Knowing how to think empowers you far beyond those who know only what to think.
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Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson (/ˈniːl dəˈɡræs ˈtaɪsən/; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. Since 1996, he has been the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. The center is part of the American Museum of Natural History, where Tyson founded the Department of Astrophysics in 1997 and has been a research associate in the department since 2003. Born and raised in New York City, Tyson became interested in astronomy at the age of nine after a visit to the Hayden Planetarium. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, where he was editor-in-chief of the Physical Science Journal, he completed a bachelor's degree in physics at Harvard University in 1980. After receiving a master's degree in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983, he earned his master's (1989) and doctorate (1991) in astrophysics at Columbia University. For the next three years, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. In 1994, he joined the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist and the Princeton faculty as a visiting research scientist and lecturer. In 1996, he became director of the planetarium and oversaw its $210-million reconstruction project, which was completed in 2000. From 1995 to 2005, Tyson wrote monthly essays in the "Universe" column for Natural History magazine, some of which were published in his book Death by Black Hole (2007
If aliens did visit us, I’d be embarrassed to tell them we still dig fossil fuels from the ground as a source of energy.
Curious that we spend more time congratulating people who have succeeded than encouraging people who have not.
Don’t know if it’s good or bad that a Google search on ‘Big Bang Theory’ lists the sitcom before the origin of the Universe.
Writing in centuries past, many scientists felt compelled to wax poetic about cosmic mysteries and God's handiwork. Perhaps one should not be surprised at this: most scientists back then, as well as many scientists today, identify themselves as spiritually devout. But a careful reading of older…
I don't want students who could make the next major breakthrough in renewable energy sources or space travel to have been taught that anything they don't understand, and that nobody yet understands, is divinely constructed and therefore beyond their intellectual capacity. The day that happens,…
Science is a philosophy of discovery. Intelligent design is a philosophy of ignorance. You cannot build a program of discovery on the assumption that nobody is smart enough to figure out the answer to a problem.
A careful reading of older texts, particularly those concerned with the universe itself, shows that the authors invoke divinity only when they reach the boundaries of their understanding. They appeal to a higher power only when staring into the ocean of their own ignorance. They call on God only…
Contrary to Pink Floyd's 1973 album-cover proclamation, there is no dark side of the moon. A day there simply lasts a month.
In 1979, Pluto crossed Neptune’s orbit, and for 20 years was the eighth “planet” in the solar system.
Full Moon Friday. The second in July. For bad historical reasons we call it a "Blue Moon.” It’s not blue. It’s not even rare.
Summer Thought: If you convert a bug zapper to a human zapper, scaling by body mass, you’d receive a jolt of 50 billion volts.
Just an FYI: All table salt is sea salt. Mined salt just happens to come from long-buried, evaporated, prehistoric seas.
Jupiter is 11x wider than Earth. But Earth is only 5x wider than Pluto. So Jovians surely demoted us to Dwarf Planet long ago.
If Earth stopped rotating, everyone not bolted to the ground would fall over and roll due east at the speed of a jet plane.
Resist the Hype: The size of today’s “Super” moon is to next month’s full moon as a 16.07 inch pizza is to a 16.00 inch pizza.
Guns don’t kill people. Bullets kill people. Fired from guns, brandished by people, who shoot you by accident or on purpose.
October — a popular month in which to be born, corresponding with conception on New Year’s day of the Gregorian Calendar.
Sustained 200mph hurricane winds are sufficient to strip the bark from trees that are not otherwise snapped from their base.