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Surmounting challenges with a passion for science

Insight is more important than vision in theoretical physics, says Sofia Qvarfort.
By
  1. Chris Woolston

    1. Chris Woolston is a freelance writer in Billings, Montana.

Portrait of Sofia Qvarfort, quantum physicist working on optomechanics and gravity sensing in her office at UCL.

Sofia Qvarfort is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Research Fellow at Stockholm University and a Wallenberg Initiative on Networks and Quantum Information Research Fellow at Nordita, Stockholm. Credit: Agnese Abrusci/Nature

Theoretical-physics concepts can be hard for anyone to visualize. As a person with albinism, a genetic condition that impairs vision, I face particular challenges. In this picture, taken in June at my former office at University College London, I’m sitting in front of a blackboard filled with mathematical equations describing quantum states. I had to put my face right in front of the chalkboard to make any sense of the scribbles.

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Nature 598, 698 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02908-6

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 26 October 2021: An earlier version of this article misspelt Sofia Qvarfort’s surname.

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