Neil deGrasse Tyson is my favorite scientist for a multitude of reasons. He's capable of presenting high level concepts and ideas in their simplest of forms. A rare combination of a brilliant scientist and a sensitive educator.
I'll keep this post as short as possible and present a couple of concepts showing why he's my favorite. For more info about him, check out the Wikipedia entry of Neil deGrasse Tyson.
I always thought that it's enough to research and present facts to backup your ideas and persuade people or win an argument. Oh boy how wrong I was and how long had I wondered why this doesn't work most of the time. Neil deGrasse Tyson to the rescue with this quote:
It's the facts, plus the sensitivity, when convolved together, create impact Neil deGrasse Tyson
Yep! Even the most accurate of facts aren't enough. Check out this two minutes video of Neil deGrasse Tyson vs Richard Dawkins to see this concept in action and this blog post to go more in depth. This basically takes place after Richard Dawkins presents some facts in his usual (at the time) believe this or you're an idiot style. Notice also how Richard Dawkins takes in the feedback properly and thinks about it and I'm sure he'll improve on it in the future. Gotta love the scientific method, right!
A lesson and an observation from the most successful people in life, and two main philosophies to live by, all in one quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson:
The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life, they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you... Neil deGrasse Tyson
There's a bit more to this concept and you can read about it in this post by The Power of Ideas on IdeaPod.
As a bonus, another interesting and well spoken scientist is Michio Kaku, do check him out as well!
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