 "Google CEO Sundar Pichai finds astrophysicist's viral post about scoring zero marks in exam 'inspiring'; Twitter responds to thread")
Google CEO Sundar Pichai became one of the thousands intrigued by 26-year-old astrophysicist Sarafina Nance’s story about scoring zero marks in her quantum physics examination. Sarafina Nance, a PhD student in astrophysics and a National Science Foundation (NSF) fellow in the University of California in Berkley, shared her story of having scored zero marks in a quantum physics examination years ago. Following the setback, she considered quitting physics. However, she revealed that not giving up and sticking with the subject has now made her a part of “top tier astrophysics PhD program.” She concluded her tweet with a message that read, “STEM is hard for everyone—grades don’t mean you’re not good enough to do it.”
Her tweet prompted many researchers and scholars to open up about their stories of setbacks and challenges and how they overcame them. As the thread went viral, Google CEO Sundar Pichai took notice of it and retweeted the “inspiring” story.
The thread, which is viral now, continues to receive get responses from people about the challenges they have faced in their academic career. Here are some of the other interesting and inspiring stories that scientists and scholars shared: