Biography:Katie Mack (astrophysicist)

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Short description: American astrophysicist
Katie Mack
Katie Mack-IMG 8876.jpeg
Mack giving her talk on the End of the Universe at CERN on 25 February 2019
Born
Katherine J. Mack

(1981-05-01) 1 May 1981 (age 42)
Alma materPrinceton University (PhD)
California Institute of Technology (BS)
Scientific career
FieldsCosmology
Theoretical astrophysics[1]
InstitutionsPerimeter Institute
North Carolina State University
University of Melbourne
University of Cambridge
Thesis[ProQuest 304982499 Tests of Early Universe Physics from Observational Astronomy] (2009)
Doctoral advisorPaul Steinhardt[2]
Websitehttps://www.astrokatie.com/

Katherine J. Mack (born 1 May 1981)[3] is a theoretical cosmologist who holds the Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication at Perimeter Institute. Her academic research investigates dark matter, vacuum decay and the epoch of reionisation.[4][1][5] Mack is also a popular science communicator who participates in social media and regularly writes for Scientific American, Slate, Sky & Telescope, Time (magazine) and Cosmos.[6][7]

Early life and education

Mack became interested in science as a child and built solar-powered cars out of Lego blocks.[8] Her mother is a fan of science fiction, and encouraged Mack to watch Star Trek and Star Wars.[9] Her grandfather was a student at Caltech and worked on the Apollo 11 mission.[10] She became more interested in spacetime and the Big Bang after attending talks by scientists such as Stephen Hawking.[8]

Mack attended California Institute of Technology, and appeared as an extra in the opening credits of the 2001 American comedy film Legally Blonde when they filmed on campus.[11] She received her undergraduate degree in physics in 2003.[12][13] Mack obtained her PhD in astrophysics from Princeton University in 2009.[14] Her thesis on the early universe was supervised by Paul Steinhardt.[2][15]

Research and career

After earning her doctorate, Mack joined the University of Cambridge as a Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) postdoctoral research fellow at the Kavli Institute for Cosmology.[13] Later in 2012, Mack was a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow at the University of Melbourne.[16] Mack was involved with the construction of the dark matter detector SABRE.[17]

In January 2018, Mack became an Assistant Professor and a member of university's Leadership in Public Science Cluster in the Department of Physics at North Carolina State University.[18][19] She joined the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in June 2022, as the inaugural Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication.[20][21] The Canadian multidisciplinary research organization CIFAR named her one of the CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars in 2022.[22]

Mack works at the intersection between fundamental physics and astrophysics. Her research considers dark matter,[23] vacuum decay,[24] the formation of galaxies, observable tracers of cosmic evolution and the Epoch of Reionisation.[25] Mack has described dark matter as one of science's "most pressing enigmas".[26][27] She has worked on dark matter self-annihilation[28] Mack has investigated whether the accretion of dark matter could result in the growth of primordial black holes (PBHs).[29] She has worked on the impact of PBHs on the cosmic microwave background.[30] She has become increasingly interested, too, in the end of the universe.[31]

Public engagement and advocacy

Mack maintains a strong science outreach presence on both social and traditional media.[32][33] She has been described by Motherboard and Creative Cultivate as a "social media celebrity".[8][17] Mack is a popular science writer, and has contributed to The Guardian , Scientific American, Slate, The Conversation, Sky & Telescope, Gizmodo, Time (magazine) and Cosmos, as well as providing expert information to the BBC.[34][35][36][37][38][39] Mack's Twitter account has over 300,000 followers; her response to a climate change denier on that platform gained mainstream coverage,[40][41] as did her "Chirp for LIGO" upon the first detection of gravitational waves.[42][43] She was the 2017 Australian Institute of Physics Women in Physics lecturer, in which capacity she spent three weeks delivering talks at schools and universities across Australia.[44][45]

In 2018, Mack was chosen to be one of the judges for Nature magazine's newly founded Nature Research Awards for Inspiring Science and Innovating Science.[46] In February 2019 Mack appeared in an episode of The Jodcast, talking about her work and science communication.[47] Mack was a member of the jury for the Alfred P. Sloan Prize in the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.[48] In 2019, she was referenced on the Hozier track 'No Plan' from his album Wasteland, Baby!: "As Mack explained, there will be darkness again".[49]

She is a member of the Sloan Science & Film community, where she works on science fiction.[50][51]

Her first book, The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking), was published by Simon & Schuster in August 2020, the firm having won the rights to Mack's first book in an eight-way bidding battle.[52][53] It considers the five scenarios for the end of universe (both theoretically and practically),[52] and has received positive reviews both for its science outreach accuracy and its wit.[54][55][56] The book [57] is also a New York Times Notable Book and features on the best books of the year lists of The Washington Post , The Economist, New Scientist, Publishers Weekly, and The Guardian .[58]

