Q:
In the past you’ve stated that the universe called
you while you were still in high school to become
a scientist. For those students who have no interest in
becoming a scientist or an engineer, how do we impart
on them the value of still studying STEM subjects no
matter what their career choice is?
Tyson: I was called by the universe at age 9. Long
before high school. In spite of this, I claim no special
solutions to the nation’s educational woes, but I can
assert without hesitation that people want to learn when
flames of curiosity are lit within them. They become selfdriven, taking ownership of their educational trajectory.
We’ve all had teachers in our lives who did just that for
us, but their numbers are typically countable on one
hand. I count them as the first candidates for the walkin cloning machine.
Q:
What does a ‘Eureka’ or ‘Aha!’ moment feel like
for you?
Q:
How do we know that there is a black hole –
Sagittarius A* – at the center of the Milky Way
galaxy, and why should we feel safe that it poses no
threat to our own solar system?
Tyson: The rapid movement of stars very near the
galactic center gives us a measure of how much mass
is there, and the volume of space it must occupy.
Combining these two numbers, you get a black hole.
In the case of Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black
hole. The observations are hard, but the calculation
is relatively easy. Black holes are not giant sucking
machines. They do eat anything that wanders too
close, but if you’re on a stable galactic orbit far away
from the beast, then you are safe.
Image: Richard Foreman, Jr./FOX
Tyson: Most scientific discovery, as Isaac Asimov
perceptively noted, arise when, in response to new
data, a scientists says, “That’s odd”. To utter the word
Eureka implies that you found exactly what you were
looking for, and that it happens in an instant. Most
(nearly all) science does not unfold that way. Instead
it’s the long and slow analysis of data, extracting what
you judge to be believable signals out of experimental
noise. The real feeling worth describing is the act of
obtaining the data – data that you know that nobody
has obtained before. That’s a state of unmatched
anticipation and joy.
question in terms of energy.) But why this universe? And
why 13.8 billion years ago? These questions live on the
cosmological frontier.
Q:
What was the most rewarding part of doing the
new “Cosmos”, and why was it important to you
to add another chapter to the storied legacy of the
original “Cosmos”?
Tyson: I don’t think of projects such as “Cosmos” as
being rewarding to me. That’s not the source of my
motivation. I participated as a servant of the public’s
interest in the universe and as a conduit for those who
did not know they could be interested in science, and
for those who were sure they were not interested in
science at all. If “Cosmos” succeeds, then the rewards
are to society, who desperately needs - whether it
knows it or not - a dose of science literacy to become
better shepherds of our future on Earth.
Q:
Concerning the conservation of mass: if the
universe came from nothing, does that break
that rule, or is it because in theory the universe was not
a closed system yet? And is it now?
Tyson: We don’t know where the universe came
from. Recent research shows that if the net energy
of the universe is zero (adding together all sources of
positive and negative energy) then there’s no problem
creating a universe from nothing. (Energy and mass
are equivalent, via E=mc^2 ) so I’ve simply restated the
Neil deGrase Tyson is hosting “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odysssey”
three decades after Carl Sagan’s original “Cosmos” aired on PBS.
Q:
What, in your opinion, is the probability of life
existing on Europa?
Tyson: 50:50
Q:
If not on Europa, then where do you think we are
most likely to first find evidence of life beyond
Earth?
Tyson: Aquifers of Mars.
Q:
What is your favorite scientific word, and why?
Tyson: syzygy
When written in script, all letters but one drop below the
line. The word refers to three or more cosmic objects in
mutual orbit, find themselves in a straight line.
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