Harvard Thinks It's Found the Next Einstein – And She's 23 | Hacker News Reader

Harvard Thinks It's Found the Next Einstein – And She's 23

secondnexus.com

30 pointshankewi35 comments

“I couldn’t believe it,” recalls Peggy Udden, an executive secretary at MIT. “Not only because she was so young, but a girl.”

Hah, this comes across as incredibly patronizing.

Seriously though, whenever someone in a position of authority makes a prediction of "the next Uber", "the next Einstein", or "the next Silicon Valley", I am instantly extremely skeptical.

It's probably not meant in a negative way; just badly worded.

Even in Norway where girls have an easier way into physics and math studies, there is a significant majority of males in those classes.

Agreed that it was probably accidental rather than sexist, but from someone in that position it was extremely poor judgement to use those words.

And so you should be because these things aren't predictable in the slightest. No one thought Stephen Hawking would change the world's view on black holes, until he actually did. Same goes with all the other famous scientists. In fact the odds are positively stacked against her; it's more likely she won't achieve anything again we ever hear about.

It might help to note that specific quote was in the following context;

Pasterski first attracted the attention of the scientific and academic community after single-handedly building her own single-engine airplane in 2008, at age 14, and documenting the process on YouTube. [1]

At age 16, she piloted the aircraft herself over Lake Michigan, becoming the youngest person ever to fly their own plane.

Then comes the quote.

If this quote was referencing 23-year old Sabrina I agree it would be patronizing. In reference to a 14 year old building an airplane and then flying it, I'd say it's pretty spot on.

Seriously, watch the video.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blVmHo_8bmA

She's not a genius, she's rich. I'm sure a lot of people could build amazing things but don't have the money or family support to do so.

Same with the "did nuclear fusion in their bedroom" crowd. Although both (planes and fusion) demonstrate a certain level of capability. But the steps to take are already known, doing it takes initiative, ability to understand the steps and the money to pay for it.

At the age of 23 Einstein had just found a boring job, out of the public eye, that left him plenty of time to dream and think big thoughts [1]. Untimely attention from Harvard might well have ruined all gifts he was about to give to physics.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annus_Mirabilis_papers#Backgro...

"That’s nice, but what have you done lately?"

Awesome mantra! How about she's the first Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski instead? These comparisons are super weird, I'd love to hear more about what she's actually invented, rather than lazy Einstein comparisons.

Hmmm. The marketing machine needs more fodder to cull the rich for money. Isnt Harvard's endowment big enough that they are capitalizing on her? What better use of young talent than to prostitute it?

Let her be. Look at her web site. Two pages of real science and the past two years it looks like she is a pop music superstar or athlete. I get it that they are trying to say "yeah for women!" and encourage the scores of despondent, underachieving women who have been squashed by the white male machine. But really, instead of having her talk everywhere, why not simply have her tutor young women students to excellence.? I'd rather see her as a consultant to the young women's center for STEM

My first reaction is to think - I hope my girls can take inspiration from Sabrina.

But taking a second to think about it, she's an inspiration to _everyone_. She just got on with it and built a plane. Starting something, finishing something - and at that age - is impressive. Never mind all the talents she appears to have.

I'll bet large sums of money their perdiction is wrong.

The article is predictably light on details. Other than being young, building a plane, and having a great GPA at MIT, what leads them to believe she's the "Next Einstein"?

Builds plane at 14.

Graduates MIT in 3 years with the best possible GPA.

Internet commenter: "yeah but so what"

Other Internet commenter: "I completely missed the point."

They don't even mention what her PhD research is about or what has led them to believe that said research is as revolutionary as Einstein's work.

It's a headline on the internet, not a thesis statement

It takes a little more than that to be in the same category as Einstein. Also, if your age is important to make the achievement impressive, it's generally not that impressive. Like cool, good for you, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

I know of several ppl who finished their PhDs in 2-3 years (average is 5-6) with great results and yet I don't see them get news coverage and front page treatment on HN. I think we should all be wary of hype. She seems like a smart person and if she makes massive contributions to physics in the future, then by all means, let's compare her to Einstein. But until then, what purpose does this hype serve?

No pressure!

For her to be next Einstein, she would have to revolutionize physics somehow. Even then, it would be questionable, because she already seems to be acknowledged by the physics world, whereas Einstein was relegated to working in a patent office rather than academia when he made his discoveries.

She sounds super-cool and smart, but the Einstein comparison is just weird. Also there are probably many other smart kids in physics, too.

The wider public tends to love the idea of comparing smart people to Einstein...I wouldn't think much on the comparison except that it is a statement that she is unusually smart.

> I wouldn't think much on the comparison except that it is a statement that she is unusually smart.

Well according to the article, it's Harvard University representatives making that assertion. They would obviously know better than to make statements like that casually.

This is a ridiculous article.

Pasterski looks like a smart student who is good at personal branding, and is ultimately being exploited to be some sort of PR coup for the university.

Regardless of her genitalia, it's better to actually do something before seeking affiliation with luminary figures like Einstein. The "next Steve Jobs" Elizabeth Holmes comes to mind when I read bullshit PR like this.

This headline is going to generate a lot of negativity because a comparison to Einstein invokes an image of someone that fundamentally revolutionized bedrock scientific theory for an entire discipline, not "just" off the charts intellectual prowess.

Well I mean duh, she built a plane, went to MIT, and she's a woman. Of course she's the next Einstein.

she hasn't finished her phd yet, lets see what sort of research she can do before we sing her accolades. She may go work in finance yet (and there is nothing wrong with that).

Honestly, it would be very disappointing if she wasted her talent in finance. We need more brain power to focus on runaway climate change. It's the top priority of our species, if we want to survive the next century.

> We need more brain power to focus on runaway climate change.

Doesn't sound like that's her field of study, so I guess she's wasting her talents then.

Snappy remarks are not welcome here, especially if you misunderstand my comment. If she's really gifted, I hope she pursues meaningful research.

"Meaningful research" is incredibly subjective.

Just a heads up, there's a page 2 to the article that mentions her research papers. I missed it until I saw a comment. Guess my mind thought the continue button was an ad.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/25/...

Wishing her the best.

Fantastic.

A shame about the comments on the article.

I agree, it's barbaric.

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