As Neil deGrasse Tyson paced the stage Monday night, one hand holding the mike and the other casually in a pocket, he appeared more like a stand-up comedian at the top of his game than a world-renowned scientist. Well, except for the fact that no comedian would end his set by asking for questions about the universe.""
""I got a lot of universe to share with you tonight,"" Tyson said at the beginning of his lecture and joked that he might go over his allotted time. Of course, the sold-out crowd at the Wisconsin Union Theater remained riveted throughout the evening, even two and a half hours later as he finished answering the last question. After all, how often does one get to hear the Director of New York's Hayden Planetarium, a professional astrophysicist and ""The Colbert Report's"" most frequent guest?
Tyson's talk focused on the importance of scientific literacy and on imparting a bit of the cosmic perspective he knows so well. Despite just having released a new book last week, he made sure his lecture had ""nothing to do with it,"" since after all, that information could already be found in the book. ""I want you to leave tonight with knowledge that can be found nowhere else!"" he said.
And what kind of knowledge was it? A little bit of everything, as it turned out. Why don't people's wishes come true? Because they don't know they're wishing on the planet Venus, and not a star! Why isn't the state lotto a tax on the poor, as its opponents claim? Because it's actually a tax on people who don't know math, and can't realize they only have a ""one in a bajillion chance"" of winning. ""That's not a real number,"" he quickly added, just in case.
In between these interesting tidbits, Tyson continually emphasized the myriad benefits of living in a society that valued science and technology. Besides being able to name things after yourself and having a greater impact on history, embracing science simply helps to keep people dreaming.
""No one dreams anymore about Tomorrowland,"" Tyson said before his talk, meaning not the Disney attraction but the promise of the future. ""I like dreaming."" Before stepping into his showman-comedian persona, he spoke more slowly, more deliberately and wasn't always concerned with being funny.
""Rejecting science is mortgaging the future of the country,"" Tyson said. In a perfect world, ""the enterprise of science is something the nation embraces, doesn't fear, doesn't shun.""
Of course, that isn't entirely the case right now, as he demonstrated during his talk. ""There are people living among us afraid of the number 13! They're living among us!"" Which is not to say everyone should become scientists, he quickly added, just that no one should be afraid of it. ""You've got to flesh out the portfolio of what civilization is.""
Part of the solution, Tyson said before his talk, is getting Hollywood on his side. Citing the numerous examples of one-dimensional evil or nerdy scientists, Hollywood not only discourages an interest in science but actually hurts itself too.
""If you don't know enough about science, you don't know what stories you're missing,"" Tyson said. He's buoyed by the success of ""CSI"" and ""Numbers,"" two popular TV shows in which the protagonists practice science but aren't defined by it, ""where real people are smart, but not in a bad way.""
Tyson thinks improving the visibility and cultural value of science is the most important change this country could make, a stark contrast to the popular view that poor science education produces our scientifically illiterate society.
""I think that's the wrong place to stick the blame,"" Tyson said. ""I'm not ... talking about test scores; I'm talking about what you want to be when you grow up."" While it'd be ideal to have more passionate teachers out there, right now students interested in science need to have ""a place to land after their education."" Such an end goal would drive students to want to be good at math and science not just for their own sakes, but to be a part of the larger picture.
Tyson looks to NASA as such a destination, saying it's ""where dreams are made."" If he had his way - became ""Pope of America"" - he'd increase the agency's profile and commission it to do truly groundbreaking missions once again. ""We are today boldly going where hundreds have gone before,"" he said. ""I think NASA should only ever be a frontier agency.""
The end of Tyson's talk pushed up against these very frontiers, showing the audience the scope and size of the universe, with pretty pictures to match.
""There are 1,000 times more stars in the universe than grains of sand at a typical beach,"" he said at one point, turning the audience's laughter into gasps of wonder.
Tyson concluded by showing a list of the most abundant elements in the universe, and another, almost identical, list of the most abundant elements in living creatures. In a very real way, he said, we are all a part of the universe, just one tiny dot in the vast cosmos.
But, he said, the reverse is just as true: ""The universe is in us.
