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I'd like to just say thanks to Paul for doing this, it was probably hugely meaningful to the kid. Ages ago I interviewed Neil deGrasse Tyson for an 8th grade a
by Amorymeltzer 11y ago
I'd like to just say thanks to Paul for doing this, it was probably hugely meaningful to the kid. Ages ago I interviewed Neil deGrasse Tyson for an 8th grade assignment - it is still one of the best moments of my life, and one of the major reasons I am a scientist now.
I recently read Judd Apatow's book "Sick in the Head", wherein he interviews comedians, beginning in high school. Looking back, I wish I'd contacted more of my heroes. There's very real meaning that comes from it, even just to humanize people a teenager looks up to. I'd love to see more of this.
- visakanv 11y agoTyson himself cited his experience with Carl Sagan as one of the best moments of HIS life: > At the time deGrasse Tyson was just a 17-year-old kid from the Bronx with dreams of being a scientist, but Sagan had invited him to spend a Saturday with him in Ithaca at Cornell University, after seeing his application to attend University there. > He toured their labs there, and Sagan gave him a book, “The Cosmic Collection” and inscribed it “to a future astronomer”: > DeGrasse Tyson describes how this influenced his entire life: > At the end of the day, he drove me back to the bus station. The snow was falling harder. He wrote his phone number, his home phone number, on a scrap of paper. And he said, “If the bus can’t get through, call me. Spend the night at my home, with my family.” > I already knew I wanted to become a scientist, but that afternoon I learned from Carl the kind of person I wanted to become. He reached out to me and to countless others. Inspiring so many of us to study, teach, and do science. Science is a cooperative enterprise, spanning the generations.