Called by the Universe, a conversation with Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Talking Science on TSN

From the Archive: Neil DeGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, host of Cosmos - A Spacetime Odyssey and StarTalk, first appeared on The Science Network in 2006 at the first Beyond Belief meeting. TSN has filmed two in-depth conversations between Tyson and TSN director, Roger Bingham. Here is the first, filmed in 2009. Bingham and Tyson discuss Tyson's path to science, from being "chosen by the universe" on his first trip to the Hayden Planetarium at age 9 to meeting with Carl Sagan at age 17, who showed Tyson what kind of scientist he wanted to be. Also discussed: the significance of the outrage at the "demotion" of Pluto, Tyson's well-known rebuke of Richard Dawkins' communication style at Beyond Belief and the difference between communicating and being articulate, and much more. A clip from this conversation went viral on YouTube. Tyson's clearly articulated criticism of ascribing to God that which science does not (yet!) understand struck a chord with the Internet public, and that clip has garnered almost 5 million views on YouTube (titled "Neil DeGrasse Tyson destroys Bill O'Reilly"). The video version of this podcast is available on TSN's website.