‘Neil deGrasse Tyson’ or ‘Black Science man’ Naam to Suna Hoga ( you must have listened to the name).
This man is the one who not only popularized science but also made science look interesting and simple through his books and frequent radio and television appearances.
It doesn’t matter in which field we are; everyone is familiar with names such as Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin but today in this article, we are going to know about one of the great scientists who made science popular with his humor, books, shows as well as his dedicated teaching style, the one, and only Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Tender age
Neil deGrasse Tyson was born on 5th October 1958 in Manhattan, New York City, US. He is the second-born child of his parents. From kindergarten to high school, Tyson attended public schools, where he developed his interest in wrestling and became the captain of the wrestling team; he was also editor-in-chief of the Physical Science Journal and was finally graduated in 1976.
His interest in astronomy sparked when he was just nine and went to the sky theater of the Hayden Planetarium. He recalled that “so strong was that imprint [of the night sky] that I’m certain that I had no choice in the matter, that in fact, the universe called me.”
Tyson continued his studies by doing under graduation in physics at Harvard University(1980), master’s in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin(1983), and master’s in astrophysics at Columbia University(1989 and 1991).
Tyson was a postdoctoral research associate from 1991 to 1994 at Princeton University, at the same time, he also joined Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist. Later he became acting director of the Planetarium in 1995 and finally a director in 1996. As a director, he oversaw a complete replacement of the facility and did a $210 million reconstruction project, after which the planetarium was re-opened in 2000.
When the planetarium was opened, the solar system was categorized into groups, but Pluto neither in the terrestrial planets nor in the Jovian planets but was grouped with Kuiper belt objects. This decision resulted in lots of angry letters to Tyson, and it became quite a controversial topic. He also mentioned the experience in his book The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet (2009).
Author of:
Neil deGrasse Tyson is always very enthusiastic and passionate about his work. As we all know by now, he was an editor in chief in his school, so how long can the writer in him be hidden, as he didn’t want to keep his knowledge to oneself so he pens down his knowledge and theories (and is continuing). From 1995 to 2005, he wrote the ‘Universe’ column for Natural History magazine. He also started writing in the question-answer column for the University of Texas’s magazine ‘Start Date’, and some material from that column later was also seen in his books Merlin’s Tour of the Universe (1989) and Just Visiting This Planet (1998).
Some of his other that books gained attention and made people fall for science and him, are as follows:
- The sky is Not the limit(2000)
- Origins: Fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution(2004)
- Death by Black Hole (2006)
- The Pluto Flies in (2009)
- Astrophysics for People in a hurry (2017)
- Cosmic Queries (2021)
If you have read any one of them, do comment down below and let us know how much did you like it!
Image by: BY CLAIRE LEADEN
Did you know?
You all must have seen the above picture in wallpapers or getting a lot of attention on your Instagram feed. Well, did you know that the word “Manhattanhenge” depicting the two days annually on which sunsets and sunrise are aligned with the street grid in Manhattan, was popularized by Tyson? Yes, the same which you saw in the above picture. He had coined the term in 1996, inspired by the Stonehenge monument in England.
How is Neil deGrasse Tyson nicknamed Black Science Man?
If you are not surprised yet, then you will be now because the nickname ‘Black Science Man‘ was not given by anyone to Neil deGrasse Tyson, neither by the media nor by anyone else but by himself. Surprised right!
Well, the nickname do define him, let’s take a glimpse at the facts:
- He is black
- He is a science communicator
- He is a man
He might have given this name to himself so that people could remember him easily. And the trick worked!
Neil deGrasse Tyson cosmos
Tyson didn’t confined himself to books and but also have a hosting career which started when he joined as a host in “Nova ScienceNow’ in 2006 and then came up with the most popular science series, ‘Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey in 2014 and ‘The StarTalk’ podcast in 2009 which was also included in the “Rolling Stone” magazine’s 2014 under the list of “The 20 Best Comedy Podcasts Right Now.” also was later on turned into a late-night show by National Geographic in 2015 and many other series . He is also frequently seen as a talk show guest.
Cosmos series is an American science documentary made following the 13-episodes format and storytelling approach of the 1980’s original “Cosmos-A Personal Voyage” hosted by Carl Sagan, including the elements such as imagination and computer-based graphics and narration. The series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey was premiered on March 9, 2014, and was developed to bring back the foundation of science and connect people through television. The series concluded on June 8, 2014. Cosmos has been critically praised and won several awards, including a Peabody Award for educational content.
The sequel series Cosmos: Possible Worlds was premiered on March 9, 2020, on National Geographic. The series is prepared on the same basis and is hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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An Astrophysicist in movies?
Are you also wondering that you have seen this guy somewhere but where? If you are not a science person, then you must have seen Neil deGrasse Tyson in movies. Tyson has been a popular figure in the film industry and has been seen in many movies. The list of movies done by him are:
- Lazer team (2016)
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice(2016)
- Zoolander 2(2016), etc.
Image by: screen rant
Some tv series done by him are:
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2015)
- Family Guy(2016)
- The Big Bang Theory(2010 & 2018)
- The Jim Gaffigan Show(2016)
- The Simpsons(2017), etc.
Personal Life:
Tyson met the love of his life, Alice Young, in a physics class. The couple took vows in 1988 and now have a happy family with 2 children, Miranda and Travis.
In 2018, the ‘Black Science Man’ was accused by four women of sexual misconduct for incidents allegedly taking place from 1984 to 2018. In his defense, he denied the 1984 rape accusation and cleared that the other allegations were cases of his actions being misinterpreted. Due to such allegations, his reputation and career both took a negative growth resulting in a temporarily break on “StarTalk,” and the premiere of “Cosmos: Possible Worlds” was delayed, but the similar graph took a positive approach when in March 2019, Fox and National Geographic stated that the investigation was over and Tyson’s projects would resume.
Tyson has a long list of awards and honors, but lately Tyson has been in the news for achieving Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication and Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album nomination for Astrophysics for People in a Hurry in 2017.
Image by: nprorg.
Contributions to science:
Neil deGrasse Tyson has rightly took the name ‘Black Science Man’ as a nickname as he not only has made science gain popularity but has also served the nation as –
- He was being appointed by President Bush to serve a twelve-member commission in 2001 that analyzed the future of the aerospace industry.
- Tyson was again appointed by Mr. Bush to serve a nine-member commission to study the Implementation of the United States Space Exploration Policy.
- He founded the American Museum of Natural History’s Department of Astrophysics in 1997.
He also established Pluto as a dwarf planet, which caused controversy but was challenging to the astronomy community and was declared true six years later.
He has also been to so many radio shows, podcasts, hosted science documentaries and written numerous books that would serve the nation and help the world understand science better. Thus has been known as the greatest advocate for scientific literacy.
Tyson has an unique oratory skills and a sense of humor through which he is able to explain difficult scientific concepts and make people understand better.
Tyson has also started a master class for the people/students interested in science and willing to learn from him.
Conclusion
Science can’t be explained in an article and can’t be understood just by learning few concepts. Science is beyond, and day by day, we are emerging into the new world were science is playing a major role. Every new thing is discovered in a minute; for us being in tune with science, we have to learn every day and take advantage of learning anything new. We, in conclusion, can just say that Neil deGrasse Tyson is a legend and has done a lot for the world and is continuing to contribute the same. The man-made us fall for his humor along with science. We are very much thankful for him.
Frequently asked questions