Physicist Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski: Why she would rather not have become the young Einstein - and what it takes for women instead to become more visible in science

Einstein is female. She is 31 years old. And theoretical physicist. Of course, how else could it come to such a big name that is not her own? In her research, she deals with the holography of the universe. "We want to find simpler explanations to describe different limits," she says herself. And so she spends most of the time to calculate things - just like the very big ones. Newton. Or just Einstein.

Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski was given its name a few years ago. "I did all of these projects to show: Have a look at how cool I can be," said the physicist today. There were many of them: Not only did she assert herself as a young woman in a male -dominated area and founded the Celestial HOLOGY Initiative at the Perimeter Institute, where she also works as a deputy director, she also started her career as a child. At nine years.

While other paper pilots were folding, she took her first flight hours, tinkered with 12 at her first aircraft and flew at the age of 16. “You would be surprised how many people you can get to know if you do something as a child. People suggested to go on flight shows and meet people who build planes. They knew one day I wanted to work for this private space company, ”says Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski. In the truest sense of the word, Pasterski was a high -flyer. And yet she describes herself as naive as it is curious. She speaks of her great love for mathematics in school and role models from another time - the heyday of physics in the 1980s.

"I admired the people who had done a lot in an area that had done a lot in the past and stagnated a little." And so she also continued the theories of Einstein and Co., loosened from her original dream as an astrophysicist and at the beginning of 20 steered in theoretical physics with top grades with top grade at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

When she talks about the sizes of her field, the word "hype" always falls - for example, about Steven Hawking, who became aware of her as a child prodigy of physics. “The cool thing about him is that he was a good scientist and had a hype. That is a rarity, ”says Pasterski. What she means is the attention that theoretical physics has so urgently needed. And that also goes hand in hand with her own career. She was always the younger one. The woman. Therefore, in 2016 she was honored by Marie Claire with the "Young Women's Honors Award" and landed twice on the "Forbes 30 Under 30" list. “I think that if more women are successful in this area, we will work more in this area. This in turn eliminates the unconscious bias, which stems that all managers in this area were old men. ”

At the same time, it was not easy for Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski to be traded by the media as female and young Einstein. “I didn't want to screw it up and be an excellent researcher. So I read far too many textbooks and tried to be convincing. I speak too quickly on stage and don't know enough, ”she says. “As soon as the hype was there, I wanted to adapt. In an environment in which all the press is good, it is dangerous. Although I was a very self -confident child, I lost a little bit of confidence. There were many people who didn't like it to get this attention. "

That is why she is critical of the great physicist in her own reflection. She is grateful for the honest respect that colleagues now show her. She needs it to learn the things she needs to know. To become her own teacher. “There is no girl or no woman in our area who doesn't want to be as good as the boys. We want to be excellent. " At the research level, there would only be ten to 15 percent of them. There is a lack of visibility. And on role models. The media Einstein even made Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski. A man. Again.

“If a girl sees another girl in a certain area and wants to go to this area, that's great. This hype and the media to promote women in MINT subjects are valuable, ”says the 31-year-old. “Other women will understand your experiences better than when you talk to a group of men. They don't listen to you or don't understand you. "

The reason for the lack of women in science for Pasterski is the matter with the timing. The very big breakthroughs in physics were ahead of their generation for decades and came from the men who are still known as the great physicists. It is far from her reality of life. "The younger generation should not accept the fact of building on the theories that older employees developed in the 1980s," said Pasterski. It is now up to her - and the other women in their area. "You can transform a boring thing into a very interesting thing if you have like -minded people - and a little friendly competition." That is why it is so important for them to bring women together who can talk and exchange. “You need this type of mentorship. And sometimes it is easier to get them from someone who has had the same experiences. ” College from biology, for example, are role models. There are already many women in this area, so they do a lot right.

She also wants to do this for physics - for example in the Perimeter Institute, in which she has already organized women's brunch and workshops. "The most valuable would be to have a better feeling for the data of women in our sub -area and how their career paths are," says the young physicist. She didn't want to get anything about her gender. But the bias should also slowly say goodbye. "Why can't one girl become the next Einstein?" The media asked at the time. And Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski chosen. You don't need a second one. No female. But a woman withhersName history writes.