This article was taken from the February 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
While at college, computational astrophysicist Christine Corbett Moran was asked out by a colleague. She said no. A few weeks later, she woke up to find him hiding under her bed. She still can't remember how she kicked the stalker out. "The statistics are horrifying," says Moran, 30. "So many women are harassed, raped or murdered." She's now the CTO of startup Circle of 6: a women's safety app that alerts its user's contacts if he or she is in danger. Launched in 2012, it won the White House's Apps Against Abuse Challenge and was recently released for universities. It has more than 200,000 users in over 33 countries -- more than 15
per cent of whom are in India.
Moran is a multitasker -- she recently completed a PhD in theoretical astrophysics at the University of Zurich and is a member of the SpaceX Propulsion group. She is also a lead developer at open-source-software group Open Whisper Systems, which last September released Signal, an iOS app that enables encrypted calls and messages. It's being expanded into an Android and in-browser app for users who want to avoid surveillance. "I believe in cross-pollination between projects: to be able to do something because you've done something else," says Moran.
She also plays roller derby. How does she manage her time all for this? "I keep a notebook, media wikis, a journal and 750 email filters," she says. "I trust everything that makes it into my to-do list gets done." What's last on the list? "My first application to be an astronaut was rejected," she says. "But I still plan to be one of the first humans on Mars."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
