Katie Mack (astrophysicist)
American theoretical cosmologist
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Katherine J. Mack (born 1 May 1981)[3] is an American[4] theoretical cosmologist who holds the Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication at the Perimeter Institute. Her academic research investigates dark matter, vacuum decay, and the Epoch of Reionization.[5][1][6] Mack is also a popular science communicator who participates in social media and regularly writes for Scientific American, Slate, Sky & Telescope, Time, and Cosmos.[7][8]
1 May 1981
California Institute of Technology (BS)
Katie Mack | |
|---|---|
Mack in 2019 | |
| Born | Katherine J. Mack 1 May 1981 |
| Alma mater | Princeton University (PhD) California Institute of Technology (BS) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Cosmology Theoretical astrophysics[1] |
| Institutions | Perimeter Institute North Carolina State University University of Melbourne University of Cambridge |
| Thesis | Tests of Early Universe Physics from Observational Astronomy (2009) |
| Paul Steinhardt[2] | |
| Website | www |
Early life and education
Mack became interested in science as a child and built solar-powered cars out of Lego blocks.[9] Her mother is a fan of science fiction, and encouraged Mack to watch Star Trek and Star Wars.[10] Her grandfather was a student at Caltech and worked on the Apollo 11 mission.[11] She became more interested in spacetime and the Big Bang after attending talks by scientists such as Stephen Hawking.[9]
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.[12] She received her undergraduate degree in physics in 2003.[13][14] Mack obtained her PhD in astrophysics from Princeton University in 2009.[15] Her thesis on the early universe was supervised by Paul Steinhardt.[2][16]
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.[14] Later in 2012, Mack was a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow at the University of Melbourne.[17] Mack was involved with the construction of the dark matter detector SABRE.[18]
In January 2018, Mack became an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at North Carolina State University and a member of the university's Leadership in Public Science Cluster.[19][20] She joined the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in June 2022 as the inaugural Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication.[21][22] The Canadian multidisciplinary research organization CIFAR named her one of the CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars in 2022.[23]
Mack works at the intersection between fundamental physics and astrophysics. Her research considers dark matter,[24] vacuum decay,[25] the formation of galaxies, observable tracers of cosmic evolution, and the Epoch of Reionization.[26] Mack has described dark matter as "one of science's most pressing enigmas".[27][28] She has worked on dark matter self-annihilation[29] and whether the accretion of dark matter could result in the growth of primordial black holes (PBHs).[30] She has worked on the impact of PBHs on the cosmic microwave background.[31] She has become increasingly interested, too, in the end of the universe.[32]
Public engagement and advocacy
Mack maintains a strong science outreach presence on both social and traditional media.[33][34] In this wise she has been described by Motherboard and Creative Cultivate as a "social media celebrity".[9][18] Mack is a popular science writer and has contributed to The Guardian, Scientific American, Slate, The Conversation, Sky & Telescope, Gizmodo, Time, and Cosmos, as well as providing expert information to the BBC.[35][36][37][38][39][40] Mack's Twitter account has over 300,000 followers; her response to a climate change denier on that platform gained mainstream coverage,[41][42] as did her "Chirp for LIGO" upon the first detection of gravitational waves.[43][44] 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.[45][46]
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.[47] In February 2019, she appeared in an episode of The Jodcast, talking about her work and science communication.[48] Mack was a member of the jury for the Alfred P. Sloan Prize in the 2019 Sundance Film Festival[49] and writes for Sloan Science & Film about science fiction.[50][51] In 2019, she was referenced on the Hozier track "No Plan" from his album Wasteland, Baby!: "As Mack explained, there will be darkness again".[52]
Her first book, The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking), was published by Simon & Schuster in August 2020, the firm having won the rights in an eight-way bidding battle.[53][54] It considers the five scenarios for the end of the universe (both theoretically and practically),[53] and has received positive reviews both for the accuracy of its science outreach and its wit.[55][56][57] The book[58] was also a New York Times Notable Book and featured on the best books of the year lists of The Washington Post, The Economist, New Scientist, Publishers Weekly, and The Guardian.[59][60] Her second book, How To Build A Universe (Theoretically Speaking), delves into the scientific method; it shall be published March 9, 2027 by Simon & Schuster under their Scribner & Sons imprint with the blurb "Brilliant and thrilling!"[61]
Mack hosted a podcast with author John Green called Crash Course Pods: The Universe[62] in 2024.
Personal life
Mack is interested in the intersection of art, poetry and science.[63] She and the musician Hozier became friends after getting to know one another on Twitter.[64] She is bisexual.[65][66] Mack is also a pilot, having earned her private pilot license during the COVID-19 pandemic.[60] She is now a Yellowbird pilot, flying the de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk, and member of the board of directors at the Canadian Aviation Museum in Windsor, Ontario.[67] Mack became vegetarian at seven years old, and is now vegan.[68]
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