Neil is an astrophysics professional
who has been the Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City for over
20 years. He has grown in popularity that he has a beer named after him and is
the first American to receive the Steven Hawkins Medal. For a man who has his
gaze always in the sky, he is a very down to earth guy. He attended the
specialized public school, the Bronx High School of Science as a good start on
his great educational journey in life. That New York City school graduated 8
Nobel Peace Prize Winners. Will Trump cut back funding great public schools
like that too? Adults and kids love Neil because he is the epitome of geek cool
and is funny but also extremely knowledgeable about our earth and what is in
our skies.
His mantra is “Let’s Make America
Smart Again.” He can fill a venue full of people that are willing to pay rock
concert prices to see him rant live talking science. Typically there are about
200 requests for him to speak somewhere per month and he chooses to do his
thing about 4 times per month inspiring crowds of
people somewhere. No one in America currently has the charisma and simplicity
to teach us about science better than Neil. His most popular talk is when he
shows clips of the movie Armageddon and tears it apart pointing out all its
inaccuracies and falsehoods about the earth. 7.2 million people follow
him on Twitter. He has been famous since 1999 when he argued that Pluto wasn’t
a planet.
Neil became fascinated with the
skies at the age of 9 when he visited the Hayden Planetarium that he is now the
Director of. At 12 years old he received his first telescope. In 9th
grade he took a bigger telescope that looked like a bazooka weapon to the roof
of his Bronx apartment and they thought this black guy had a weapon and was
going to kill people from his rooftop till he talked and instead of agitating
the police as many killed black men do these days, he talked science and
entertained the cops. Yes, education can be lifesaving. At a very early age his
parents told him how to talk to cops. His mom said to look a cop straight in
the eye, answer all questions, be polite and no wise guy answers and memorize
their badge numbers. Racism has been a generational fact of life for black people.
His parents were educational
professionals but he was told to go to typically black colleges. Tyson did get
into Harvard and earned his Doctorate degree at Columbia University. He doesn’t
dwell on the racism in his life but stresses scientific literacy for Americans
in his books. His podcast called Star Talk sounds more like a talk show than a
science lecture. The guests include actors and comedians. He knows how to
appeal to the general public. He can trick the people who don’t like science to
listen and laugh while they learn something. Yet he takes it very seriously as our star in
the sky ambassador. This is one guy worth supporting and acknowledging as one
of the good guys out there in popularity.
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