#312 Sabrina Pasterski - Theoretical Physicist on the Hidden Code of the Universe
6/11/20262 hr 29 min
Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski is a first-generation Cuban-American theoretical physicist from Chicago whose life has been shaped by flight and physics. She began flight lessons at age nine and, between ages 12 and 14, built a single-engine Zenith CH 601 XL aircraft from a kit, making her own engineering modifications after fatal midair breakups involving the model. At 16, before she had a driver’s license, she flew the aircraft solo. The FAA later allowed her demonstration flight to validate her modifications before grounding the fleet. At MIT, Pasterski became the first freshman selected for NASA’s January Operational Internship, received the inaugural MIT Freshman Entrepreneurship Award, interned at NASA Kennedy Space Center and CERN, and graduated first in her MIT Physics class. She earned her PhD from Harvard in 2019 under Andrew Strominger, focusing on quantum gravity, then joined Canada’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics at 27 as its youngest faculty member and one of only three women on staff at the time. She now leads the Celestial Holography Initiative, and her honors include Scientific American’s 30 Under 30, Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science, and the Albert Einstein Foundation’s “100 Greatest Innovators.” Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: Live better longer with BUBS Naturals. Get 20% OFF on collagen, MCT creamers, and more with code SHAWN at https://bubsnaturals.com/srs Go to https://calderalab.com/SRS and use code SRS for 20% off your first order. Ready to upgrade your eyewear? Check them out at https://roka.com and use code SRS for 20% off sitewide. Sign up and get 10% off at https://betterhelp.com/srs #ad Sabrina Pasterski Links: Perimeter Institute - https://perimeterinstitute.ca/people/sabrina-pasterski Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSean Ryan· Host0:00
[instrumental music] Sabrina.
Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski· Guest0:05
Sean.
Sean Ryan· Host0:07
Welcome to the show.
Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski· Guest0:08
Thank you for having me.
Sean Ryan· Host0:09
Man, I've been excited about this. So you're labeled, and I know you're probably gonna downplay this, the next Einstein.
Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski· Guest0:16
Oh.
Sean Ryan· Host0:18
You don't like that?
Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski· Guest0:18
No, I mean, it's just not accurate, but I do like this notion of, um, I don't know, thinking a bit about what that legacy is and, like, uh, our field as a whole and how do we kind of leverage that or, or, um, do good with it.
Sean Ryan· Host0:32
Well, I think we're gonna get into all that, but, um, you know, the stuff you're doing, I don't even know, I don't even know how to say it, but, but it sounds like, and we're gonna get into it in a minute, but- Yeah ... it sounds like what you're studying is if everything is a hologram.
Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski· Guest0:48
Yeah. Lit- most literally, yeah. Like the thing that I study is that, and I do find it's fun, like, to kind of take a step back and talk to people who are not researchers to see how they interpret [laughs] the words that we attach to things or how, like, visceral, literal, um, like, uh, the researcher versus, like, the person you're talking to takes it.
Sean Ryan· Host1:06
Right on. Right on. You ready to get into it?
Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski· Guest1:09
Absolutely.
Sean Ryan· Host1:10
All right, let's do it. I'm gonna start you off with an introduction here. Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski, born in Chicago, Illinois, first generation Cuban American. At age nine, your first flight lesson ignited a lifelong obsession with flight and physics behind it. Between ages 12 and 14, you spent