Neil deGrasse Tyson Biographical Essay

Neil deGrasse Tyson Biographical Essay Nathan Anderson Salt Lake Community College

Neil deGrasse Tyson Biographical Essay

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an important scientist because while he understands and excels in the academic realm of astrophysics, he also excels at explaining that realm to the public. Through Tysons many books and TV show appearances, in addition to his tenure as director of the Hayden Planetarium, he has made astrophysics come alive for people of all ages and backgrounds. Tyson was born October 5, 1958 in Manhattan, New York City to Sunchita and Cyril Tyson. At age 9 Neils path to become an astrophysicist started when his parents took him to the Hayden Planetarium in New York. Since growing up in New York he had not seen more than a handful of stars in the night sky and thought the amount of stars shown in a Hayden Planetarium presentation must have been a hoax at first. I didnt even know there were stars to look at to not see. If you don't know that they're there, you don't know that you're missing them. he rephrases in an interview with Thomas R. Cech. Being star struck with the visit to the Hayden Planetarium, and a later visit to see a night sky as it should be seen in Pennsylvania, his passion for the universe began. His childhood friend Phillip introduced him to a set of binoculars. He would spend hours looking at the Moon from the tarred roof top of the Sky View Apartments near the Hudson River. At the age of eleven any time someone would ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up he replied, an astrophysicist. Mrs. Kreindler, Tysons sixth grade teacher, recognized the alarming proportion of astronomy related book reports and suggested with a newspaper advertisement he should join the learning programs at the Haden Planetarium. The broader and deeper resources of the planetarium helped the growth of his interests of the universe. He attended at least half of a dozen courses, offered by instructors on the planetariums staff, through his junior and high school years. There he met his first Intellectual role model Dr. Mark Chartrand III. He was

Neil deGrasse Tyson Biographical Essay

fascinated on how Dr. Chartrand III was able to deliver a natural flow of content with a mix of humor. June 1973, at age fourteen Tyson was granted a scholarship to take a voyage with Dr. Chartrand III and two thousand other scientists, engineers, and eclipse enthusiasts to see a solar eclipse off the coast of northwest Africa. This and being a new member of an Explores Club opened opportunities for scholarships and traveling, including a science summer camp in Californias desert; the topic of his first lecture at age fifteen. Tysons first lecture included the photographs taken from his telescope, and what he thought the Kohoutek comet would look like in our night sky. He related his lecture to a kid talking about his treasured baseball collection and didnt feel the slightest bit of nervousness. A few days later he received a check for fifty dollars, a drastic increase to what he was making for walking dogs at fifty cents per dog. He felt like an information prostitute because he had never been paid to speak and share his information before. This information was just sitting idly by in his head. But over time it occurred to him that his knowledge and experience were no less of a commodity than sweat and blood. During Tysons senior year at Bronx High School of Science he was elected the captain of the wrestling team and more importantly editor and chief of the 1976 Physical Science Journal. He included field reports from yet another scholarship opportunity he had, this time to join a team of scientists in Scotland. They were surveying prehistoric megaliths. That years Physical Science Journal, at sixty-four pages, was the largest his school had ever seen. After high school Tyson was accepted into Harvard University at which, along with his major in physics, he took half of the classes not in his major. This included a liberal arts component that brought him more out the logical and analytical side he had been bred into by his

Neil deGrasse Tyson Biographical Essay

high school. He embraced the creativity and verbal abstractions and welcomed a challenge to others by saying, I encourage the liberal artists of the world to take a conjugate excursion through the land of logic. For one to thrive in the real world probably requires mastery of both." Tysons first graduate school was University of Texas majoring in astronomy. While at the university he started tutoring students at math and physics and became a teachers assistant. He also volunteered his tutoring skills at Walpole State Prison. His second graduate school was Columbia University where he earned a Masters and PhD in Astrophysics. While at the university he became the go-to person when reporters called to ask about something weird in the sky. His first TV interview he made the later observation that he may have been the first African American scientist to speak as an expert on American TV. He said to himself, I just have to be visible, or others like me in that situation, that would have a greater force on society than anything else I could imagine, anything else. His public presence exploded in the media and the written word. Below are but a few of the contributions he has made to inspire and help society to appreciate the universe. Tyson wrote a Q&A column, pen name merlin, for Star Date magazine. His first book Merlins Tour of the Universe followed by Just Visiting this Planet was a collection of these columns. He went on to write eight more books, all in a humorous, accessible style. He has been a host of a few shows including; NOVA: Origins September 2004, NOVA: The Pluto Files March 2010, NOVA science NOW February 2006 to May 2011, Star Talk Radio 2009 to current. He started as the youngest director of the Hayden Planetarium in 1996 and helped oversee its reconstruction and reopening in 2000. January 2001, a New York Times reporter noticed that Pluto was not included in the planets section of Tysons exhibit. The reporter wrote

Neil deGrasse Tyson Biographical Essay

an article Pluto's Not a Planet? Only in New York. This caused a stir in America to debate if Pluto was a planet. But in 2006, the International Astronomical Union classified Pluto as a dwarf planet. After decades of dedication to making astrophysics interesting to the common man, Neil Degrasse Tysons true legacy is to share the joy of science with the world. Only a man with his rare combination of charisma and intelligence would be able to accomplish his unique contributions to this field. As the youngest director the Hayden Planetarium has ever seen, he is sure to bring much more to the field of astrophysics in the years to come.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Biographical Essay Bibliography

deGrasse Tyson, N. (2009). The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of Americas Favorite Planet. New York. W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. deGrasse Tyson, N. (2004). The Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist. New York. Prometheus Books. Miller, Tom. (2010, April 23). Neil Degrasse Tyson Walks the Dog. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/secretlife/scientists/neil-degrasse-tyson/. Zimmer, Carl. (2012). King of the Cosmos: A Profile of Neil deGrasse Tyson. Retrieved from http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/read/2012/01/01/king-of-the-cosmos deGrasse Tyson (2008). Exceptional Research Opportunities Program Meeting. Retrieved from http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/read/quotes-by-neil-degrasse-tyson/scienceliteracy-quotes