At 33, Sabrina González Pasterski is working on one of physics’ hardest problems: finding a mathematical link between gravity, quantum theory and the structure of the universe.
For years, Sabrina González Pasterski has been compared with Albert Einstein while working on a problem no single scientist expects to solve alone. The 33-year-old Chicago-born physicist is seeking a mathematical bridge between general relativity and quantum mechanics. Her response to the label has changed: what once embarrassed her now leaves her unwilling to apologise for the comparison.
Pasterski’s career, however, has been built on highly technical research rather than publicity. Since 2021, she has worked at Canada’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, where she founded and directs the Celestial Holography Initiative. The field seeks to describe gravity holographically in a flat spacetime similar to the universe we approximately inhabit.
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