Neil deGrasse Tyson is the Frederick P. Rose director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York – and host of the PBS series NOVA ScienceNOW. He’s a 2009 EarthSky Science Communicator of the Year. It was announced on August 5, 2011 that Tyson will be hosting a new sequel to Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage TV series. EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd spoke to Dr. Tyson and asked him why he spends so much time talking to people about science.
Why do you want people to know about science?
Once the wiring of your brain is set up to interpret data, that’s empowerment. What I really want is to empower people to make decisions on their own, and to become an informed electorate in any political process that they enter.
It was not a priority of mine to communicate science to the public. What I found was that enough members of the public wanted to know what was going on in the universe that I decided to stay to get a little better at it so I could satisfy this cosmic curiosity .
But you communicate beyond astronomy, into the realm of science literacy at large.
That’s right. It’s essential that as many Americans grow up to be scientifically literate as possible. Innovations in science and technology are the drivers of economic growth and have been since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. By and large, were I to have a goal in this, it would be simply to foster science literacy. Learning how to think rather than what to think.
And we understand you have a special commitment to educating children.
Yes. Kids are born scientists. They’re born probing the natural world that surrounds them. They’ll lift up a rock. They’ll pick up a bug. They’ll pull petals off a flower. They’ll ask you why the grass is green and the sky is blue, and they’ll experiment with breakable things in your house. I think the best thing a parent can do, when raising a child, is simply get out of their way.
What happens when you do get out of their way? Sounds messy!
It might mean they break a dish someday, because they’re experimenting with how dishes roll down the corridor. But they’ll learn something about how fragile something as brittle as glass can be. There’s a lesson there.
Yeah, you’ll break a dish. So you buy as new dish. And you say, “Well, that can be costly.” But, as Derek Bok, who was president of Harvard, once said, “If you think education is costly, look at the cost of ignorance.”
That exploration can become a fundamental part of what a growing child requires to become a thinking member of society.
Thanks Neil DeGrasse Tyson, you made a point “how to think”
have a nice day
It seems that America’s educational system has devolved from a bastion of national progress with a strong commitment toward getting kids to think, to a position of making it easy for them not to have to think. It is sad but I see the results all the time. It’s not that they can’t think, but that they have been encouraged to be lazy with it, and so they often do not bother.
Larry, I totally agree with you. The constant testing – via multiple choice tests – seems counterproductive to the goal of getting children to think.
And they start those tests so early now! I have to wonder how much our educational system over the past several decades has led to our culture of division among political views. There’s a lot of black-and-white thinking out there!
Totally spot on! It is ignorance (and arrogance I might add) that is preventing real social, cultural, scientific and political progress. Very sad indeed…
Dr. Tyson,
I completely agree with your comment about children. They are naturally curious. Children have an active imagination, and that is the driving engine of exploration. I have to comment that your work in bringing science to the people (adults) is very important too. Often time, adults let their imagination die, and it is the wonder of cosmos that can sometimes revive the imagination. We need a society of curious thinking people to ensure the health of our free society. Keep up the good work. Get those adult imaginations off life-support!
Thanks Neil DeGrasse Tyson
boyaci
Dr. Tyson,
You are an ambassador for science and PBS’s Nova Science NOW is among my favorite programs. Humankind’s future lies among the stars. We must use that spark of intellect if we are to survive long-term. Thank you for your good work and the inspiration it brings!
Kindest regards, Linda Goddard
Thanks Neil DeGrasse Tyson, you made a point “how to think”
have a nice day
[...] (EarthSky) Neil deGrasse Tyson is the Frederick P. Rose director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York – and host of the PBS series NOVA ScienceNOW. He’s a 2009 EarthSky Science Communicator of the Year. It was announced on August 5, 2011 that Tyson will be hosting a new sequel to Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage TV series. EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd spoke to Dr. Tyson and asked him why he spends so much time talking to people about science. [...]