Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski
{{short description|American physicist (born 1993)}}
{{family name hatnote|Pasterski|Gonzalez|lang=American}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski
| image = Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski 2017 3.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Pasterski in 2017
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1993|6|3}}
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| residence =
| citizenship =
| nationality =
| fields =
| workplaces = Boeing Phantom Works
CERN
Perimeter Institute
| patrons =
| alma_mater = Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS)
Harvard University (PhD)
| thesis_title = Implications of Superrotations
| thesis_url = https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/42029532
| thesis_year = 2019
| doctoral_advisor = Andrew Strominger
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =
| notable_students =
| known_for = Spin memory effect
PSZ Triangle
| awards = Inaugural MIT Freshman Entrepreneurship Award{{cite web|url=https://news.mit.edu/2011/new-freshman-awards-0527|title=New Freshman Awards recognize exceptional first-year students|website=News.mit.edu|date=27 May 2011 |accessdate=August 22, 2017}}
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| education =
}}
{{commonscat|Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski}}
Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski (born June 3, 1993) is an American theoretical physicist from Chicago who studies high energy physics.{{cite web|url=http://www.hetg.physics.harvard.edu|title=Center for the Fundamental Laws of Nature|publisher=Harvard University|accessdate=April 5, 2016}}{{Cite web|title=Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski|url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=En43PGAAAAAJ|access-date=2020-10-25|website=scholar.google.com|archive-date=2020-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027190405/https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=En43PGAAAAAJ|url-status=dead}} She describes herself as "a proud first-generation Cuban-American and Chicago Public Schools alumna".{{cite web|url=http://hertzfoundation.org/dx/fellows/fellow_profile.aspx?d=11276|title=Hertz Foundation Profile|accessdate=April 5, 2016|archive-date=February 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201010224/http://hertzfoundation.org/dx/fellows/fellow_profile.aspx?d=11276|url-status=dead}} Her first few months at Harvard's Center for the Fundamental Laws of Nature (2014) resulted in discovery of the spin memory effect which predates LIGO's reported discoveries and may be proven as an inexpensive way to detect as well as verify gravitational waves and their net effects during a very rare celestial gravitational lensing event the first week of May 2028 if not sooner via Advanced LIGO {{cite web | url=https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann16075/ | title=The Future of Alpha Centauri - A rare opportunity for planet hunting in Alpha Centauri a predicted for 2028 }}{{cite web | url=http://www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org/articles.php?article=1283 | title=General Relativity and the 1919 Solar Eclipse }}{{Cite web| title=New Gravitational Memories | url=https://physicsgirl.com/speeddemontalk.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150306010555/http://physicsgirl.com:80/speeddemontalk.pdf | archive-date=2015-03-06}}{{cite journal|title=Spin memory effect for compact binaries in the post-Newtonian approximation|journal = Physical Review D|volume = 95|issue = 8|pages = 084048|arxiv = 1702.03300|doi = 10.1103/PhysRevD.95.084048|year = 2017|last1 = Nichols|first1 = David A.|last2 = Strominger|first2 = Andrew|last3 = Zhiboedov|first3 = Alexander|bibcode = 2017PhRvD..95h4048N|s2cid = 3487878}} Since leaving Harvard, Pasterski has pioneered Celestial Holography. {{cite web | url=https://perimeterinstitute.ca/people/sabrina-pasterski | title=Sabrina Pasterski {{pipe}} Perimeter Institute }} {{cite web | url=https://perimeterinstitute.ca/celestial-holography-initiative | title=Celestial Holography Initiative {{pipe}} Perimeter Institute }}{{cite magazine | url=https://www.wired.com/story/women-in-science-sabrina-gonzalez-pasterski/ | title=Dr. Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski Will Change How You Think About Space | magazine=Wired | last1=Krishna | first1=Swapna }} She completed her undergraduate studies in three years while still a teenager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earned her PhD from Harvard University and was a PCTS Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University{{Cite web|url=http://pcts.princeton.edu/people/postdocs/2|title=PCTS - Postdoctoral Fellows|last=|first=|date=|website=|access-date=|archive-date=2020-08-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808145614/http://pcts.princeton.edu/people/postdocs/2|url-status=dead}} before joining the faculty of the Perimeter Institute at age 27.