Are there times when you feel that there is too much toxicity on Twitter? Then following and getting a daily dose of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s witty and humorous feed is a good idea. Tyson is an American astrophysicist who uses his online media as well as his guest appearances to encourage science and space explorations.
Born on October 5, 1958, Tyson had already known and acknowledged his love for stars since he was young. He got his first taste of star-gazing when he visited Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of National History when he was nine. After that, he took classes at the Planetarium and even got his own telescope. The roof of his apartment became his refuge as he spent his teenage life gazing at the stars with his own equipment.
Tyson graduated from Bronx High School of Science in 1976, and then he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Harvard University. He added a doctorate in astrophysics from Columbia University in 1991. He spent a few years doing post-doctorate work at Princeton University before going back to where it all started. He went back when he landed a job at the Hayden Planetarium.
As a director of the Hayden Planetarium, he had his share of controversies. Do you remember when Pluto was removed from the line of planets? Tyson was the one who pushed that, saying that Pluto was a dwarf planet. His claim resulted in a lot of backlashes. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union followed his lead and finally labeled Pluto as a dwarf planet.
From 2006 to 2011, Tyson became the host of NOVA ScienceNow as a way to improve the nation’s scientific literacy. As he said, “One of my goals is to bring the universe down to Earth in a way that further excites the audience to want more.“ And that he did. In fact, he is one of the few African Americans in his field.
Continuing his goal, his Twitter feed is full of digestible facts about Science that is also full of humor. Here are our 60 favorites in no particular order.
1.
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
2.
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
3.
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
4.
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
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
8.
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
9.
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
10.
I’ve come to conclude that Fettucini Alfredo is just Mac-and-Cheese for food snobs. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 14, 2011
11.
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
12.
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
13.
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
14.
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
15.
Today’s date is 10 / 10 / 2014. It’s so rare that it will never happen again. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) Oct 11, 2014
16.
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
17.
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
18.
Cosmic objects with elements named in their honor:Sun (helium), Mercury (mercury), Earth (telerium), Moon (selenium) — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 4, 2011
19.
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
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.
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
22.
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
23.
A picture is worth a thousand words, except for pictures of words that contain between 1 & 999 words. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 22, 2020
24.
I want to live in a world where a Chicken can cross the road without anybody questioning its motives. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 18, 2020
25.
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
26.
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
27.
If the 2010s continue as they have, we’ll remember the decade only as 50`yr anniversaries of stuff that happened in the 1960s — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 11, 2012
28.
Just an FYI: If scientists invented the legal system, eye witness testimony would be inadmissible evidence. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) May 6, 2011
29.
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
30.
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
31.
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
32.
“Nature abhors a vacuum” came from space-illiterate people. In fact, Nature just loves a vacuum. It’s most of the universe. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) Jun 17, 2013
33.
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
34.
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
35.
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
36.
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
37.
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
38.
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
39.
Curious that we spend more time congratulating people who have succeeded than encouraging people who have not. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 23, 2012
40.
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
41.
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
42.
Just an FYI: “Thursday the 12th” is just as rare as “Friday the 13th”. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 12, 2012
43.
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
44.
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
45.
Wow. Yesterday was 01/01/11 — all 0’s & 1’s. If my calculations are correct, nothing like that’ll happen for another..8 days — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) Jan 3, 2011
46.
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
47.
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
48.
Just an FYI: A 250 lb football player, running 15 mph, has more kinetic energy than a bullet fired from an AK-47 rifle. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) Feb 2, 2015
49.
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
50.
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
51.
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
52.
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 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/144594005852831744
53.
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
54.
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
55.
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
56.
Total Solar Eclipses occur somewhere on Earth every two years, or so. So just calm yourself when people tell you they’re rare — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) Aug 17, 2017
57.
In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings. On average, across any 48hrs, we also lose… 500 to Medical errors 300 to the Flu 250 to Suicide 200 to Car Accidents 40 to Homicide via Handgun Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) Aug 5, 2019
58.
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
59.
Evidence that Humans are smarter than Cats: We don’t chase Laser dots on the carpet. We’re not afraid of Vacuum Cleaners. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) Apr 30, 2017
60.
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
Featured image: Wikimedia
