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Zero scorer turns astrophysicist, Pichai lauds

New Delhi, Nov 22

Google CEO Sundar Pichai were among some of the world's top tech leaders and scientists who commended a woman for pursuing science despite scoring zero on a quantum physics exam only a few years ago.

Today Sarafina Nance is doing PhD in astrophysics at one of top institutions in the world, the University of California, Berkeley. The 26-year-old astrophysicist is researching supernovae.

"4 years ago I got a 0 on a quantum physics exam. i met with my professor fearing i needed to change my major & quit physics. today, i'm in a top tier astrophysics Ph.D program & published 2 papers. STEM is hard for everyone -- grades don't mean you're not good enough to do it (sic.)," she said in a tweet on Thursday which has now been liked over 57,000 times and retweeted over 10,000 times.

"Well said and so inspiring!," Pichai said in response.

The inspiring story of the young astrophysicist who is also a breast cancer survivor opened the gates for a flood of similar stories. Among them is Mike Turner, Director of Science, Wellcome Trust, a research charity based in London.

"This is an inspiring thread. Thank you Sarafina. I left school with 2 A levels, got the third next year and into uni through clearing. Now director of science at Europe's largest funder of biomed science. Do not let failure define you (sic.)," he said.

"You are an inspiration. Thank you so much for sharing," said another user.

"I so admire you little sister. I wish so much I would have been brave enough to forge ahead into the Sciences as have you and so many others of your generation. I hope my grand nieces follow you. Lilly wants to be a Starship Commander. So I buy her rockets to build and launch," tweeted another.