For much of his career, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has made it his mission to, as he puts it, "bring the universe down to earth."
As director of New York's Hayden Planetarium and one of the premiere science communicators of his time, Tyson has guided millions of people through the wonders of the universe, most recently as host of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a reboot of Carl Sagan's 1980 PBS series.
Tyson will bring his insights to Fort Wayne Oct. 21st as part of IPFW's Omnibus Lecture series.
In the first episode of Tyson's Cosmos, he describes the first of several encounters he had with Sagan that he says helped shape his life as a scientist and a human being.
Tyson was a bright high school student with a resume "dripping with the universe," and he was being recruited by Cornell University. School administrators had asked Sagan to write a letter encouraging Tyson to visit.
As he told WBOI's Sean Bueter in the second part of their interview, he couldn't believe this famous scientist would take the time to acknowledge someone like him. But according to Tyson, Sagan's willingness to reach out illustrates a key tenet of the scientific community: the passing of a torch from teachers to students, all of whom are seekers of truth.
This is part two of a two-part interview. Click here to listen to part one, which aired Monday.
