“Making Astronomy Cool”

Jackson Woolley

Astronomy Spring 2020

 I was participating in the mind-numbing activity of scrolling through Instagram, when I

came across an interesting post. This post was written by a National Geographic photographer,

and this photographer quoted some words from the one and only, Neil deGrasse Tyson. The

quote reads, “As humans, we like to think we're in charge of our own corner of the universe. But

every now and then a microscopic entity reminds us that we are not.” Of course, the microscopic

entity Tyson is referring to is the Novel Corona Virus, which is very relevant for us today.

Because of Mr. Tyson’s powerful words, written in such a short Tweet, I decided to seek out

more media and information about who this guy is.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a modern scientist who started his career very early in life. He

was born on October 5th, 1958 in New York. When he was nine years old, he had a life altering

experience when he visited the Hayden Planetarium. In an interview with Larry King, he

describes this experience as, “the Universe calling him”. Apparently, it was when he looked up at

the stars in the planetarium and struggled to decide whether he was looking at the same sky that

he looked at from his home, or if this was a new sky. That conflict got him started with wanting

to learn more. In the same interview, he talks about his high school experience. Mr. Tyson

attended the Bronx High School of Sciences, which apparently is not an easy high school to

attend. After graduating from high school, he decided to attend Harvard University. This was not

an easy decision though, because he had some powerful influences inviting him to attend Cornell

University. Already at that age, he was raising the eyebrows of serious figures in the Science

field.

Mr. Tyson is a brilliant scientist and this fact is obvious when reviewing what he has

contributed to the field of astronomy. As a young man, I remember the life changing day when I

heard that Pluto was no longer a planet. I remember the moment I heard it almost perfectly, and

2
I’m not sure why it was so memorable. I heard the news from a friend that I admired, and he was

obviously excited about it, so it resonated with me as a very big deal. Apparently, the discussion

of whether Pluto is a planet was initiated by our spotlight scientist. He removed Pluto from the

diagram of the planets orbiting the sun in the Hayden Planetarium. This sparked a lot of

controversy, but eventually it was agreed upon that Pluto actually didn’t have the characteristics

necessary to be considered a planet. It is now in the class of “dwarf planet”, thanks to a lot of

different scientists, but especially Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Many scientists have had the privilege of working with Mr. Tyson. Some of those people

are David Spergel, Donald Goldsmith, and James Randi. One of the more notorious scientists

that he worked with is Carl Sagan. As I mentioned before, Tyson had some influential people

inviting him to attend Cornell University. One of those influences was Carl Sagan. It was the

quality of Tyson’s college application to Cornell that was enough to get him a personal

recruitment from Carl Sagan. Tyson said that it was a really hard decision to go to Harvard,

because of his desire to work closely with Sagan, but he didn’t want to choose a university just

because of one person.

Neil deGrasse Tyson has contributed greatly to not only the field of astronomy, but to the

field of science in general. In an interview with Joe Rogan, Neil talks about how he is an

advocate for everyone to continue to be curious. He expands on that in his book entitled

“Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” which is obviously written for an audience that wants to

continue to learn but has a limited amount of time due to life circumstances. Neil also

participates in many media outlets, including his television show “Cosmos: A Spacetime

Odyssey”. He has countless interviews with powerful people, and he does this all in the name of

3
science. He is a great advocate for the voice of science, and he has taken advantage of the

internet and social media in all of the right ways.

This decision to put himself out there is one of the reasons that I think Neil deGrasse

Tyson is so great. He has made facts about the universe accessible to people who otherwise

would not know, and probably would not care. Mr. Tyson has bridged the gap between “nerds”

and the rest of us in such a way that makes sense, is easily obtainable, and is actually entertaining

and enjoyable. Neil is a huge benefit to the world of science because of the awareness that he has

brought to it. He has the ability to do this in a humble, appealing, and educational way and

without this type of figure our world would not be the same.

Since learning about Neil, I have listened to countless interviews with him, and so many

of the people he interacts with tell him that the world of science and astronomy, especially the

social media world, would not be the same without him. In these interviews, he covers topics

from a telescope being put on a volcano in Hawaii, to why ice cubes float above the water level

of what they’re in, all the way to climate change. He has shared some very interesting facts about

climate change that have not only made sense but were interesting and enjoyable to listen to.

This kind of information is so important to get out into the general public because it is us, the

general public, who are contributing in all of the wrong ways to climate change.

It has been an amazing opportunity to look deeper into the life of Neil deGrasse Tyson

and I hope anyone reading this will do the same for themselves. He is a brilliant astronomer and

scientist, and it’s been a privilege to follow him and learn from his vast knowledge. It is people

like this who we want guiding our politicians and leaders when it comes to making big decisions

that can impact the country, and world that we live in. Thanks to Neil deGrasse Tyson, science

will never be the same, and for that we should be grateful.

4
 Bibliography

Neil deGrasse Tyson Profile. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/about/profile.php

Neil deGrasse Tyson. (2020, January 22). Retrieved from

https://www.biography.com/scientist/neil-degrasse-tyson

Staff, S. (2001, February 2). Astronomer Responds to Pluto-Not-a-Planet Claim. Retrieved from
https://www.space.com/1925-astronomer-responds-pluto-planet-claim.html

Tyson, N. deG. (2020, March 12). "As humans...". Retrieved from

https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1238213184483360769?lang=en

Tafreshi, B. (2020, March 20). Babak Tafreshi (@babaktafreshi) • Instagram photos and videos.
Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/babaktafreshi/?hl=en

Rogan, J. PowerfulJRE. (2018, August 22). Joe Rogan Experience #1159 - Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGc4mg5pul4

Logan, J. Biographics. (2017, November 30). Neil deGrasse Tyson Biography - Bringing
Science to the People. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eADoC3KY06A&feature=youtu.be

King, L. Larry King. (2017, November 9). Neil deGrasse Tyson on the Afterlife, Origins of the
Earth and Extreme Weather. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x2ZrklQQYU&feature=youtu.be