Post by Princeton University

When Sophia Varughese '26 came to Princeton, she expected to major in econonmics and minor in music performance so that she could have a successful business career and then, maybe, eventually, pursue her love of French horn performance. But then she fell in love with the wonders of the universe, and then jazz singing, and she had to admit that path might not be right after all. "Over the past few years, I’ve been trying to allow myself to love what I love," said Sophia, an astrophysical sciences major from Delray Beach, FL — "something that you wake up every day excited to do." In her case, that’s general relativity, especially its connections to black holes. And singing jazz with a smoky voice reminiscent of USO tours. During her first year, she took "Black Holes," an astrophysics course taught by professor Eliot Quataert. "My eyes were opened in a way that they never had been before," she said. "Learning about black holes and being presented with the idea of general relativity — I was just so excited. I remember calling my mom and telling her what I was learning in class, and telling my friends, and realizing that I was more academically excited than I’d ever been before." For her spring junior project, she discussed possible topics with Neta Bahcall, Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy and director of undergraduate studies for the Department of Astrophysical Sciences, who suggested a project on black holes. When it was time to do her senior thesis, Varughese wanted to continue working with Bahcall on the subject that had first wooed her into astrophysics: black holes and relativity. "Sophia did an excellent job on a beautiful thesis," said Bahcall. "She not only explained black holes and how the theory of black holes came to be, but how the discoveries came, leading to what we know today. And then, how can we use black holes to test relativity?" While many astrophysics majors continue on to graduate school in astrophysics or a related field, Varughese doubled down on music: she will head to Manhattan School of Music in the fall to study jazz vocal performance. Learn more about Sophia, her thesis, and her future in music: https://bit.ly/4eImYqY