Margaret Boone Rappaport, PhD, Brings Space Science to Storytelling

Margaret Boone Rappaport, PhD, is bringing decades of experience in cultural anthropology, biology and space science to a new creative undertaking: helping television, film and theater writers discover stories grounded in scientific ideas. Through a collection of scripts spanning humanity’s distant past and possible future, she translates complex concepts into narratives designed to entertain, inspire curiosity and introduce young audiences to careers in space science.

Dr. Rappaport’s work reflects a career that has included scientific research, college-level teaching, six published books and the co-founding of an organization dedicated to studying human cognitive evolution. It also builds on a lifelong interest in science fiction that began with her mother, who read every science fiction novel available at the local library and passed each one to her daughter. “I think a lot of it was her,” Dr. Rappaport says of her early fascination with space science. “I started reading science fiction, and I was always interested in space, and it just kept on.”

A New Kind of Resource for Storytellers

Dr. Rappaport’s latest project draws directly from her scientific background to serve creative professionals. The book “Space Science and Astronomy Theatre,” by authors Dr. Rappaport and Christopher Corbally, contains a dozen scripts, most of which are built around two characters and use astronomy and space science as the foundation for their plots. Some scripts take place in the distant past, and others reach far into the future.

“The stories are amusing and heartfelt,” she explains, noting that the collection was written primarily for teens but could be expanded for older audiences with minor adjustments.

The scripts vary widely in tone. One imagines events 3,000 years from now, while another reaches back to the earliest humans who tracked the wandering movements of planets across the sky. A few scripts explore subspace communication, a concept that would allow information to travel faster than light. Dr. Rappaport approaches the idea with scientific caution. “Whether this will ever be real, I can’t say,” she adds, pointing out that the concept challenges long-established principles in physics.

Beyond the scripts themselves, the book opens with practical guidance for young people considering careers in space science, including paths that extend beyond astronomy into museums and observatories.

Studying the Future of Human Cognition

Dr. Rappaport co-founded The Human Sentience Project LLC in 2013 alongside astronomer Christopher Corbally, and the organization centers its research on human cognitive evolution and its future trajectory. She credits much of her leadership to the relationships she has built across the space science community. “Interacting with individuals who have a forward-looking vision is truly inspiring,” she says, describing collaborations with colleagues such as an engineer at the University of Arizona currently developing lunar mining tools.

Dr. Rappaport’s career also includes six published books, decades of teaching at the college level and research on infant mortality rates among disadvantaged Black women, work that remains among her most cited publications.

Bringing Space Science to Theater and Film

Dr. Rappaport hopes her scripts will resonate particularly with writers based in Los Angeles who are searching for new storylines and character dynamics. “Science, particularly space science, serves as a broader inspiration for theater, movies and scripts,” she says.

With another book already under contract exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics and theology, Dr. Rappaport continues to expand the reach of her work, connecting scientific inquiry with the creative fields that depend on compelling stories to move audiences forward.

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