Ghazal Geshnizjani: Exploring the cosmos through curiosity

If you think black hole physics is tricky, try writing a children’s book about it.

As a cosmologist at Perimeter Institute, Ghazal Geshnizjani is fluent in the language of mathematics, so she can happily spend hours immersed in equations and formulae.

But translating that language into words – into stories that can captivate kids – required her to grapple with big ideas in entirely different ways.

She wrote Bella the Black Hole, an illustrated tale of a star that becomes a black hole and eventually finds its binary companion, partly because of changes she was experiencing in her own life.

"Having children profoundly changes your priorities — what things in life have to take priority,” she says. “And it also teaches you how incredible our learning experiences are from the very first moment."

Her impetus for writing a children’s book was a desire to share the wonders of her research with her young son, who had taken an interest in all things astronomical. But the process of writing – of distilling incredibly complex concepts into emotionally resonant ideas for kids – became a reward in itself.

It’s the same reward Geshnizjani gets teaching master’s-level classes in the Perimeter Scholars International program, and speaking to visiting school groups. As a teaching faculty member, Geshnizjani’s time is split evenly between her own research and sharing her knowledge with students and early-career scientists.  

“In academia, you learn things when you teach them to someone else,” she says. “That’s when you learn the best. When you teach, you have some of that, and you say, “OK, I managed to carry the torch, now I gave it to someone else.’ And that’s a good feeling. I love that part of the process."

Sharing knowledge has always been important to her. Growing up in Iran, her parents instilled in her a love for analytical thinking and problem-solving. “My parents were genuinely... not mathematicians or scientists, but they did have this tendency to rethink everything and analyze it,” she says. Her father’s enthusiasm for mathematics left a lasting impression. 

“He thought it was the most important topic. Math is like a brain tool, a wrench. No matter what you end up doing in life, it’s good to have.”

She now realizes how right her father was.

Her early scientific education coincided with the end of the Iran-Iraq War, a tumultuous period that unexpectedly opened doors. After finishing fifth grade, she was selected for an enrichment program in her city. 

“Somehow I got accepted, which I didn’t expect to,” she recalls. Surrounded by like-minded peers and guided by inspiring teachers, she began a journey that would eventually lead her to the leading edge of theoretical physics.

Geshnizjani first heard about the Perimeter Institute in a casual conversation during a summer school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She was intrigued by the idea of a new institute in Canada devoted entirely to theoretical physics. Years later, after completing her PhD and postdoctoral research, she found her way to Perimeter. 

Her husband, Niayesh Afshordi, is an associate faculty member at Perimeter and the University of Waterloo, and the duo often bounce ideas and theories off one another. Their kids are often at Perimeter, drawing colourful pictures or working out simple math problems on the blackboards.  

“I love the atmosphere here,” she says. “That feeling of belonging by itself is such an important, strong power. Physics is built on community, on collaboration. Most of the science is built on this collaborative exchange of ideas, discussions — that’s how we move forward.”

The common thread that ties that community together, she says, is a shared curiosity about the universe and a desire to unveil its mysteries for all. 

"Science will always reward us,” she says. ”Even when you think there is no payback for following your curiosity, everything we have in technology today came out of somebody being curious."