{{Cite web |title=Celestial Holography Initiative {{!}} Perimeter Institute |url=https://perimeterinstitute.ca/celestial-holography-initiative |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=perimeterinstitute.ca}} According to Google Trends, Pasterski was the #3 Trending Scientist for all of 2017.{{cite web|url=https://trends.google.com/trends/topcharts#date=2017|title=Google Trends 2017|accessdate=April 10, 2018}} In 2015, she was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 Science list, named a Forbes 30 under 30 All Star in 2017, and returned as a judge in 2018 as part of Forbes' first ever all-female Science category judging panel.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2018/science/#7f4e6073eacd|title=30 Under 30 2018|website=Forbes|accessdate=January 13, 2018}}
Early life
Pasterski was born in Illinois on June 3, 1993, to Mark Pasterski and Maria Gonzalez. Her father, an attorney and an electrical engineer, encouraged her to follow her dreams.{{cite web|url=http://midwestflyer.com?p=2052|title=Wondering Where The Future of Aviation Is? Wonder No More! Meet Ms. Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski|publisher=Midwest Flyer|first=Jim|last=Bildilli|date=January 5, 2011|accessdate=April 5, 2016}} She enrolled at the Edison Regional Gifted Center in 1998, and graduated from the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in 2010.{{cite web|url=https://sites.imsa.edu/imsa360/2015/07/30/every-physicist-should-learn-to-ride-a-motorcycle-sabrina-pasterski-10-profiled-by-chicago-tribune/|title=Sabrina Pasterski '10 Profiled by Chicago Tribune|publisher=IMSA 360|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20160409184546/https://sites.imsa.edu/imsa360/2015/07/30/every-physicist-should-learn-to-ride-a-motorcycle-sabrina-pasterski-10-profiled-by-chicago-tribune/|archivedate=2016-04-09}}
She took her first flying lesson in 2003, piloted FAA1 at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2005{{cite web|url=http://www.tc.faa.gov/oshkosh/2005/Sabrina_album/Sabrina/index.html|title=Sabrina|publisher=FAA Technical Center|year=2005|accessdate=April 5, 2016}} and started building a standard-build Canadian light sport aircraft by 2006. Her first U.S. solo flight was in that aircraft in 2009 after being signed off by her CFI Jay Maynard.{{cite web|url=http://physicsgirl.com/1.pdf|title=What is your best achievement?|publisher=Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy|accessdate=August 22, 2017}}
In her 2012 Scientific American 30 under 30 interview, Pasterski named among her scientific heroes Leon Lederman, Dudley Herschbach, and Freeman Dyson, and said she was drawn to physics by Jeff Bezos.[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lindau-sabrina-pasterski/ 30 Under 30: Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting], Scientific American profile She has received job offers from Blue Origin, an aerospace company founded by Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).{{cite web|url=http://empowering.hearst.co.uk/be-inspired/sabrina-pasterski-women-in-stem/|title=Who's That Girl: Sabrina Pasterski|year=2016|publisher=Hearst UK|accessdate=April 5, 2016|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219204922/http://empowering.hearst.co.uk/be-inspired/sabrina-pasterski-women-in-stem/|archivedate=February 19, 2016}}
Education and academia
As a sophomore at MIT, Pasterski was part of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. She graduated with a 5.00 undergraduate GPA.{{cite web |last1=MacGuill |first1=Dan |date=27 December 2017 |title=FACT CHECK: The Remarkable Sabrina Pasterski |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sabrina-pasterski-physics-girl/ |accessdate=6 April 2019 |website=Snopes.com}} While a graduate student at Harvard, she worked with Andrew Strominger.{{cite web|last=|first=|date=2015|title=Spring 2015 - Harvard University - The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences|url=https://gsas.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/issues/colloquy_spring15.pdf|accessdate=August 22, 2017|website=gsas.harvard.edu|publisher=Colloquy Magazine|archive-date=October 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027175616/https://gsas.