Natalie Portman and her successful scientific career at Harvard
The actress turns 40 today, and that is why here we recount her time at Harvard University and her career as a scientist.
Natalie Portman is an artist of challenges, proof of this is her outstanding scientific career at Harvard University, of which very few know about her. The Hollywood star has not hesitated to take any challenge that has arisen throughout her career, but which has led her to become one of the most successful actresses in the industry; she herself has declared herself a fan of adventures that involve greater danger. "The risk led me to one of my greatest professional achievements. But if I had known my own limitations, I would never have taken the risk," Natalie Portman stressed during a conference at Harvard University in 2015. Natalie Portman made her film debut at 12 years with the film Léon: The Professional, surely, without knowing that she would not only become a Hollywood star, but also an outstanding personality in the scientific community, since few know that the famous decided to prioritize her education, without neglecting acting .
The actress, born in Jerusalem in 1981, was one of the best-known faces on the big screen by 1999, the year she was admitted to Harvard University. She then she had already won over the public with her participation in Martians on the attack! (by Tim Burton) and her leading role in Star War: Episode I-The Phantom Menace.
The scientific studies that Natalie Portman did
In the late 1990s, Natalie Portman walked through the doors of America's oldest educational institution. Despite the fact that at first the actress came to consider that she "was not smart enough", she formed a career at Harvard University, just as successful as in the cinema.
In 2004 she graduated from college with a degree in Psychology. Portman has published two scientific articles: the first is entitled Simple method to demonstrate the enzymatic production of hydrogen from sugar; and the second is called Activation of the frontal lobe during object permanence: data from an infrared spectroscopy.
Subsequently, she did a postgraduate degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. And in 2006 she was invited to give a lecture in a course on terrorism and counterterrorism at the University of Colombia. It is worth mentioning that Natalie Portman speaks six languages: English, Hebrew, French, German, Spanish and Japanese.
The day she admitted she'd rather be smart than a movie star
Nearly a decade after earning her degree, the performer returned to Harvard University where she gave a speech in honor of graduating seniors that year. During the conference, Portman recalled some of the most complicated passages that she experienced during her time at university.
“Today I feel like when I first came to Harvard, in 1999. When I entered I thought I had made a mistake, that I was not smart enough to be here (...) Every time I opened my mouth, I tried to show that she was not a dumb actress,” she mentioned in 2015.
Her powerful feminist discourses Beyond her triumph outside and inside the classroom. Natalie Portman is a fervent defender of women's rights, as she demonstrated at the 2020 Oscars, a ceremony she attended wearing a black cape that had the names of all the female directors embroidered on the edges, in gold thread. They were not nominated in recent years, this to make visible the lack of representation and recognition of the female gender in the industry.
A few years ago, she told the story of how she became a feminist in a speech she gave during a demonstration. At just 13 years old and after the premiere of León, Natalie had to face the threat of an adult man who she described in a letter from her how she wanted to rape her.
"I excitedly opened my first fan mail letter to read a rape fantasy a man had written to me (...) On the local radio, an announcer started a countdown to my 18th birthday, the date I it would be legal for someone to sleep with me. Film critics talked about my budding breasts and I understood very quickly, even though I was 13, that if I was going to express myself sexually, I was going to feel insecure, and that men would feel entitled to debate and reify my body, to my great discomfort, "he said.
