If you had Trump on StarTalk, how would your conversation with him go?

“I don’t know how much [Trump] knows the role science plays in the sustenance and generation of wealth in a nation, ever since the industrial revolution.”

I would tell him all the ways science has touched his life, and all the ways science generates wealth. I don’t know how much he knows the role science plays in the sustenance and generation of wealth in a nation, ever since the industrial revolution. If I were to use the more aggressive word, I would school him on this. He’s fundamentally a businessman, so I would expect he would be responsive to business arguments. Like if you invest in science, technology, engineering and math, it will return dividends on the “U.S.A Corporation” in 5, 10, 15, 20 years and I’d give examples of how that happens.

Do you ever think about stepping back, just being an academic and chilling out?

Yes, all the time! Tomorrow, I’ll do it.

Why don’t you?

Because I’d be irresponsible. Here’s my secret desire: there are enough others rising up and filling this field of science education, popularization in book writing, TV that I can just slowly walk backwards and no one will notice. Then I go to the Bahamas, recover, and go back to the lab and become a scientist again, and no one will miss me, and that will be just fine. I don’t need a legacy. I’m a servant of the curiosity of the public and I’m happy that the public has resonated as much as they have.