MONTREAL – Sabrina González Pasterski, a theoretical physicist at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada, is leading a research initiative exploring whether the universe can be described by a two-dimensional theory. The work builds on decades of research into gravity, quantum mechanics and the fundamental nature of reality, and has previously been cited by the late Stephen Hawking.
Pasterski, born in Chicago in 1993, has rapidly gained recognition in the physics community. Her work focuses on celestial holography, a field attempting to reconcile general relativity with quantum theory by proposing that the universe’s information content is encoded on a distant, two-dimensional surface. The Perimeter Institute describes her current research as addressing “the problem of uniting our understanding of spacetime with quantum theory by codifying our universe as a hologram.”
The physicist’s path to prominence wasn’t without initial setbacks. She was initially rejected by Harvard University and placed on the waitlist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before ultimately excelling at both institutions. She earned a perfect 5.00 GPA as an undergraduate at MIT, and later pursued her doctorate at Harvard under the supervision of Andrew Strominger, a pioneer in holography.
Pasterski’s early fascination with physics manifested in a practical way: at age 12, she began building a Zenith CH 601 XL aircraft from a kit, completing the project at 14. She sought airworthiness certification for modifications she made to the aircraft and even performed a flight test with a certified instructor before the National Transportation Safety Board grounded all aircraft built from that particular kit due to safety concerns. This experience, she has said, instilled in her an appreciation for how complex systems emerge from smaller components.
In 2016, Pasterski was honored by Marie Claire magazine for her contributions to education. She identifies as a member of the Latinx community, reflecting on the importance of familial history and identity in a 2020 email to BBC Mundo. Her mother, Maria Gonzalez, was born in Cuba and immigrated to the United States with her family as a child.
Pasterski has offered advice to aspiring women in technology, emphasizing self-belief and resisting external pressures. Speaking at the Perspektywy Women in Tech Summit in 2019, she urged women to “not succumb to people who want to make you doubt yourselves,” to “resist the pressure of those who want to plan our future for us,” and to “not be afraid to take time.” She reiterated these sentiments in a recent interview, emphasizing the importance of discovering what truly motivates one’s work.
Her research, including work on the “spin memory effect” alongside Strominger, has garnered significant attention. Hawking cited their work, which contributed to new predictions about gravitational waves. Francisco Rojas, a professor at the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile, described Pasterski’s contributions as “seminal,” noting her prolific publication record and role as a driving force in the field of celestial holography.
The holographic principle, rooted in calculations by Stephen Hawking and Jacob Bekenstein in the 1970s regarding the entropy and temperature of black holes, suggests that the information contained within a volume of space can be entirely described by its boundary. Leonard Susskind further developed this idea, proposing that our three-dimensional reality might be a holographic projection of information existing on a distant, two-dimensional surface. Pasterski’s work seeks to generalize this principle to the universe as a whole.
Pasterski expressed some discomfort with being labeled “the next Einstein,” stating that such comparisons can be limiting. She believes that focusing on collective progress within the field is more important than individual recognition. She also sees an opportunity to leverage attention and accolades to foster collaboration between academia and industry, potentially accelerating research and innovation.
The Perimeter Institute, where Pasterski currently leads her initiative, describes her team’s work as an attempt to discover “highly compressed” sets of laws that can explain observed phenomena. The ultimate goal, she says, is to understand the fundamental rules governing the universe and whether a simpler description of reality is possible.
