Chris Higgins
Neil deGrasse Tyson “Not the Boss of the Solar System,” Says News Industry
by Chris Higgins - February 4, 2010 - 5:46 PM

I’ll be writing about The Pluto Files, a NOVA program coming in March, over the next couple of weeks. But I thought I’d point you to this breaking news — in the video below, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Brian Williams, and Diane Sawyer have a thing or two to say about Neil deGrasse Tyson demoting Pluto from its planetary status way back in 1999. This is not over, people.

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Comments (5)

  1. I am thrilled to see this guy getting more publicity. He is a fantastic interview subject and seems to be a spiritual heir to Sagan and the like.

    posted by grover on 2-5-2010 at 5:00 am

  2. Interesting–Stephen Colbert just did an interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson at an elementary school in Montclair, NJ, which I was fortunate enough to attend. There’s a blog post about it on the Colbert fan site, \No Fact Zone\, and also on my blog. Tyson had a lot of interesting things to say on \beauty\ in science, scientific literacy, and science policy in the U.S.

    posted by Brigid on 2-5-2010 at 7:55 am

  3. Neil deGrasse Tyson is definitely an interesting person. I was amused when he guest starred on Stargate Atlantis alongside Bill Nye.

    posted by Patrick on 2-5-2010 at 8:30 am

  4. He is a great spokesperson for astronomy and science in general. He’s very engaging and energetic, and his NOVA ScienceNow is informative and fun at the same time.

    Perhaps if more scientists were a tad more personable, Dr Tyson wouldn’t have to be “the face of science”

    Looking forward to The Pluto Files (and your article Chris)

    posted by Big Jonny on 2-5-2010 at 2:01 pm

  5. My wife and I were eating lunch at a place near NYU last spring. Not knowing the place was so generous with the portions we had ordered a good bit of food when Dr. Tyson and family walked in. He stopped at our table and said, “If you don’t mind me asking, what is all this.” I gave him the run down offering im some of the salumi of the week and then asked if he was Dr. Tyson from TV. He reluctantly admitted that he was at which point I commented on his TV appearances. He was very kind and thnked me for the taste of salumi before rejoining his family.

    Afterwards I turned to my wife who was nonplussed through it all and she just shook her head. “In a town full of celebrities, you get star stuck by a TV astronomer.”

    Guilty as charged. I’m a geek.

    posted by Patrick on 2-5-2010 at 4:11 pm

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