Neil Degrasse Tyson to speak in Pittsburgh
Audience members will have the opportunity to expand their minds and learn more about science and the cosmos when Neil DeGrasse Tyson shares some of his scientific knowledge Nov. 29 at the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh.
Tyson, who was the host of the updated version of Carl Sagan鈥檚 1980s 鈥淐osmos: A Personal Voyage,鈥� has grown into a cultural phenomena and appears regularly on 鈥淭he Daily Show,鈥� 鈥淭he Colbert Report鈥� and has his own radio show/National Geographic television series that has been nominated for two Emmys, 鈥淪tarTalk.鈥�
The astrophysicist has become so popular due in part to his approachable nature that includes being a part of various popular films and movies including 鈥淶oolander 2,鈥� 鈥淕ravity Falls鈥� and 鈥淭he Big Bang Theory.鈥�
Tyson is also active and accessible through social media and his tweets about fact checking science fiction films have garnered a following.
鈥淚n @StarWars #TheForceAwakens, BB-8, a smooth rolling metal spherical ball, would have skidded uncontrollably on sand,鈥� tweeted Tyson.
He has also embraced his iconic status among the 鈥済eek culture鈥� by making appearances at San Diego ComicCon and the popular podcast The Nerdist.
鈥淚f ComicCon people ruled the world, international conflicts would be resolved entirely by plastic light saber fights in bars,鈥� Tyson once tweeted.
But, Tyson is not always just fun and games.
He also serves as the director of the prestigious Hayden Planetarium, part of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Tyson also has a passion for working to change the future of the American School system.
In an interview with Huffington Post鈥檚 Marianne Schnall, he said:
鈥淚鈥檓 not there yet, but I plan to work on that as one of my projects: What can we do with the future of the school systems? Is the portfolio of topics the right ones? Should you get an entire class on a cosmic perspective? What kind of math should you be taught if at all? There are people who say they don鈥檛 need their math. I think that鈥檚 a mistake, because it implies that what you learn is what you then apply. Whereas, in the best scenario what you learn 鈥� the act of having learned it鈥揾as established a new form of wiring in your brain that empowers you to have thoughts you鈥檝e never had before. And by studying math, and by struggling to do a math problem set, and with every new problem you solve, it鈥檚 a new wiring of your brain. And if you only think of school as, 鈥業 want to learn this so that I could apply it here,鈥� you鈥檒l be ill equipped to navigate the rapidly changing frontier of what actually matters in society.鈥�
Even after learning so much about the universe and the planet, Tyson still finds things to be in awe over.
鈥淪o for me, my awe comes not so much from the universe, but from our ignorance of the universe. If you add dark matter and dark energy together, which are two unknowns in our modern science 鈥� we know they鈥檙e out there, we measure their existence, but we don鈥檛 know what causes it, we don鈥檛 know what it鈥檚 made of,鈥� he explained in the Huffington Post interview. 鈥淚f you add them together it鈥檚 95, 96 percent of all that drives the universe. I鈥檓 in awe of that. I鈥檓 in awe of how much we understand and have used to shape our civilization and to think of how much we have yet to understand and what that could mean for the future of civilization.鈥�
Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. discussion start at $83 and can be purchased online through ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-855-985-4357.