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/issues/colloquy_spring15.pdf|url-status=dead}} Her early work resulted in discovery of the spin memory effect which may be used to detect or verify the net effects of gravitational waves.{{cite journal|title=Spin memory effect for compact binaries in the post-Newtonian approximation|journal = Physical Review D|volume = 95|issue = 8|pages = 084048|arxiv = 1702.03300|doi = 10.1103/PhysRevD.95.084048|year = 2017|last1 = Nichols|first1 = David A.|last2 = Strominger|first2 = Andrew|last3 = Zhiboedov|first3 = Alexander|bibcode = 2017PhRvD..95h4048N|s2cid = 3487878}} She then completed the Pasterski–Strominger–Zhiboedov triangle for electromagnetic memory in a 2015 solo paper{{cite journal|title=Asymptotic Symmetries and Electromagnetic Memory|arxiv = 1505.00716|last1 = Pasterski|first1 = Sabrina|last2 = Strominger|first2 = Andrew|last3 = Zhiboedov|first3 = Alexander|journal = Journal of High Energy Physics|year = 2015|volume = 2017|issue = 9|doi = 10.1007/JHEP09(2017)154|s2cid = 59500056}} that Stephen Hawking cited in early 2016.{{cite journal|title=Soft Hair on Black Holes|journal = Physical Review Letters|volume = 116|issue = 23|pages = 231301|arxiv = 1601.00921|doi = 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.231301|pmid = 27341223|year = 2016|last1 = Hawking|first1 = Stephen W.|last2 = Perry|first2 = Malcolm J.|last3 = Strominger|first3 = Andrew|bibcode = 2016PhRvL.116w1301H|s2cid = 16198886}}
Pasterski earned her PhD in physics from Harvard University in May 2019. At age 27, she founded the Celestial Holography Initiative and within six months had hired four post-docs. Pasterski invited Andrew Strominger to join Perimeter's Simons Foundation LOI requesting $8,000,000.00 for Celestial Holography.{{Cite web |title=Three Perimeter researchers launch new Simons Collaboration {{!}} PI News |url=https://perimeterinstitute.ca/news/three-perimeter-researchers-launch-new-simons-collaboration |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=perimeterinstitute.ca}} That collaboration is now underway as the Simons Collaboration on Celestial Holography.{{Cite web |title=Celestial Kickoff |url=https://sites.google.com/perimeterinstitute.ca/celestialholography |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=sites.google.com |language=en-US}}
Media coverage
WIRED's "A New Way to Understand the Universe" and the live broadcast of "What if the Universe is a Hologram?" from CBC's The Current featured the first decade of Pasterski's pioneering work in physics from 2014 thru 2023.{{cite magazine | url=https://www.wired.com/story/women-in-science-sabrina-gonzalez-pasterski/ | title=Dr. Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski Will Change How You Think About Space | magazine=Wired | last1=Krishna | first1=Swapna }} [https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1.7060515 What if the universe is a hologram?]. cbc.ca. Retrieved September 17, 2024
Hawking's citation of Pasterski's solo work on the PSZ Triangle was publicized by actor George Takei when he quoted her on his Twitter account: "Hopefully I'm known for what I do and not what I don't do."{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/689842843838320640?lang=en |first=George |last=Takei |date=January 20, 2016 |work=Twitter |title=Twitter feed}} The Steven P. Jobs Trust article included in the tweet has been shared 1,200,000 times.{{cite web|url=http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/this-millennial-might-be-the-new-einstein/65094|title=This Millennial Might Be The New Einstein|first=Farah|last=Halime|publisher=Steven P. Jobs Trust|work=Ozy.com|date=January 12, 2016|accessdate=April 5, 2016|archive-date=April 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406102215/http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/this-millennial-might-be-the-new-einstein/65094|url-status=dead}}
Pasterski's 2016 work in promoting the Let Girls Learn initiative was recognized by an invitation to the White House,{{cite web |url=http://physicsgirl.com/wh2.jpg | title=White House China Room |accessdate=August 26, 2017}} a congratulatory message from the White House played on network television,{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-pmLJ20BJg | title=Young Women's Honors | website=YouTube | date=7 December 2016 | accessdate=26 August 2017}} and a two-page spread in Marie Claire{{'}}s January 2017 issue with former First Lady Michelle Obama.{{cite web|last=Hauser|first=Brooke|url=http://www.marieclaire.com/culture/a24040/marie-claires-young-womens-honors/ | title=Young Women's Honors |work=Marie Claire|date=December 12, 2016 |accessdate=August 26, 2017}}
