African American
Related: About this forumA Tyson (not named Mike) who more young black males should know
I was watching the noted astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson review the history of electromagnetic power on the fascinating TV series Cosmos the other night and got to thinking ... about AAU basketball.
Now, bear with me, please. There is a connection. Sort of.
I wondered how many black kids are aware that Tyson was once one of them: young and black.
If youre not familiar, Tyson is a very smart man.
Hes the guy who pointed out the scientific implausibilities in the Sandra Bullock-George Clooney hit space opera Gravity.
His background is as impressive as it is eclectic.
He was a high school wrestler in fact, captain of the team while growing up in New York.
In college at Harvard, he was a member of the crew and wrestling teams and an award-winning dancer (his specialties were ballet, jazz, Afro-Caribbean, and Latin Ballroom.
He is the winner of NASAs highest civilian honor, the Distinguished Public Service Medal, and has even appeared as himself in the pages of a Superman comic book.
When he is not hosting network TV series, he serves as director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York.
I could go on.
http://www.news-record.com/blogs/thinking_out_loud/article_cf872234-dd12-11e3-b4b1-0017a43b2370.html
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)He said he went to the Hayden Planetarium (which he now directs) at age 9, and said "I want to be an astrophysicist."
All the teachers and parents said "No." They wanted him to be an athlete. Because he was big and black, and that was the only appropriate profession for a large African-American male.
He said "No" to them. When he was applying for college, someone sent his application to Cornell, and Carl Sagan, the world's most famous astrophysicist, called him up in Brooklyn and told him to get on the bus and come to Ithaca, and Sagan gave him the tour of the physics department at Cornell and what they were doing. Sagan picked him up and dropped him off at the bus station. And Dr. Tyson has mentioned that memorable day twice in the COSMOS series.
As part of his doctoral speech, he said,
"It is remarkable what can be accomplished when you are surrounded by people who believe in you; people whose expectations are not set by the short-sighted attitudes of society--people who help to open doors, not close them."
Rather sad that the person who was interested in him as a 17 year old high school student was the most famous astrophysicist in the world, host of the original COSMOS series in 1980, author of many books, TV star on the Tonight Show, and that none of the other teachers that Dr. Tyson had ever said the slightest encouraging word, at least from the videos and everything I've seen Dr. Tyson say.
Personal note: I never had a guidance counselor tell me to do what I loved & what I was good at, either. It was "What's practical and can get you a job?" which was yet another lie, since those degrees didn't get me a job and I wasn't doing what I loved, nor did I get a degree in what I loved to do.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Rhiannon12866
(203,007 posts)Since he was often a guest on MSNBC and Bill Maher, I think. He truly is brilliant and he explains things so well that they're fairly easy to understand. I've been learning a whole lot!