Last night, Neil deGrasse Tyson spoke at Tanger Center. For two hours, he entertained the audience by incorporating science and humor. We talk about having a global perspective, but Dr. Tyson brings perspective-taking to a whole new level, a cosmic one. He reminds us of the vastness of the universe and how the human body is made up of nearly the same elements as the universe and explained how it is that the universe is alive in all of us. People were excited about conceptualizing the vastness of the universe, how molecules connect us all, and the sense of perspective that can be taken on the world now that it has been seen from space. He encouraged the audience to think globally because air and water molecules "don't have to go through passport control" and therefore there is a little bit of each of us in everyone else.
Dr. Tyson is a prolific author and public speaker with a special talent for communicating about science in a way that is accessible to even non-scientists. We were struck by the number of young adults that were in the very intergenerational audience. There are the kind of talks that can be transformative for the listener. It would be so wonderful for even more young people to have an opportunity to hear Dr. Tyson in person. He recounts how career defining it was for him to get to talk to Carl Sagan during his high school years. He vowed, if ever famous, to make mentoring youth a priority. This was such a special way to spend a Thursday night. And now, on to Friday!
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