Personal life

Mack is interested in the intersection of art, poetry and science.[59] She is bisexual.[60]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 {{Google Scholar id}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mack, Katherine J. (2009). Tests of Early Universe Physics from Observational Astronomy (PhD thesis). Princeton University. OCLC 437814758. ProQuest 304982499.
  3. ↑ "Mack, Katie, 1981-". https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2009145542.html. 
  4. ↑ Katie Mack's Entry at ORCID
  5. ↑ Mack, Katie. "A Tour of the Universe (and selected cosmic mysteries).". https://www.slideshare.net/AstroKatie. 
  6. ↑ No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.
  7. ↑ {{Twitter}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Create & Cultivate 100: STEM & Finance: Katie Mack" (in en-US). 21 January 2019. https://www.createcultivate.com/blog/2019/1/16/create-amp-cultivate-100-stem-katie-mack. 
  9. ↑ Cox, Ana Marie (2018-10-23). "Space the Nation: Katie Mack, the mansplainer slayer, on getting science right" (in en). https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/space-the-nation-katie-mack-the-mansplainer-slayer-on-getting-science-right. 
  10. ↑ Stasio, Dana Terry, Frank. "A Scientist Who Found Her Faith In Physics: Meet Katie Mack, AKA AstroKatie" (in en). https://www.wunc.org/post/scientist-who-found-her-faith-physics-meet-katie-mack-aka-astrokatie. 
  11. ↑ "Katie Mack". https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1114352223499190272. 
  12. ↑ "On Astrophysics, Stardust, and Our (Teeny Tiny) Place in the Universe" (in en-US). https://www.techer.caltech.edu/on-astrophysics-and-stardust. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Katherine (Katie) Mack | Department of Physics | NC State University" (in en). 2018-05-24. https://physics.sciences.ncsu.edu/people/kmack/. 
  14. ↑ "Katie Mack *09: Taming of the Troll" (in en). 2016-09-26. https://paw.princeton.edu/article/katie-mack-09-taming-troll. 
  15. ↑ "Katherine Mack" (in en). http://www.planetary.org/connect/our-experts/profiles/katherine-mack.html. 
  16. ↑ "Katie Mack's Webpage". http://www.ph.unimelb.edu.au/~kmack/. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Scoles, Sarah (2017-04-10). "I Went to the 'Contact' Radio Telescope with the Astrophysicist Behind Twitter's All-Time Sickest Burn" (in en-US). https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/mgdx9b/astrokatie-mack-space-twitter. 
  18. ↑ "Katie Mack | Chancellor's Faculty Excellence Program | NC State University" (in en). 2018-01-08. https://facultyclusters.ncsu.edu/people/kmack/. 
  19. ↑ "Katherine Mack: Assistant Professor". https://www.physics.ncsu.edu/people/faculty_mack.php. 
  20. ↑ Brown, Mike (2021-12-07). "Katie Mack to join Perimeter as Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication | PI News". https://perimeterinstitute.ca/news/katie-mack-join-perimeter-hawking-chair-cosmology-and-science-communication. 
  21. ↑ @Perimeter (2022-06-03). "We're so thrilled to welcome you to Waterloo, Katie! Katie is the Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication, the perfect choice for a position with a dual focus on research and sharing science with the broader public.". https://twitter.com/Perimeter/status/1532815119348027392. 
  22. ↑ "Meet the 2022-2024 cohort of CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars" (in en-US). 2022-06-07. https://cifar.ca/cifarnews/2022/06/07/meet-the-2022-2024-cohort-of-cifar-azriel-global-scholars/. 
  23. ↑ Mack, Katie (2014-02-25). "I'm Looking for Evidence That Dark Matter Messed With Stars and Galaxies" (in en). https://slate.com/technology/2014/02/what-is-dark-matter-searching-with-gravity-lensing-wimps-and-antiparticles.html. 
  24. ↑ "Vacuum decay: the ultimate catastrophe" (in en). 14 September 2015. https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/vacuum-decay-ultimate-catastrophe. 
  25. ↑ Astrokatie (2012-08-31). "The Universe, in Theory: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Cosmos". https://astrokatie.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-long-dark-tea-time-of-cosmos.html. 
  26. ↑ "U of T Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics | Dark Matter, First Light" (in en-US). http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/events/katie-mack/. 
  27. ↑ Slezak, Michael. "Bright light may not be dark matter's smoking gun after all" (in en-US). https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28415-bright-light-may-not-be-dark-matters-smoking-gun-after-all/. 
  28. ↑ Mack, Katherine J. (11 April 2014). "Known unknowns of dark matter annihilation over cosmic time". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 439 (3): 2728–2735. doi:10.1093/mnras/stu129. Bibcode: 2014MNRAS.439.2728M. 
  29. ↑ Mack, Katherine J.; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.; Ricotti, Massimo (20 August 2007). "Growth of Structure Seeded by Primordial Black Holes". The Astrophysical Journal 665 (2): 1277–1287. doi:10.1086/518998. Bibcode: 2007ApJ...665.1277M. 
