Dr. Kelly Holley-Bockelmann is an Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University. Her research specialty is black holes and gravitational waves. For as long as she can remember, she wanted to be an astrophysicist. In our interview she tells the story about, as a teenager, lying in a field under dark Montana skies and gazing at the Milky Way (the edge of our galaxy). She wondered about all those stars and planets and whether there were other civilizations out there looking up at their own starry skies. It was transformative. Today, she uses a Mac and supercomputers to study how black holes generate ripples in the fabric of spacetime and deepen our astronomical understanding and perspective. Kelly, her students and associates are also devoted Mac users, and she tells me why.

Dave Hamilton is the co-founder, publisher and president of The Mac Observer. He’s also the co-founder of BackBeat Media. And he’s the co-host of the legendary Mac Geek Gab Podcast. Dave’s interest in computers goes back to his high school days and his family’s Apple IIc. As Dave describes it, his talent evolved from “getting into a pickle,” so he had to learn himself how to fix things. At the University of Connecticut, he studied computer engineering, but also discovered his talent and passion for music. “Everything good that’s happened in my life, I can trace back to music,” he said. And that includes The Mac Observer because that’s how he met Bryan Chaffin. Dave The Nerd tells the fascinating story of the creation of this publication with his customary boundless energy.