Check out Gawker trying to figure out why Neil deGrasse Tyson drew a crowd. The guy is a modern era version of Carl Sagan. People are always curious about how the Universe works, and someone who can explain it in entertaining and engaging way will always be popular. Even if the hipster crowd doesn’t know who he is.
There’s an atheist rapper named Greydon Square people might like as well
Tyson is awesome.
Neil deGrasse Tyson! I can never remember this man’s name, but he is always interesting to listen to.
“…the Museum of Natural history on the Upper West Side.” Oh, yeah, that Museum of Natural History. Glad he made it clear it wasn’t the one in Hell’s Kitchen.
Weird item, all right, but the last sentence twists the snark pretty satisfactorily in an unexpected direction.
I love what Tyson said about his first look through a telescope. A neighbor had a new one up on the roof and invited him to look. He knew that a telescope made things look bigger. The surprise was that it made them look better!
I must confess that I didn’t know who he was either (not being up on my astrophysicists) until, as one Gawker commenter noted, he appeared on Stargate Atlantis. Perhaps that means I don’t get out much.
I can definitely see him as being the next Carl Sagan and he’s a great role model for someone like my 5-year-old daughter. Hopefully, the International Year of Astronomy will increase people’s awareness of scientists like Tyson.
I’ve met the man. I’ve been a fan of his for ages –all mommies in NYC end up using the Museum of Natural History as a playground and so for 11+ years I’ve known about the comings and goings of the man.
Let me tell you, it’s not just that he makes science fun. He’s A BLACK MAN making science fun, accessible and … ok, this is the nerd talking now … TOTALLY SEXY.
I’d throw my panties at him if I had the chance
Oh, yeah, that Museum of Natural History. Glad he made it clear it wasn’t the one in Hell’s Kitchen.
You haven’t heard? They’re franchising now. They’re going to expand faster than Starbucks!
As a physicist, I remember the first time I saw Tyson on the teevee, and remembered the thought I had in graduate school — that in my highly statistically significant survey of “schools I’ve studied at” I never remembered seeing any black men (or women for that matter) in graduate level physics or math classes. They seemed to be at least represented in other disciplines like law or medicine, but not nearly so much in the physical sciences. I wondered why this was, and wondered if this reflected something about society. Not in the “Bell Curve” – blacks don’t have that kind of intelligence – borderline racist bullshit way, but something like “are motivated young black students pushed, wittingly or unwittingly, toward fields like medicine and law because these are more commonly thought of as the professions through which one ‘gets ahead’”?
Seeing Tyson as a successful, indeed popular, representative for astrophysics helped allay this concern; I hope young people with a propensity for math and science will be inspired by his lead, as I was by men like Sagan and Feynman, to pursue careers in pure science.
Tyson’s appearances on The Colbert Report are always fantastic. Energetic, entertaining, informative without being pedantic.
Something submitted the first couple of words of the comment I was posting?? OK,
@Quaker
OMG, I can see it now. I get up in the morning, or come out of a meeting, feeling all muddle-headed and need of a brain fix, and I know that just around the corner there will be Tyson’s where I can buy a Venti Science in many different flavors! Are they signing up investors?