By the way, were we to find life-forms on Venus, we would probably call them Venutians, just as people from Mars would be Martians. But according to rules of Latin genitives, to be “of Venus” ought to make you a Venereal. Unfortunately, medical doctors reached that word before astronomers did. Can’t blame them, I suppose. Venereal disease long predates astronomy,… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share
For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
Astronomers do not commonly use Venereal, in favor of the less contagious-sounding Venutian. Blame the medical community, who snatched the word long… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
WhenIWasYourAge: People were never "living with their disease." We cured them. Or they died from it. — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
The word smart is not applied to all professions, even if you are smart in that profession. No one talks about smart… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And along the… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
I don't want to go into space because of war. I think we would if it was triggered. If China said they want to… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
Quantum physics fluctuates all the time. But now the fluctuations are not just particles coming into and out of existence, which happens all the… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
In the movie, the stars above the ship bear no correspondence to any constellations in a real sky. Worse yet, while the heroine bobs...… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
... informed ignorance provides the natural state of mind for research scientists at the ever-shifting frontiers of knowledge. People who believe themselves ignorant of… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
If you seek only easy problems to solve, then ultimately, there'll be nothing about you to distinguish yourself from others. — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
The caricature of science is that we hold tight to the theories we have, and shun challenges to them. That's just not true. In… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
New generations of humans inherit the acquired discoveries of generations past, allowing cosmic insight to accumulate without limit. Each discovery of science therefore adds a rung to a ladder of knowledge whose end is not in sight because we are building the ladder as we go along. As far as I can tell, as we assemble and ascend this ladder,… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share
I've said multiple times that the world's first trillionaire is going to be the person who exploits the resources of asteroids, the natural resources… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
They [scientists of centuries past] call on God only from the lonely and precarious edge of incomprehension. Where they feel certain about their explanations,… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
We explore our environment, more than we are compelled to utter poetry, when we're toddlers. We start doing that later. Before that happens, every… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image
You can't have people making decisions about the future of the world who are scientifically illiterate. That's a recipe for disaster. And I don't… — Neil deGrasse Tyson Copy Share Image