Moiya McTier, Ph.D. and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Ph.D.: The Milky Way

In The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy, astrophysicist and folklorist Moiya McTier, Ph.D. channels the Milky Way, detailing what humans have discovered about everything from its formation to its eventual death, and what more there is to learn about this galaxy we call home After a few billion years of bearing witness to life on Earth, of watching one hundred billion humans go about their day-to-day lives, of feeling unbelievably lonely, and of hearing its own story told by others, The Milky Way would like a chance to speak for itself. All one hundred billion stars and fifty undecillion tons of gas of it.
After graduating from Harvard University as the first person in the school’s history to study both astronomy and mythology, Dr. McTier earned her Ph.D. in astrophysics at Columbia University where she was selected as a National Science Foundation research fellow. She has consulted with companies like Disney and PBS on their fictional worlds, helped design exhibits for the New York Hall of Science, and given hundreds of talks about science around the globe. Dr. McTier also hosts and produces the Exolore podcast that explores fictional world-building through the lens of science.
Dr. McTier will be in conversation with Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Ph.D., assistant professor of physics and astronomy and core faculty in women’s and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. Her research in theoretical physics focuses on cosmology, neutron stars, and dark matter. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein’s first book, The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred, won the 2021 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the science and technology category, and was named a Best Book of 2021 by Publishers Weekly, Smithsonian Magazine, and Kirkus. Nature recognized her as one of 10 people who shaped science in 2020, and Essence magazine has recognized her as one of “15 Black Women Who Are Paving the Way in STEM and Breaking Barriers.”