Katherine McAlpine

Katherine (Kate) McAlpine (also known as "alpinekat") (born c. 1985) is a physicist, professional science writer, and hip hop artist, currently employed by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva. In 2008, McAlpine wrote, produced and performed in the YouTube video Large Hadron Rap under the pseudonym "alpinekat" [YouTube: Large Hadron Rap [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM "Large Hadron Rap"] retrieved 24 Sep, 2008] . The video has been viewed more than 3 million times.

McAlpine currently serves as the ATLAS E-News Journalist/Webmaster at CERN. [ [http://www.katemcalpine.com/resume.html "Resume"] retrieved 24 Sep, 2008] [ [http://atlas-service-enews.web.cern.ch/atlas-service-enews/ "ATLAS E-news"] retrieved 24 Sep, 2008]

Large Hadron Rap

The YouTube video is a technically accurate yet easily understood introduction to the Large Hadron Collider operated by CERN. The video explains its purpose, methods and significance using rap lyrics, created by Ms. McAlpine mostly during her commutes on buses and trams to and from work [ [http://news.oreilly.com/2008/08/rapping-the-higgs-boson-kather.html "Rapping the Higgs Boson: Katherine McAlpine (aka AlpineKat) talks particle physics, the Large Hadron Collector, and Rapping at CERN; By James Turner; August 19, 2008 "] retrieved 24 Sep, 2008] . The video appeared on 28 July, 2008, its music was written by Will Barras, and according to the video credits, the dancers "prefer to remain anonymous". [YouTube: Large Hadron Rap [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM "Large Hadron Rap"] retrieved 24 Sep, 2008] The video has become a viral hit, surpassing three million YouTube views on 15 September 2008. [cite web|url=https://www.msu.edu/~mcalpin9/lhc_rap/largehadron.html|title=Large Hadron Rap links and lyrics] " [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/26/scirap126.xml Rap about world's largest science experiment becomes YouTube hit] ". "Telegraph". Last Updated: 2 September 2008] [Bogo, Jennifer (1 August 2008). " [http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/science_news/4276090.html Large Hadron Collider Rap Teaches Particle Physics in 4 Minutes] ". "Popular Mechanics".]

McAlpine stated one reason for creating the rap as, "I mostly wanted to explain what the project was about and hopefully when people - I hope they will - look a little more closely at what it is and not be sucked into the scaremongering about black holes." [ [http://www.aptnvideo.net/pages/browse/player/player_script.jsp;jsessionid=E2EA30EB3712DC0E20ADE80CAC697F41?item=102647 AP Shotlist 9 September 2008] retrieved 24 September 2008]

Commenting on the impact and reception of the rap video among school aged children, McAlpine stated "I was really hoping that this would get taken into classrooms. I don't imagine that elementary school children and most middle school children will understand it very well, but a lot of parents have e-mailed me saying 'I have a nine-year-old, or a seven-year-old, and I showed them your rap and they really love it.' So if elementary kids can get excited about it too, that's just great." [ [http://www.aptnvideo.net/pages/browse/player/player_script.jsp;jsessionid=E2EA30EB3712DC0E20ADE80CAC697F41?item=102647 AP Shotlist 9 September 2008] retrieved 24 September 2008]

In August 2007, McAlpine produced a previous YouTube rap video "N3UROCH!P Rap" describing an experiment in neural network engineering. [YouTube: N3UROCH!P Rap [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjrASzgrt4c&feature=user "N3UROCH!P Rap"] retrieved 24 Sep, 2008]

Education

McAlpine earned dual degrees in Physics (B.A., Honors) and Professional Writing (B.A.) in 2007 from Michigan State University, East Lansing Michigan. [ [http://www.katemcalpine.com/resume.html "Resume"] retrieved 24 Sep, 2008]

References