Pasterski's continuing efforts to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for girls in Cuba has been recognized by the Annenberg Foundation.{{cite web | url=https://www.annenbergphotospace.org/exhibits/cuba-is |title=Cuba Is Exhibition September 9, 2017 through March 4, 2018 | accessdate=August 26, 2017}}{{cite web |url=http://physicsgirl.com/jsfh.pdf |title=Delegation to Cuba |accessdate=August 26, 2017 |archive-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918115458/http://physicsgirl.com/jsfh.pdf |url-status=dead }}
Pasterski's 2017 work in promoting STEM education for girls in Russia has been recognized by the U.S Embassy in Moscow{{cite web |url=http://physicsgirl.com/s.jpg | title=Spaso House |accessdate=August 26, 2017}} and by the Moscow Polytech.{{cite web |url=http://fest.polymus.ru/en/programm/?tag=192 |title=Gorky Park Polytech Fest |accessdate=August 26, 2017 |archive-date=August 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827083627/http://fest.polymus.ru/en/programm/?tag=192 |url-status=dead }}
International print and television coverage of Pasterski's work has appeared in Russian, Polish, Czech,{{cite web|url=https://www.seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/rika-se-ji-novy-einstein-smirte-se-s-tim-ze-sci-fi-veci-jako-cestovani-casem-neobjevime-upozornuje-pasterski-72306|title=Říká se jí "nový Einstein". Smiřte se s tím, že sci-fi věci jako cestování časem neobjevíme, upozorňuje Pasterski|publisher=Seznam Zprávy|date=May 21, 2019|access-date=June 12, 2019|postscript=(An interview with Pasterski with Czech subtitles.)}} Spanish, German, Hindi and French: Russia Today, Poland's Angora magazine, DNES magazine in the Czech Republic, People en Español, Jolie in Germany, Vanitha TV in India, Madame magazine in France, le Figaro magazine Paris, Femina magazine in Switzerland, and Marie Claire España.{{cite web|url=http://vdclips.com/videos/2016/02/176-background-bureaucrac/zK7fgEnAKro.html|title=RT Watching the Hawks|publisher=RT|date=February 4, 2016|accessdate=April 5, 2016|archive-date=September 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926124001/http://vdclips.com/videos/2016/02/176-background-bureaucrac/zK7fgEnAKro.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pressreader.com/poland/angora/20160131|title=Angora|date=January 31, 2016|accessdate=April 5, 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pressreader.com/czech-republic/mf-dnes/20160314|title=DNES|date=March 14, 2016|accessdate=April 5, 2016}} In 2016, R&B singer Chris Brown posted a page with a video promoting her.{{cite web|url=http://chrisbrownsofficial.com/new-genius/|title=There's A New Einstein In Town With Answers To The Universe's Biggest Mysteries – And She's A Millenial From Chicago|first=Chris|last=Brown|year=2016|accessdate=April 5, 2016|archive-date=October 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002141700/http://chrisbrownsofficial.com/new-genius/|url-status=dead}} Forbes and The History Channel ran stories about Gonzalez Pasterski for their audiences in Mexico and Latin America, respectively.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com.mx/quien-sabrina-pasterski/|title=¿Quién es Sabrina Pasterski?|first=Leticia|last=Gasca|work=Forbes Mexico|accessdate=2016-04-05|date=2016-03-29}}{{cite web|url=http://gt.tuhistory.com/noticias/la-nueva-einstein-una-joven-fisica-latina-asombra-al-mundo-de-la-ciencia|title=¿La nueva Einstein? Una joven física latina asombra al mundo de la ciencia|publisher=The History Channel (Latin America)|accessdate=April 5, 2016}}
Checking the accuracy of media portrayals, Snopes found that the "viral meme about [the] Harvard University graduate student gets most (but not all) of the facts right." Pasterski and Hawking do not follow each other on Twitter, since neither Hawking nor Pasterski had a Twitter account, Snopes stated instead that "the truth is actually much more interesting" pointing out that two scientific papers published in 2016 and co-authored by Hawking cited two pieces of research co-authored by Pasterski and one written solely by her. Pasterski keeps a list of personal responses to media portrayals on her website.{{cite web |last1=Pasterski |first1=Sabrina Gonzalez |title=Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski |url=https://physicsgirl.com/1993.pdf |website=PhysicsGirl |accessdate=30 July 2019}}
Awards and honors
- 2010: Illinois Aviation Trades Association Industry Achievement Award
- 2011: MIT Freshman Entrepreneurship Award{{Cite web |date=2011-05-27 |title=New Freshman Awards recognize exceptional first-year students |url=https://news.mit.edu/2011/new-freshman-awards-0527 |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=MIT News {{!}} Massachusetts Institute of Technology |language=en}}
