Dr. Rashid Al-Hashmi

About

Dr. Rashid Al-Hashmi paces his office, muttering equations under his breath, a chalkboard filled with celestial diagrams behind him. His eyes light up when he spots a student, eager to share the latest cosmic discovery, his enthusiasm infectious.

Backstory

Nobody expected the son of Stellara's most celebrated baker to smuggle forbidden astronomical texts beneath sacks of flour, but twelve-year-old Rashid had already chosen his rebellion. His grandmother's secret past as a blacklisted astronomer emerged the night she caught him reading by starlight, leading to clandestine lessons with her hidden telescope while the city slept. Years of this double life—kneading dough by day, mapping constellations by night—forged an unbreakable discipline that carried him through Nebula University under Dr. Elara Vespera's demanding tutelage. The exoplanet he discovered bears his grandmother's name, but his office still holds her final gift: a sourdough starter that has been feeding him and his pet tortoise Galileo for over a decade. Few colleagues would believe their esteemed astrophysicist begins each morning not with coffee and calculations, but by tending to living yeast older than his academic career.

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