  30. ↑ Ricotti, Massimo; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.; Mack, Katherine J. (20 June 2008). "Effect of Primordial Black Holes on the Cosmic Microwave Background and Cosmological Parameter Estimates". The Astrophysical Journal 680 (2): 829–845. doi:10.1086/587831. Bibcode: 2008ApJ...680..829R. 
  31. ↑ "Death of a Universe | College of Sciences | Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, GA". https://cos.gatech.edu/events/death-universe-0. [|permanent dead link|dead link}}]
  32. ↑ "Electric Lady Influencer of the Week: Katie Mack". 2017-04-28. https://www.electriclady.world/world/2017/5/28/electric-lady-influencer-of-the-week-katie-mack. 
  33. ↑ Mack, Katie (2017-06-12). "Black Holes, Cosmic Collisions and the Rippling of Spacetime". https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/black-holes-cosmic-collisions-and-the-rippling-of-spacetime/. 
  34. ↑ "Death of a Universe | La mort d'un Univers (25 February 2019) · Indico". https://indico.cern.ch/event/794501/page/16125-biographie-biography. 
  35. ↑ "Stories by Katie Mack" (in en). https://www.scientificamerican.com/katie-mack/. 
  36. ↑ "Katie Mack" (in en). https://www.theguardian.com/profile/katie-mack. 
  37. ↑ "Katie Mack" (in en). https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributors/katie-mack. 
  38. ↑ Mack, Katherine J.. "From black holes to dark matter, an astrophysicist explains" (in en). http://theconversation.com/from-black-holes-to-dark-matter-an-astrophysicist-explains-26019. 
  39. ↑ Halton, Mary (2018-03-28). "Ghost galaxy prompts cosmic mystery" (in en-GB). https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43543195. 
  40. ↑ "Astrophysicist Katie Mack lays the smackdown on mansplainer with droll Twitter burn". 2016-08-16. http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2016/08/16/astrophysicist-katie-mack-lays-the-smackdown-on-mansplainer-with-droll-twitter-burn/. 
  41. ↑ Mezzofiore, Gianluca (16 August 2016). "Astrophysicist had the perfect response to climate change denier" (in en). https://mashable.com/2016/08/16/astrophysicist-climate-change-skeptic-twitter-burn/. 
  42. ↑ Castelvecchi, Davide; Witze, Alexandra (11 February 2016). "Einstein's gravitational waves found at last". Nature: nature.2016.19361. doi:10.1038/nature.2016.19361. 
  43. ↑ Roston, Michael (11 February 2016). "Scientists Chirp Excitedly for LIGO, Gravitational Waves and Einstein". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/science/scientists-chirp-excitedly-for-ligo-gravitational-waves-and-einstein.html. 
  44. ↑ "Katie Mack is the 2017 Women in Physics Lecturer". 2017-04-04. http://aip.org.au/physicsapril2017/. 
  45. ↑ Knox Grammar School (2017-08-09), 'A Tour of the Universe' - Dr Katie Mack, 'Women in Physics' lecture, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX14qTJ5S3M, retrieved 2019-03-26 
  46. ↑ "Judges and Ambassadors". https://www.nature.com/collections/jcpghfmqlz/judgesambassadors. 
  47. ↑ "February 2019: Try turning it off and on again!". 11 February 2019. http://www.jodcast.net/archive/201902/. 
  48. ↑ "Sundance Film Festival: Juries, Awards Night Host Announced - Thursday, January 17th, 2019". 2019-01-17. https://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/2019-festival-jury-awards-night-host. 
  49. ↑ Bruton, Louise. "Hozier: 'If I wanted to make a f**king pop song, I would'" (in en). The Irish Times. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/hozier-if-i-wanted-to-make-a-f-king-pop-song-i-would-1.3794161. 
  50. ↑ "People - Sloan Science & Film". http://scienceandfilm.org/people/676/katherine-mack. 
  51. ↑ "Sloan Science & Film". http://scienceandfilm.org/articles/3205/katie-mack-on-the-expanses-accurate-physics. 
  52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 "Book Deals: Week of January 29, 2018". https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/book-deals/article/75925-book-deals-week-of-january-29-2018.html. 
  53. ↑ "Book" (in en-US). http://www.astrokatie.com/book. 
  54. ↑ Gleick, James (August 4, 2020). "This Is How It All Ends". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/books/review/the-end-of-everything-katie-mack.html. 
  55. ↑ "Katie Mack: 'Knowing how the universe will end is freeing'". BBC News. August 3, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53607943. 
  56. ↑ "THE END OF EVERYTHING | Kirkus Reviews". https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/katie-mack/the-end-of-everything/. 
  57. ↑ "15 translations Tweet". https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1334917628675158025. 
  58. ↑ Mack, Katie (2020-08-04) (in en). The End of Everything. ISBN 978-1-9821-0354-5. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-End-of-Everything/Katie-Mack/9781982103545. 
  59. ↑ "'I want you to live forward, but see backward': a theoretical astrophysicist's manifesto | Aeon Videos" (in en). https://aeon.co/videos/i-want-you-to-live-forward-but-see-backward-a-theoretical-astrophysicists-manifesto. 
  60. ↑ [1070 "Katie Mack | 500 Queer Scientists". https://500queerscientists.com/katie-mack/?ids=[1070. 

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