Summary
Overview
Cosmologist Katie Mack joins Debbie Millman to discuss the intersection of theoretical physics, human creativity, and our place in the cosmos. From her childhood fascination with Stephen Hawking to her current work on dark matter and the end of the universe, Mack explores how physics is fundamentally an act of imagination. She shares insights about finding meaning in a temporary existence, the creative collaboration behind theoretical physics, and how studying incomprehensible cosmic scales has changed her relationship with time and purpose.
From Apollo 11 to Aerobatics: Family Legacy and Finding Focus
Katie Mack opens up about her unique path into cosmology, shaped by her grandfather's classified work on Apollo 11 and her own adventurous pursuit of aerobatic flying. Her grandfather, a Navy meteorologist, secretly saved the Apollo 11 astronauts by convincing NASA to move the splashdown site just 72 hours before landing, unable to reveal his classified satellite intelligence. Now, Mack uses aerobatic flying not as an adrenaline rush, but as a way to achieve complete focus and escape the vastness of her cosmological work.
- Katie Mack earned her private pilot license during the pandemic and is training in aerobatics—flying loops, spins, and rolls
- Her grandfather was a meteorologist who worked on Apollo 11 and discovered a dangerous storm at the planned splashdown site using classified satellite data
- He convinced NASA to move the splashdown zone 72 hours before landing without revealing why, potentially saving the astronauts' lives
- Aerobatic flying provides Mack with complete mental focus where she doesn't think about her cosmology work
" When you are fully fully absorbed in something and fully focused it's you you get into this zone where nothing else can touch you and when you're flying you have to be focused you can't think about other things because things will go very badly if you if you take your focus away from what you're doing "
" It turned out that the splashdown zone that they designated had a storm coming, something called Screaming Eagle Thunderclouds, something really bad... it was bad enough that it could have just ripped the parachutes right off the capsule "
A 10-Year-Old Reading Hawking: The Origins of Cosmic Curiosity
Mack traces her journey into cosmology back to reading Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time' at age 10, despite not understanding most of it. Growing up in a family that nurtured her curiosity—with a scientist grandfather, a science fiction fan mother, and exposure to scientific talks—she accumulated knowledge about the cosmos. The book introduced her to the word 'cosmologist' and gave her a career aspiration, even though comprehension came much later.
- Mack read Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time' at age 10, though she didn't understand most of it
- Her family nurtured her curiosity with science magazines, science fiction, and attendance at public science talks in the LA area
- She was always a tinkerer, taking things apart and putting them back together, 'sometimes correctly'
- Reading Hawking's book introduced her to the term 'cosmologist' and gave her a career goal
" I didn't understand very much of it as a 10-year-old. But I knew... I just really, I really wanted to try to understand this stuff. And I thought, you know, if I keep studying, I'll get this and I'll maybe be able to work in this area "
" I didn't know before I read that book that you could be a cosmologist. You know, I saw that Stephen Hawking is called a cosmologist. I was like, you know, what is that? What is that work? And I thought, well, that's what I want to do "
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