Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski: 22-Year-Old Einstein of Quantum Gravity

Summary: Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski, a 22-year-old Einstein, handles quantum gravity at Harvard and MIT and has job offers from Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Blue Origin.

Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski via Forbes January 2015 press release 30 Under 30: Cambridge02138, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com and Blue Origin aerospace development and manufacturing, appears, along with Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicists, among admirers of Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski as the next Einstein.

The name belongs to a 22-year-old physics graduate student in the High Energy Theory Group at the Harvard University Center for the Fundamental Laws of Nature. Her research concentrates on topics for which genius physicists Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879–April 18, 1955) and Stephen Hawking (born Jan. 8, 1941) are known. Her website, PhysicsGirl.com, describes for 2016 Horizon Thermodynamics and Ozy projects and travel to the International Conference on String Theory at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

PhysicsGirl.com enumerates since July 2013 44 achievements, beyond extracurricular passions that "A small airplane is wonderful for its view. A motorcycle is great for its acceleration."

Curricula vitae furnish under education elementary and secondary school studies in Illinois at Chicago’s Edison Regional Gifted Center and the Aurora-area Illinois Math and Science Academy.

An article by Jim Bildilli for Midwest Flyer Magazine gives as educational supplements flying lessons for the nine-year-old in Canada and Light Sport Aircraft mechanic certification. It also has information on the 12-year-old buying a Zenith CH 601XL kit aircraft and in one month making one engine from three other motors’ parts. It indicates the Federal Aviation Administration-designated engine name Sabrina 0-200A for January 2008’s maiden flight, with attorney, electrical engineer, pilot father Mark Pasterski at the controls.

Maria Pasterski's only child judges: "Every physicist should learn to ride a motorcycle. It gives one a certain physical intuition, as does flying a small airplane."

Peggy Udden, executive secretary at MIT, knows Pasterski as a 14-year-old getting aircraft airworthiness notarized for the federal government and a 16-year-old wait-listed for undergraduate studies.

Allen Haggerty, Senior Engineering Lecturer, and Earll Murman, Emeritus Professor in Aeronautics and Astronautics, list Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski building an airplane as prompting the 16-year-old’s admission. Professor Haggerty mentions in regard to Pasterski’s graduating three years later and grade-averaging MIT’s highest possible score of 5.00 that “Her potential is off the charts.” Pasterski’s Ph.D. program nudges theoretical heights with Andrew Strominger, advisor, physicist and researcher with Stephen Hawking, and Cambridge University Professor Malcolm Perry into black hole information-retrieving.

Quantum gravity occasions Pasterski’s self-assessment: "I'll hopefully be right about having some kind of gut feeling that (will become) rather big at some point. Fingers crossed.”

Peers point to scientific publications, research and talks by Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski since 2013 even though a Scientific American article June 12, 2012, is most revelatory. Physicists Freeman Dyson and Leon Lederman and chemist Dudley Herschbach qualify as heroes while Jeff Bezos is identified as inspiring career choices in physics, not engineering. The article results from Pasterski’s inclusion on Scientific American’s 30 Under 30 in 2012 and precedes inclusion in Forbes’s 30 Under 30 Science nominations in 2015. Pasterski’s undergraduate years at MIT synchronize S.B.-required coursework with Boeing Phantom-Works summerships, Compact Muon Solenoid employment, Lindau Nobel Young Researcher nominations and NASA January Operational Internships.

A five-year, $150,000 National Science Foundation fellowship and a five-year, $250,000 Hertz Foundation fellowship respectively take Pasterski "Where Discoveries Begin" in order to “Inspire, Innovate, Impact.”

photo by Michael Noble Jr./Chicago Tribune: Harvard Physics via Facebook Aug. 4, 2015

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski via Forbes January 2015 press release 30 Under 30: Cambridge02138, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sabrina_Gonzalez_Pasterski_2014.jpg

photo by Michael Noble Jr./Chicago Tribune: Harvard Physics via Facebook Aug. 4, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/154321267932184/photos/a.485187774845530/1043879218976380/

For further information:

“30 Under 30: A Teenage Pilot and Aspiring Physicist.” Scientific American > The Sciences.
Available @ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lindau-sabrina-pasterski/

Bildilli, Jim. 5 January 2011. “Wondering Where the Future of Aviation Is? Wonder No More! Meet Ms. Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski.” Midwest Flyer.
Available @ http://midwestflyer.com/?p=2052

Bisaria, Anjali. 17 January 2016. “This 22-Year-Old Physics Genius Might Be the Next Einstein!” India Times > News > World.
Available @ http://www.indiatimes.com/news/world/this-22-year-old-physics-genius-might-be-the-next-einstein-249511.html

Bowen, Alison. 18 January 2016. “Sky’s the Limit for Down-to-Earth Physics Whiz Sabrina Pasterski.” Chicago Tribune > Lifestyles.
Available @ http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-remarkable-sabrina-pasterski-0802-2-20150728-story.html

Das, Priyanjana Roy. 18 January 2016. “Amazon’s Founder Offered Her a Job, NASA’s Eyeing Her Too. Who Is This Sabrina Pasterski?” Scoop Whoop Media PVT Ltd.
Available @ http://www.scoopwhoop.com/sabrina-pasterski/

Editorial Staff. 15 January 2016. “Meet the 22-Year-Old Physics Genius That Harvard Believes is the Next Einstein.” Next Shark.
Available @ http://nextshark.com/sabrina-pasterski-22-mit-grad/

eltropero @troperomalo. 16 January 2016. "#Cuba Joven cubanoamericana es nueva promesa de la física: Sabrina Pasterski Gonzalez costruy..." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/troperomalo/status/688422718471933952

Halime, Farah. 12 January 2016. “This Millennial Might Be the New Einstein.” Ozy.com > Rising Stars.
Available @ http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/this-millennial-might-be-the-new-einstein/65094

Harvard Physics. 4 August 2015. "Nice Interview with Sabrina in the Chicago Tribune." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/154321267932184/photos/a.485187774845530/1043879218976380/

MIT EnergyInitiative @mitenergy. 13 January 2016. "Sabrina Pasterski, who got early help from MITEI, 'has the world of #physics abuzz.'" Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/mitenergy/status/687275547123159040

“Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski.” Everipedia, Inc.
Available @ https://www.everipedia.com/sabrina-gonzalez-pasterski/

“Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski.” Physics Girl.
Available @ http://physicsgirl.com

“Sabrina Pasterski.” The Hertz Foundation > Fellows > Fellow Profile.
Available @ http://hertzfoundation.org/dx/fellows/fellow_profile.aspx?d=11276

“Sabrina Pasterski, Graduate Student.” Harvard University > People.
Available @ http://hetg.physics.harvard.edu/people/sabrina-pasterski

Smith, Rohan. 18 January 2016. “Sabrina Pasterski Has Big Things in Store for Our Understanding of the Universe.” News.com > Technology > Science > Space.
Available @ http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/sabrina-pasterski-has-big-things-in-store-for-our-understanding-of-the-universe/news-story/a7128ea90a9fd8f3cbc35d082345b3ad