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Society needs to see science not as a luxury of funding but as a fundamental activity that drives enlightenment, economics, and security.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

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Neil deGrasse Tyson
Age: 66
Born: 1958
Born: October 5
Actor
Astronomer
Astrophysicist
Cosmologist
Non-Fiction Writer
Philosopher
Physicist
Science Communicator
Science Writer
Teacher
Trekkie
The Bronx
New York City
Neil Tyson
Enlightenment
Fundamentals
Economics
Activity
Security
Funding
Society
Drives
Science
Fundamental
Needs
Luxury

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UV is bad for molecules because its high energy breaks the bonds between a molecule's constituent atoms. That's why UV is bad for you, too: it's always best to avoid things that decompose the molecules of your flesh.
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When I grew up I assembled my role models à la cart. I wanted to be an astrophysicist. If I tried to find a role model who grew up in the Bronx with my skin color who was an astrophysicist, I would never have become an astrophysicist.
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In science, if you don't do it, somebody else will. Whereas in art, if Beethoven didn't compose the 'Ninth Symphony,' no one else before or after is going to compose the 'Ninth Symphony' that he composed no one else is going to paint 'Starry Night' by van Gogh.
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The very nature of science is discoveries, and the best of those discoveries are the ones you don't expect.
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Who knows how dead Lazarus was? Was Lazarus decomposing in a six-foot grave when Jesus resurrected him? No, he wasn't.
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Science is a philosophy of discovery. Intelligent design is a philosophy of ignorance. You cannot build a program of discovery on the assumption that nobody is smart enough to figure out the answer to a problem.
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The value of the space program is beyond science, it's beyond military it's a cultural shift in how we think of our place in the universe.
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I simply go with what works. And what works is the healthy skepticism embodied in the scientific method. Believe me, if the Bible had ever been shown to be a rich source of scientific answers and enlightenment, we would be mining it daily for cosmic discovery.
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Aliens might be surprised to learn that in a cosmos with limitless starlight, humans kill for energy sources buried in the sand
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Dreams about the future are always filled with gadgets.
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Chimpanzees are an evolutionary hair's-width from us.... Now imagine a species on Earth, or anywhere else, as smart compared with humans as humans are compared with chimpanzees. How much of the universe might they figure out?
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Grab something off the shelf that's on the spaceship-an ashtray, it doesn't matter what. Because I can tell you, if they flew here from another galaxy, no matter what you've pulled off the shelf, it'll be unlike anything we have on Earth.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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We went to the moon and discovered Earth.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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We are star dust in the highest exalted way, called by the universe, reaching out to the universe
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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The Earth is just one place of many that we could hang our hats.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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When you're advancing a frontier it stimulates creativity to find solutions.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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They [scientists of centuries past] call on God only from the lonely and precarious edge of incomprehension. Where they feel certain about their explanations, however, God gets hardly a mention.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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The number of people in the world engaged in this search for catastrophic impactors totals one or two dozen. How long into the future are you willing to protect Homo sapiens on Earth? Before you answer that question, take a detour to Arizona's Meteor Crater during your next vacation.
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As areas of knowledge grow, so too do the perimeters of ignorance.
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You know, there's black holes and what - could there be wormholes? Could - might there be a multi-verse? These are all fascinating frontiers. What is the nature of dark matter and dark energy? And what was around before the universe? And do we have access to higher dimensions?
Neil deGrasse Tyson