines space and time into a single continuum.

Among the papers she’s published, which are listed along with other accomplishments on her website, PhysicsGirl.com: “Semiclassical Virasoro Symmetry of the Quantum Gravity S-Matrix,” “Gaussian Measures and the QM Oscillator,” and “Low’s Subleading Soft Theorem as a Symmetry of QED.”

Her work in the physics community has led to standing job offers from Amazon entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin, and NASA, among others.

Though Pasterski herself is a standout, her interest is part of a larger trend of millennials — especially women — graduating with degrees in physics.

In 1999, the number of physics graduates was at its lowest point in four decades. However, according to the American Institute of Physics, 8,081 bachelor’s degrees in physics were awarded in 2015—the highest number ever recorded. Some theorize the increase is a direct result of more women enrolling in and staying with physics as a major.

“Be optimistic about what you believe you can do,” Pasterski told Marie Claire earlier this year. “When you’re little, you say a lot of things about what you’ll do or be when you’re older—I think it’s important not to lose sight of those dreams.”

http://secondnexus.com/technology-and-innovation/23-year-old-einstein/2/

For sure.

And it's great to see the millennials pushing back against the stereotype.

Well done to her I say.

Lord Herbert wrote on Mar 30^th, 2017 at 11:24am:
 


Who said there had been?

You're the only one mentioning gender.

But can she roll cigars on her thighs and cook Frijoles negros?

Lord Herbert wrote on Mar 30^th, 2017 at 11:37am:


still waiting for you to benefit society Herb.

Bit I've got a feeling I could wait 5 lifetimes and still won't see it.

John Smith wrote on Mar 30^th, 2017 at 11:40am:

so many cancer cures killed off by big pharma already.. ?

Gordon wrote on Mar 30^th, 2017 at 11:36am:


Gordon's speaking from expertise. Gordon has a doctorate in dumb.

John Smith wrote on Mar 30^th, 2017 at 11:40am:


Thank you for recognising my genius.

Lord Herbert wrote on Mar 30^th, 2017 at 11:44am:


When you are part of one-billion people of your country, trying to stand out is something that takes a lot of discipline. If Australia had one billion people, with 90% being caucasian, I'm sure that the Americans would be finding a fair number of Australian Einsteins.

Grappler Truth Teller Feller wrote on Mar 31^st, 2017 at 12:19am:



Unfortunately I believe it's the case that universities don't educate its students, but give them a narrow focus of training to concentrate upon for specific career-choices. Education is something we all have to do ourselves, and has almost nothing to do with having spent time in a university.

John Smith wrote on Mar 30^th, 2017 at 2:15pm:


Too late - you blew it and got owned. Suck it up, dude.