

Neil deGrasse Tyson (born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, a science communicator, the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and a Research Associate in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. Since 2006 he has hosted the educational science television show NOVA scienceNOW on PBS.

Tyson attended Harvard University, where he majored in physics. He was a member of the crew team in his freshman year, but returned to wrestling, eventually lettering in his senior year. Tyson earned a Bachelors of Arts in physics from Harvard in 1980 and began his graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Master of Arts in astronomy in 1983. In addition to wrestling and rowing in college, he was also active in dancing in styles including jazz, ballet, Afro-Caribbean, and Latin Ballroom. In 1985, he won a gold medal with the University of Texas dance team at a national tournament in the International Latin Ballroom style. He started to work towards a doctorate at UT, but transferred to Columbia University in 1988 after they dissolved his committee. At Columbia University, in 1989, he received a Master of Philosophy in astrophysics and, in 1991, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy in astrophysics. [Source]

Dr. Tyson’s (@neiltyson) passion for science and space is infectious. He’s a brilliant speaker with a quick wit and fierce intelligence. His Twitter stream is geeky, humorous, and wildly entertaining. With thousands of tweets to his 318,000+ followers, Dr. Tyson is on a mission to spread the awesomeness of science and wonderment. Below you will find a collection of his 50 most entertaining tweets (personal opinion of course) in no particular order. Enjoy!



1.

If Pizza sizes were given in area not diameter, you’d see instantly that a 7 inch is less than half the size of a 10 inch pie — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 25, 2012

2.

According to the song, Rudolph’s nose is shiny, which means it reflects rather than emits light. Useless for navigating fog. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 25, 2011

3.

The most boring constellation: Triangulum Australis. A profound lack of imagination – any 3 stars in the sky makes a triangle — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) September 19, 2011

4.

Just an FYI: Roman Numerals have no zero because it was not yet invented, allowing year 2000 to be written efficiently as MM. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 22, 2011

5.

Slowest pitch in Baseball to reach catcher? 30mph, thrown at 45-deg angle. Any slower at any other angle hits ground. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) July 13, 2011

6.

Apollo in 1969. Shuttle in 1981. Nothing in 2011. Our space program would look awesome to anyone living backwards thru time. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) July 8, 2011

7.

With automatic spell checkers running unleashed over what we compose, our era is that of correctly spelled typos. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 29, 2011

8.

If each dead person became a ghost, there’d be more than 100-billion of them haunting us all. Creepy, but cool. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 30, 2011

9.

More evidence my 14yr old daughter is a Geek: after prompting me to ask if she knew any jokes about sodium, she replied, “Na” — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) July 23, 2011

10.

If you removed all the arteries, veins, & capillaries from a person’s body, and tied them end-to-end…the person will die. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 25, 2011

Bill Nye and Dr. Tyson. Check out that tie (and bow-tie)!

11.

In my NCAAwrestling days I dreamt of a hold I called the “Double Tidal Lock” inspired by Earth-Moon physics. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 20, 2011

12.

Curiously, light-loving GREEN plants reject the Sun’s GREEN light, reflecting it back at you, which is why they look GREEN — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 17, 2011

13.

If gridiron were a timeline, w/ Big Bang at one goal, then cavemen to now spans thickness of single turf-blade at other goal. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 7, 2011

14.

Next time you’re stunned by large Moon on horizon, bend over and view it between your legs. The effect goes away entirely. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 19, 2011

15.

Just to settle it once and for all: Which came first the Chicken or the Egg? The Egg — laid by a bird that was not a Chicken — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 5, 2011

Young Tyson

16.

In Terminator, only living things can time-travel. But hair is dead. So Arnold should’ve landed in LA not only naked but bald — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 8, 2010

17.

Don’t know if it’s good or bad that a Google search on “Big Bang Theory” lists the sitcom before the origin of the Universe — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 7, 2010

18.

Curious that a bulletproof vest does not protect the neck, head, or groin. I consider these body parts important. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 4, 2010

19.

Astro-educators remain busy undoing damage caused by 1973 hit album “Dark Side of the Moon.” Nope. All sides get sunlight. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) September 28, 2010

20.

