Neil deGrasse Tyson Gets the Musical Tribute He Deserves

The Most Astounding Fact, Part Two

On March 5 I posted a link to a video featuring Neil DeGrasse Tyson, titled The Most Astounding Fact. In the past month or so, this video has appeared repeatedly on Facebook as a beautiful and inspirational speech regarding the universe.  Well, now the artist behind Zenpencils has taken that video and cartoonized it, and I think it's worth a look. Take a look here.

From the Zenpencils website: "I kept putting off trying to adapt this quote because it was too intimidating. I knew that it would require me to draw stars and planets which I’m not very comfortable with, but I loved the quote so much that I just had to try it. I spent a lot longer than usual working on the cosmic scenes and I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. I guess I was also inspired by the film The Tree of Life which connects the story of a family with the history of the Universe."

28th National Space Symposium

Last week was the 28th National Space Symposium attended by over 3,000 space professionals. The keynote speech was given by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium and the host of COSMOS. It is an inspiring forty minutes of speech by Dr. Tyson, followed by twenty minutes of Q&A. It is definitely worth listening to, especially in a time when NASA is quickly losing all of its funding. Enjoy!

The Most Astounding Fact

Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?" This is his video response, an incredible and humbling take on the universe:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: The Man Who Demoted Pluto

Stephen Colbert, the ever amusing host of The Colbert Report, has featured Neil deGrasse Tyson on his show six times. He’s even said that Tyson is his “favorite guest.” But, back in 2010 at Montclair University, an out-of-character Stephen Colbert sat down with astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson to talk for 90 minutes about science, society and the universe. Yesterday, the Hayden Planetarium posted the interview on its website for all to watch. Some of the topics discussed include the ethics of man/animal hybrids, the "complexity" of evolutionary processes versus the tenants of creationism, the plausibility of a multiverse, and the importance of promoting science literacy. It’s an hour and a half of amusing banter between the two men, and well worth watching. (The interview starts a little more than 6 minutes in.)

Neil deGrasse Tyson has a long list of achievements. He earned his BA in Physics from Harvard and his PhD in Astophysics from Columbia. President Bush, in 2001, appointed Tyson to serve on a 12-member commission studying the Future of the US Aerospace Industry. In 2002 the final report was published , which contained recommendations -- for Congress and for the major agencies of the government -- that would promote a flourishing future of transportation, space exploration, and national security.

President Bush, once again appointed Tyson in 2004 to serve on a 9-member commission on the Implementation of the United States Space Exploration Policy, dubbed the “Moon, Mars, and Beyond” commission. This group navigated a path by which the new space vision can become a successful part of the American agenda. And in 2006, Tyson was appointed by the head of NASA to serve on its prestigious Advisory Council, which will help guide NASA through its perennial need to fit its ambitious vision into its restricted budget. Tyson is currently the director of the Hayden Planetarium.

However, it is not all this that Tyson is remembered for. No. In fact, Tyson is generally thought of as the man who demoted Pluto. He explained in an opinion piece written for Natural History Magazine in 1999, that:

Pluto’s orbit is tilted 17 degrees out of the plane of the solar system, 2 1/2 times that of Mercury. Pluto moves in the most eccentric ellipse and is the only planet whose orbit crosses that of another planet. Pluto has tidally locked the rotation of its moon Charon, forcing it to forever show the same face to Plutonians...The embarrassing part is that Charon is so large compared with Pluto that its tidal forces have tidally locked Pluto’s rotation where both moon and planet show the same side to each other as they waltz forever in space. With a diameter of 1,400 miles, Pluto is, by far, the smallest planet.      Seven moons in the solar system are larger: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan, Triton, and Earth’s Moon (although Mercury is smaller than both Ganymede and Titan). Finally, neither rocky, nor gaseous, Pluto is the only planet made primarily of ices.

So while there is an abundance of reason that Pluto should not be a planet, there was also a huge outcry against its demotion. After all, it was the first American discovered planet. And it has a Disney dog named after it! What’s more cuddly and friendly than that? For an entertaining read, hate mail written by third graders to Tyson can be read here.

Science for all

    As Toby Murcott, a writer and former science correspondent for the BBC World Service, wrote in an article published in Nature, for science to be successful and understood by the masses, people “need to be able to see how a new finding fits into the field, know when something new is significant, and have the knowledge and the confidence to ask searching questions.” He states that with his “PhD in biochemistry and three years postdoctoral research” he can make a “reasonable attempt” to understand the significance of something within his field, but that is not true of all science journalists, many of whom “resort to doing the bare minimum” because proper research takes time. The lay public needs to be aware of what goes on in the sciences, and what breakthroughs are being made, and a passive interaction with the sciences just doesn’t cut it.
    Surprisingly, although there is little disagreement that, in itself, understanding is a good thing, there is evidence to suggest that people will deliberately choose ignorance under some social conditions. Gregory and Miller, in the book Science in Public: Communication, Culture, and Credibility (New York: Plenum Trade, 1998), for example, discuss the case where nuclear workers would, rather than attempt to understand the health risks of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation themselves, trust their colleagues to provide a safe work environment. It is important to note that understanding is not a binary condition, something that you have or you don’t. Rather, it is an understanding that is built up over time, a developing comprehension, if you will.
    Therefore, I believe that even if people study the humanities they can, and must, still be curious as to what is happening in the scientific world. Whether that interest and subsequent education happens in a formal or informal setting is up to an individual’s discretion. In that vein, I have to recommend five trade books with a scientific focus that stand out to be as being enjoyable even by those with little or no scientific background:

Brian Greene, “The Elegant Universe.” Introduces the superstring theory that attempts to unite general relativity and quantum mechanics. Even with an amateur interest in physics this book has such clear explanations that the reader stays engaged till the very end. The author is also a renowned professor, teaching at Columbia University.

Mary Roach, “Packing For Mars.” A fascinating book on the ways humans adapt to space travel. Being an astronaut is not all glamor the reader find out as topics such as hygiene, radiation, and food in space are all discussed. Plus, I met the author and she's a fellow science-for-the-masses enthusiast.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Death By Black Hole.” Tyson compiles his favorite essays across a myriad of cosmic topics. Guided through some of the mysteries of the cosmos with clarity and enthusiasm, the reader does indeed find out what happens if someone “falls” into a black hole. The author is an award winning astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History.

Sean B. Carroll, “Endless Forms Most Beautiful.” The author looks at embryology and then tries to relate it to the evolution of organisms. In particular, he follows the developments of individual organisms: butterflies getting spots, zebras getting stripes and humans getting brains. Carroll is a professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Neil deGrasse Tyson, “The Pluto Files.” Tyson took plenty of flak for his perceived role in eclipsing Pluto, and in this novel he explains why he initially “demoted” Pluto, and why Americans took such offense at the idea. It's an interesting read, and helps you understand why Pluto is no longer a planet.