--- title: Princess Leia Got A PhD at 19: Internet Reactions description: The Star Wars character was a princess and a scholar and the internet can't handle it. canonical: https://time.com/4889737/princess-leia-phd-reactions/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-07T15:16:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:44:34.135Z og:title: The Internet Can't Handle That Teen Princess Leia Had A PhD og:description: The Star Wars character was a princess and a scholar og:url: https://time.com/4889737/princess-leia-phd-reactions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d59cdb93fb6884e/6986960dadae449d82543877/princess-leia.jpg?branch=production&width=809&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 809 og:image:height: 455 og:image:alt: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Can't Handle That Teen Princess Leia Had A PhD twitter:description: The Star Wars character was a princess and a scholar twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d59cdb93fb6884e/6986960dadae449d82543877/princess-leia.jpg?branch=production&width=809&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Internet Can't Handle That Teen Princess Leia Was a PhD Scholar > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=217a5206-7c68-484f-af16-ab7c3d241819&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 7, 2017 3:16 PM UTC  Carrie Fisher, as Princess Leia Organa, in a scene from the 1977 "Star Wars" movie released by 20th Century-Fox. Carrie Fisher, as Princess Leia Organa, in a scene from the 1977 "Star Wars" movie released by 20th Century-Fox. 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation—AP by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 7, 2017 3:16 PM UTC This week, the internet discovered a new fact about [_Star Wars_](http://time.com/4788422/best-star-wars-moments/)’ Princess Leia and their minds were blown (just like Alderaan). As with many things on the internet, it all started with a tweet when Twitter user BeccaEHarrison did a little background digging into the [_Star Wars_](http://time.com/4784685/star-wars-machete-order-rogue-one-force-awakens/) universe and realized that everyone’s favorite princess was actually an incredible scholar who earned a PhD at 19\. Harrison was shocked, not just by Leia’s academic aaccomplishment, but by the fact that while she had earned the academic title of “doctor” everyone called her “princess” (or in the case of [Han Solo](http://time.com/4828521/ron-howard-star-wars-han-solo/), “Your Worshipfullness”). > [](https://twitter.com/BeccaEHarrison/status/893483808309231616) That’s right, as [_Buzzfeed_ ](https://www.buzzfeed.com/andyneuenschwander/it-turns-out-that-princess-leia-had-a-phd-and-peop?utm%5Fterm=.rrlOJlQ0q6#.bkke0EB8NQ)[notes](https://www.buzzfeed.com/andyneuenschwander/it-turns-out-that-princess-leia-had-a-phd-and-peop?utm%5Fterm=.rrlOJlQ0q6#.bkke0EB8NQ), _Star Wars_ creator George Lucas himself said Leia was both super-smart and super tough. Other doctors couldn’t help but weigh in on the fact that earning a PhD is pretty out of this world, even in a galaxy far, far away. > [](https://twitter.com/FESMontemaggi/status/893485631577391105) And then the puns started happening: > [](https://twitter.com/mccook%5Fhx/status/893576594077474816) Finally, to fully complete the life cycle of the story, someone weighed in with what is \* ahem \* actually, Leia’s full title: > [](https://twitter.com/yesthatkarim/status/893677491038162946) \[H/T [Buzzfeed](https://www.buzzfeed.com/andyneuenschwander/it-turns-out-that-princess-leia-had-a-phd-and-peop?utm%5Fterm=.rrlOJlQ0q6#.bkke0EB8NQ)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4889737/princess-leia-phd-reactions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4889737/princess-leia-phd-reactions/"},"headline":"The Internet Can't Handle That Teen Princess Leia Was a PhD Scholar","datePublished":"2017-08-07T15:16:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:44:34.135Z","description":"The Star Wars character was a princess and a scholar","url":"https://time.com/4889737/princess-leia-phd-reactions/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","viral","Star Wars","Princess Leia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d59cdb93fb6884e/6986960dadae449d82543877/princess-leia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d59cdb93fb6884e/6986960dadae449d82543877/princess-leia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford","caption":"Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford","creditText":"20th Century-Fox Film Corporation—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4889737/princess-leia-phd-reactions/","name":"The Internet Can't Handle That Teen Princess Leia Was a PhD Scholar"}}]}] ```