Katherine (Kate) McAlpine (aka "alpinekat") (born in 1985) is an American science journalist. In 2008 while working for CERN, McAlpine wrote, produced and performed in the YouTube video "Large Hadron Rap" under the pseudonym "alpinekat". As of April 2011, the video has been viewed over 6.5 million times.
As of 2011[update], McAlpine is a freelance science journalist and has written for at New Scientist and Chemistry World.[1]
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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 McAlpine mostly during her commutes on buses and trams to and from work.[2] 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". The video has become a viral hit, surpassing three million YouTube views on 15 September 2008 (6.7 million views as on July 2011).[3][4][5]
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."[6]
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."[6]
End of 2009 McAlpine released a new rap video on YouTube dealing with the unfounded fears surrounding experiments in CERN that could lead to the creation of a Black Hole which eventually would swallow the entire earth.[7]
McAlpine released a rap video on YouTube for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. This video describes the basic purpose and capabilities of the facility, which was recently awarded to Michigan State University.
In 2007, McAlpine released a rap video on YouTube detailing neural programming.
McAlpine was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa [7] and grew up in Montana. She earned dual degrees in Physics (B.A., Honors) and Professional Writing (B.A.) in 2007 from Michigan State University, East Lansing Michigan.[8]