Wanna lose 1200 Calories a month? Drink a liter of ice water a day. You burn the energy just raising the water to body temp. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 27, 2010

21.

Just an FYI:Within two minutes of flight, the Shuttle’s air-speed exceeds that of a bullet fired from an M16 assault rifle. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 16, 2011

22.

Curious that we spend more time congratulating people who have succeeded than encouraging people who have not. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 23, 2012

23.

In 5-billion yrs the Sun will expand & engulf our orbit as the charred ember that was once Earth vaporizes. Have a nice day. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 19, 2012

24.

Just an FYI: “Thursday the 12th” is just as rare as “Friday the 13th”. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 12, 2012

25.

Need a distraction today? Not only does 12+1=11+2, but the letters “twelve plus one” rearrange to give you “eleven plus two” — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 8, 2011

26.

Principles of modern law assert that you’re innocent until proven guilty. Yet airport security is the exact opposite of this. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 20, 2011

27.

Ages for which you’re in the “prime” of your life: 2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29 31 37 41 43 47 53 59 61 67 71 73 79 83 89 97 101 — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 15, 2011

28.

I’ve come to conclude that Fettucini Alfredo is just Mac-and-Cheese for food snobs. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 14, 2011

29.

I think of space not as the final frontier but as the next frontier. Not as something to be conquered but to be explored. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 13, 2011

30.

Just an observation: I’ve never, ever, ever, ever, ever, heard a female voice as the narrator of a movie trailer. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) September 10, 2011

31.

Ever see DebatingTeams? They don’t know in advance what side of a case they’re required to argue. They make the best Lawyers. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) July 26, 2011

32.

If aliens did visit us, I’d be embarrassed to tell them we still dig fossil fuels from the ground as a source of energy. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 19, 2011

33.

Would a NASA reality show “Lunar Shore” be morepopular than “Jersey Shore”?Civilization”s future depends on that answer — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 16, 2011

34.

just an FYI: There are 2 kinds of people in the world — those who divide everybody into 2 kinds of people & those who don’t. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 23, 2011

35.

Without physics there’d be no Fashion Channel — there’d be no TV. But w/o fashion, physicists might just be naked. Not good. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 12, 2010

36.

If the surviving miners are heroes (rather than victims) then what do you call the NASA & Chilean Engineers who saved them? — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 17, 2010

37.

Italy valued cathedrals while Spain valued explorers. So worldwide, five times as many people speak Spanish than Italian — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 11, 2010

38.

A bullet fired level from a gun will hit ground at same time as a bullet dropped from the same height. Do the Physics. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 11, 2010

39.

More air molecules in breath of air than breaths of air in Earth’s atmosphere. Some air you inhale was exhaled by Cleopatra. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) July 30, 2010

40.

Average time between full moons is 29.53 days. Which means February will occasionally not get one, and will never have two. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 1, 2011

41.

286 octillion cars would not fit on our planet’s surface. Would require 10-quadrillion fully paved Earths to park them all. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 4, 2011

42.

Just an FYI: It takes twice as much energy to throw a baseball 100mph than it does to throw one at 70mph. Do The Physics — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 28, 2011

43.

Effective Car Commercials: Now every time I pass a KIA “Soul” in the street I’m disappointed the driver is not a Hamster. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 4, 2012

44.

Cosmic objects with elements named in their honor:Sun (helium), Mercury (mercury), Earth (telerium), Moon (selenium) — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 4, 2011

45.

Just an FYI: If scientists invented the legal system, eye witness testimony would be inadmissible evidence. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 6, 2011

46.

Other than the waging of War, the ISS (assembled by Shuttle) is the most successful collaboration of nations there ever was. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) July 8, 2011

47.

TheBigBangTheory: When geeky scientists can be main characters in a hit primetime series, you know there’s hope for the world — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 23, 2011

48.

Not enough people do things that leave others to wonder.RT @BrianMendicino: Wondering why @neiltyson is watching Glee. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 2, 2011

49.

Math is the language of the universe. So the more equations you know, the more you can converse with the cosmos. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 21, 2011

50.

Geek e-mail signoff: No trees were killed to send this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) April 28, 2011