Could you imagine how much you would get done if you weren’t constantly checking your Facebook or looking up funny videos on your smart phone? Sabrina Pasterski, also known as Physics Girl doesn’t own a smartphone or has any interest in social media, but at just 22 years old, the Cuban-American graduated from MIT with a perfect GPA and is currently getting her doctorate in theoretical high energy physics at Harvard. Did we mention she built a plane when she was just 12!
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The Chicago native not only built a plane, but she taught herself how to pilot and flew it over Lake Michigan in 2009. After telling her teacher that she flew a plane, her teacher said, “That’s nice, but what have you done lately?” That would floor just about anybody, but Pasterski took that as motivation and proved her teacher that this was only the beginning.
Since then, she’s used that as her mantra and applied to both Harvard and MIT and was rejected, but she didn’t give up. “It was an interesting experience because it might have actually pushed me a little bit to re-evaluate where I wanted to be,” she told the Chicago Tribune.
“You can either take it as ‘”Well, I’m not worthy of getting into MIT or No I am worthy of getting into MIT.”’ She says that when you start seeing that people begin to doubt you, that’s when you realize you need to push yourself to do better.
What is she working on now? Right now she’s focused on getting her Ph.D at Harvard and eventually she wants to establish and run an interdisciplinary laboratory. Pasterski has received a lot of attention for her work and academic achievements and has received thousands of dollars in grants and even a job offer from Amazon.com founder, Jeff Bezos.
She credits her parents for encouraging her and telling her that nothing is impossible. “The more you learn, the more you realize what exactly people think is impossible, and then you see where you can push a line,” she says. She adds that, “Everybody has something that they’re good at, and you shouldn’t force people to go through the standard route.”
Great advice. Pasterski says that she still has a lot to do. “It’s great to get recognition now, but hopefully it builds up to something.” she says. In the meantime, you can keep up with Pasterski on PhysicsGirl and even check out her impressive resume. She’s already being called the next Einstein and we can’t wait to hear what she will be working on next!