Astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson will visit the Iowa Memorial Union’s Main Lounge tonight at 7:30 p.m. a for a free lecture and book signing presented by the The University of Iowa Lecture Committee.
Dr. Tyson is currently the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, though he is perhaps most well known as a sort of ad hoc champion of the science community, and a very charismatic one at that. He rekindles in many a passion and child-like wonder for science that often erodes throughout early development, a phenomenon symptomatic of an uninspired educational system and poor congressional funding according to Tyson.
[dropcap style=’default’]Y[/dropcap]ou remember the 60s and 70s. You didn’t have to go more than a week before there’s an article in Life magazine, “The Home of Tomorrow,” “The City of Tomorrow,” “Transportation of Tomorrow”. All of that ended in the 1970s. After we stopped going to the Moon, it all ended. We stopped dreaming.
And so I worry that the decision that Congress makes doesn’t factor in the consequences of those decisions on tomorrow. Tomorrow’s gone. They’re playing for the quarterly report, they’re playing for the next election cycle, and that is mortgaging the actual future of this nation, and the rest of the world is going to pass us by. –via Neil Degrasse Tyson
Through his lectures, interviews and ubiquitous web 2.0 presence, Dr. Tyson has achieved near-iconic status among the science-minded web community, enjoying a level of popularity that rivals that of prominent science educator Bill Nye.
http://youtu.be/PG0odKQaQ1Q
Join Dr. Tyson tonight at the IMU and get your science on. This event is free and open to the public, but consider showing up early to avoid what’s likely to be a sizable crowd.
