To at Least One Earthling, Siberia Meteor Proved That Science Is Vital<\/a> by Clyde Haberman in The New York Times.<\/p>\nThe Text:<\/strong> Twice on a recent Friday, the cosmos intruded rudely on us earthlings. A meteor exploded over western Siberia, shattering windows, injuring hundreds and scaring pretty much everyone else. That same day, an asteroid passed within 18,000 miles of us, close enough to arch many an eyebrow among astronomers.<\/p>\nOne earthling, at least, looked on the bright side.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows me, when I talk about asteroids, to reference an actual event where people got hurt,\u201d said Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and the director of the Hayden Planetarium in Manhattan for going on two decades. Not that Dr. Tyson was glad that people had been injured. Far from it. All the same, he said over drinks in Lower Manhattan, this cosmic activity \u201cgives punctuation to my sentence that the human race is at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThink of it,\u201d he said, \u201cas a shot across our bow.\u201d<\/p>\n
A warning that the planet could be imperiled has a way of focusing the mind wondrously. So we asked about a huge asteroid called Apophis, whose name alone ought to give one pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s from the Egyptian god of death and destruction,\u201d Dr. Tyson said. \u201cIt was named knowing that it crosses Earth\u2019s orbit.\u201d Otherwise, he said, \u201cwe would have named it something less threatening, like Tiffany or Bambi.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scientists say it will fly uncomfortably close to us in 2029 and again in 2036 and yet again in 2068. Luck, Dr. Tyson is convinced, will not be forever on our side. \u201cWhat is a certainty is that one day Apophis and Earth will collide,\u201d he said. \u201cSo our goal should be, if the survival of our civilization is a concern and a priority, to find a way to deflect it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know how to do it,\u201d he said, but he added this disheartened postscript: \u201cThere\u2019s no funded plan to do so anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The possibility of planetary cataclysm was not on our agenda when we invited Dr. Tyson to break bread. The original question was simpler: Could the latest brushes with asteroids get people thinking about the universe more, well, cosmically?<\/p>\n
Because his schedule is forever tight, a proposed meal turned into late-afternoon drinks at the Beekman Pub, around the corner from City Hall and a short walk from his home. (Memo to accounting: you will be happy to hear that all he had to drink was a Diet Pepsi, with lime. His tablemate splurged on a beer.)<\/p>\n
Dr. Tyson \u2014 Bronx-reared and, as he likes to point out, born in the same week in 1958 as NASA \u2014 is given to speaking not in whole sentences but, rather, in whole paragraphs. He has a gift for putting the fizz in physics and taking the sigh out of science.<\/p>\n
Chances are he is no stranger to you. He is a television semiregular. Dr. Tyson even turned up, in illustrated form, in the January issue of Action Comics, identifying a plausible location in the real cosmos for Krypton, which had been Superman\u2019s home planet.<\/p>\n
He theorized that Krypton could have orbited a red dwarf star in the Corvus constellation, 27 light years from Earth. That\u2019s roughly 160 trillion miles away, in case you are thinking of a trip.<\/p>\n
The whole thing, he said, was DC Comics\u2019 idea: \u201cAs a lifelong resident of Metropolis, the least I could do is allow my likeness to be in conversation with Superman.\u201d<\/p>\n
These days, Dr. Tyson is less focused on the planetarium than on creating a new iteration of \u201cCosmos,\u201d the hit PBS series featuring Carl Sagan, which was first broadcast in 1980. This sequel, for the Fox network, is planned for early next year.<\/p>\n
One of its producers is Seth MacFarlane. Yup, that Seth MacFarlane, the \u201cFamily Guy\u201d guy and (to some viewers) the cringe-inducing host of this year\u2019s Academy Awards show. Whatever one may think of his brand of comedy, \u201cSeth MacFarlane is deeply committed to science literacy in this country,\u201d Dr. Tyson said, and the two of them share a goal: reinforcing the idea that \u201cscience needs to be taken to people\u2019s hearts in a way that they become better citizens for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is he saying that we treat science and mathematics shabbily in this country, where many people are all too proud to admit to a fear of all sums? Actually, Dr. Tyson said, \u201cI don\u2019t think the country\u2019s less literate in math and science than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI cite, for example, how familiar people are with images from the Hubble telescope,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Hubble did not require a P.R. person to become famous. It did all the P.R. on its own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pop culture, too, is part of \u201ca positive trend line,\u201d given science-themed blockbuster films like \u201cAvatar\u201d and the durable \u201cStar Wars\u201d series, and popular television programs like the \u201cC.S.I.\u201d and \u201cNCIS\u201d franchises and \u201cThe Big Bang Theory.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a day when we didn\u2019t have science at all in television programming,\u201d Dr. Tyson said between sips of his soda. \u201cNow it\u2019s there, without having to stereotype the lab-coated, wire-haired character.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the real problem, as he sees it: \u201cYou have people who are not scientifically literate who have risen to positions of power and control,\u201d whether on local school boards or in Congress. He mentioned Representative Paul C. Broun, a Georgia Republican (and doctor) who sits on the House Science Committee and who says the world is 9,000 years old and was literally created in six days.<\/p>\n
Voters, Dr. Tyson said, need to grasp the consequences of their electoral choices, especially if they produce officials who \u201cundermine the source of creativity for tomorrow\u2019s economy.\u201d Meddle with the citizenry\u2019s understanding of science and technology, he said, and people \u201cwill emerge on the other side incapable of making the discoveries and innovations that the nation requires in order to stay economically competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it comes to the Creation, \u201cif you use the Bible as your science textbook, you will go astray \u2014 there\u2019s no question about it,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cGalileo understood this. He can be credited with drawing a line in the sand with his famous quote that the Bible tells you how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.\u201d<\/p>\n
With all due respect to Galileo, he does not top Dr. Tyson\u2019s list of science greats. \u201cThe first person I would meet the day a time machine gets invented\u201d is Isaac Newton, he said.<\/p>\n
On this afternoon, Dr. Tyson wore a pale yellow tie emblazoned with Newton\u2019s image. It instantly caught the eye, as did a red rose tucked into the breast pocket of his jacket, a souvenir from a luncheon that day. The rose was in itself both a science lesson and a reminder of the planet\u2019s fragility.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlowers capture some of why we value life,\u201d he said. \u201cIf a flower were permanent, it would be so much less meaningful to the person you gave it to. It\u2019s the fact that you know it will die in a matter of days that you care for it and you appreciate its beauty all the more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Article: To at Least One Earthling, Siberia Meteor Proved That Science Is Vital by Clyde Haberman in The New York Times. The Text: Twice on a recent Friday, the cosmos intruded rudely on us earthlings. A meteor exploded over western Siberia, shattering windows, injuring hundreds and scaring pretty much everyone else. That same day, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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