- 2012: Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Young Researcher
- 2013: MIT Physics Department Orloff Scholarship Award{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/physics/current/awards/#orloff|title=Orloff Awards|publisher=MIT|date=August 8, 2015|accessdate=April 5, 2016|archive-date=October 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001114007/http://web.mit.edu/physics/current/awards/#orloff|url-status=dead}}
- 2013: European Physical Society High Energy and Particle Physics Prize, MIT-CMS{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-06-30 |title=3 Questions: Marking the 10th anniversary of the Higgs boson discovery |url=https://physics.mit.edu/news/3-questions-marking-the-10th-anniversary-of-the-higgs-boson-discovery/ |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=MIT Physics |language=en-US}}
- 2015: Hertz Foundation Fellowship{{cite web|url=http://hertzfoundation.org/dx/fellows/fellows_new.aspx|title=Hertz New Fellows 2015|publisher=The Hertz Foundation|year=2015|accessdate=April 5, 2016|archive-date=April 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404225243/http://hertzfoundation.org/dx/fellows/fellows_new.aspx|url-status=dead}}
- 2015: Forbes' 30 under 30 2015: Science{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30-2015/#/science|title=Forbes' 30 under 30 2015: Science|website=Forbes |year=2015|accessdate=April 10, 2018}}
- 2016: Marie Claire Young Women Honors Recipient: "The Genius" {{cite web|url=https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/a24040/marie-claires-young-womens-honors/|title=Marie Claire Magazine: The Unstoppables|website=Marie Claire|accessdate=April 10, 2018|date=2016-12-12}}
- 2017: Forbes 30 under 30 All Star Alumni{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/sabrina-pasterski/|title=Sabrina Pasterski Profile|website=Forbes|accessdate=August 22, 2017}}
- 2017: Silicon Valley Comic Con Headliner{{cite web|url=http://svcomiccon.com/press/2016/william-shatner-buzz-aldrin/|title=Silicon Valley Comic Con - April 21-23, 2017|website=Silicon Valley Comic Con|accessdate=August 22, 2017|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811005846/http://svcomiccon.com/press/2016/william-shatner-buzz-aldrin/|archivedate=August 11, 2017}}
- 2018: InStyle - Badass Woman, TIME Inc.{{Cite magazine |date=2018-06-06 |title=InStyle |url=https://time.com/author/instyle/ |access-date=2023-11-28 |magazine=Time |language=en}}
- 2018: Albert Einstein Foundation Genius 100 Visions Project – "One of the 100 greatest innovators: artists, scientists and visionaries of our time."{{cite web|url=http://genius100visions.com/100-visions-of-the-future|title=Genius: 100 Visions of the Future 3D-printed book|website=Genius: 100 Visions of the Future 3D-printed book|accessdate=January 13, 2018|archive-date=October 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008194804/http://genius100visions.com/100-visions-of-the-future|url-status=dead}}
- 2018: Discovery Canada's International Women's Day honoree.{{cite web|url=https://www.discovery.ca/Shows/Daily-Planet/video?vid=1247459|title=Daily Planet|accessdate=April 10, 2018}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- 2019: IMSA Alumni Distinguished Leadership Award, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy{{Cite web |title=Notable IMSA Alumni – Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski '10 – Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy |url=https://www.imsa.edu/admissions/notable-imsa-alumni/notable-imsa-alumni-sabrina-gonzalez-pasterski-10/ |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=www.imsa.edu|date=30 September 2021 }}
- 2023: Deputy Director, Simons Collaboration on Celestial Holography, Simons Foundation{{Cite web |title=Sabrina Pasterski {{!}} Perimeter Institute |url=https://perimeterinstitute.ca/people/sabrina-pasterski |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=perimeterinstitute.ca |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website}}{{Citation needed|reason=The linked resource says "Sabrina has asked me to clarify that this page is a fan page by her number one fan, which is not herself, and that she has never had any editorial control over the content herein."|date=July 2024}}
- {{INSPIRE-HEP author|S.Pasterski.1}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasterski, Sabrina Gonzalez}}
Category:21st-century American physicists
Category:21st-century American women scientists
Category:American people of Cuban descent
Category:American people of Polish descent
Category:American women physicists
Category:Hispanic and Latino American physicists
Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
Category:People associated with CERN