Rebecca Smethurst loves astrophysics. She also loves talking about it. That passion led her to start regularly posting to her YouTube channel, Dr. Becky, six years ago. Her videos mainly cover new astronomy research findings. Also on the platform, she hosts a monthly series called Night Sky News, where she discusses celestial objects and events amateur astronomers can observe in the coming weeks. In other videos she reacts to pop culture space references in songs, TV shows, movies, and memes.
Smethurst finds inspiration for videos in her daily life, including seminars, journal clubs, and the news. She also tries to market content so YouTube recommends it to more women. About 45% of YouTube’s global usership identifies as female, but only 10% of Smethurst’s audience identifies as female. The Dr. Becky channel has amassed over 760 000 subscribers and 85 million cumulative views, with videos averaging a half million views...
