Johnson - In the Words of Neil deGrasse Tyson The Inspiring Voice of Science

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 FrankJohnson

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

One of themost inspirational voices in science today, Neil deGrasse Tyson issomebody with a contagious passion for his field of work. Althoughnot as well known outside America (speaking from the point of viewof an Englishman myself), he is one of the few members of thescientific community who is truly able to effectively communicatecomplex concepts to the common man.

Tysonslikeable character and obvious enthusiasm for all thingsspace-related have undoubtedly contributed largely to his successnot just as an astrophysicist but also a public figure.

Althoughfondly claimed by the atheist community, Tyson (as you will see)does not consider himself to be an atheist. In fact, he doesntlike labels at all, although it is clear from his own words thatagnosticism would be closest to the mark.

Tyson has alot to say on a variety of topics. What really comes across whenlistening to him speak is his total honesty and completeintegrity.

This bookbrings together some of his most interesting comments on a numberof different subjects.

HIMSELF

"As aneducator, I try to get people to be fundamentally curious and toquestion ideas that they might have or that are shared by others.In that state of mind, they have earned a kind of inoculationagainst the fuzzy thinking of these weird ideas floating around outthere."

*

"I'm oftenasked - and occasionally in an accusatory way - 'Are you atheist?'And it's like, 'You know, the only 'ist' I am is a scientist, allright?' I don't associate with movements. I'm not an 'ism.' I just- I think for myself."

*

"I've been aminimalist my whole life, even if you wouldn't know it from myoffice."

*

"I wastransformed by picking up a pair of binoculars and looking up, andthat's hard to do for a city kid because when you look up you justsee buildings - and really, your first thought is to look inpeople's windows. So to look out of the space - out of living space- and look up to the sky, binoculars go far, literally andfiguratively."

*

"I have apersonal philosophy in life: If somebody else can do something thatI'm doing, they should do it. And what I want to do is find thingsthat would represent a unique contribution to the world - thecontribution that only I, and my portfolio of talents, can makehappen. Those are my priorities in life."

*

"I've spentquality time in the aerospace community, with my service on twopresidential commissions, but at heart, I'm an academic. Being anacademic means I don't wield power over person, place or thing. Idon't command armies; I don't lead labor unions. All I have is thepower of thought."

*

"Every day, Iwake up and I say, 'Why... how... did I end up with 1.7 millionTwitter followers?' It's freaky to me, every day, but that tells methat there's an appetite out there that had previously beenunderserved. There's an inner geek in us all, an inner bit ofcuriosity that people are discovering, and they like it."

*

"As anAmerican, I grew up in an era where we led the world in everything.Everything!"

*

"While I'm abig fan of science fiction, especially as rendered in expensiveHollywood blockbusters, it's the real universe that calls tome."

*

"I've knownfrom long ago that the universe was calling me. If you were one ofthose annoying adults that said, 'Oh, what are you gonna be whenyou grow up?' I would say, 'Astrophysicist.' And then they'd walkaway real quickly."

*

"I lose sleepat night wondering whether we are intelligent enough to figure outthe universe. I don't know."

*

"All tweetsare tasty. Any tweet anybody writes is tasty. So, I try to haveeach tweet not simply be informative, but have some outlook, someperspective that you might not otherwise had."

*

"My parentsdidn't know much science; in fact, they didn't know science at all.But they could recognize a science book when they saw it, and theyspent a lot of time at bookstores, combing the remainder tables forscience books to buy for me. I had one of the biggest libraries ofany kid in school, built on books that cost 50 cents or adollar."

*

"I getenormous satisfaction from knowing I'm doing something forsociety."

*

"Although I'mnot actually embarrassed by this, I tend not to read books thathave awesome movies made from them, regardless of how well or badlythe movie represented the actual written story."

*

"I always tryto get people a different outlook. When you do that, people takeownership of the information. They don't ever have to reference mebecause, I'd like to believe as an educator, I'm empowering them tohave those thoughts themselves."

*

"I was bornthe same week NASA was founded, so we're the same age and feel someof the same pains, joys, and frustrations."

*

"If you onlythink of me during Black History Month, I must be failing as aneducator and as an astrophysicist."

*

"I was anaspiring astrophysicist, and that's how I defined myself, not by myskin color. People didn't treat me as someone with scienceambitions. They treated me as someone they thought was going to mugthem, or who was a shoplifter."

*

"Half of mylibrary are old books because I like seeing how people thoughtabout their world at their time. So that I don't get bigheadedabout something we just discovered and I can be humble about wherewe might go next. Because you can see who got stuff right and mostof the people who got stuff wrong."

*

"I don't wantpeople to say, 'Something is true because Tyson says it is true.'That's not critical thinking."

*

"For me at age11, I had a pair of binoculars and looked up to the moon, and themoon wasn't just bigger, it was better. There were mountains andvalleys and craters and shadows. And it came alive."

*

"I study theuniverse. It's the second oldest profession. People have beenlooking up for a long time."

*

"There isalways a place I can take someone's curiosity and land where theyend up enlightened when we're done. That's my challenge as aneducator. No one is dumb who is curious. The people who don't askquestions remain clueless throughout their lives."

*

"You've neverseen me debate anybody. On anything. Ever. My investment of time,as an educator, in my judgment, is best served teaching people howto think about the world around them. Teach them how to pose aquestion. How to judge whether one thing is true versus another.What the laws of physics say."

*

"I never gotinto 'Star Wars.' Maybe because they made no attempt to portrayreal physics. At all."

*

"For me, themost fascinating interface is Twitter. I have odd cosmic thoughtsevery day and I realized I could hold them to myself or share themwith people who might be interested."

*

"I don'tcomment on the physics errors of 'Star Wars,' all right. I just -you let that one go."

*

"I'm not asfamous as Stephen Hawking, but certainly in the U.S., I have a veryhigh profile for a scientist. It is an awesome responsibility, onethat I don't shoulder lightly."

SCIENCE

"I like tobelieve that science is becoming mainstream. It should have neverbeen something that sort of geeky people do and no one else thinksabout. Whether or not, it will always be what geeky people do. Itshould, as a minimum, be what everybody thinks about becausescience is all around us."

*

"We thinkscientific literacy flows out of how many science facts can yourecite rather than how was your brain wired for thinking. And it'sthe brain wiring that I'm more interested in rather than the factsthat come out of the curriculum or the lesson plan that's beenproposed."