If you’re a Science aficionado, you probably know Neil deGrasse Tyson already. If not, then you may want to catch up on the reboot of Cosmos, the series which originally featured noted Scientist, Carl Sagan. Besides pointing out mistakes in Sci-fi movies, Tyson also tweets about science and its impact on our culture. And if you’re wondering why we’ve picked 42 as the number of his most notable tweets, then we can only point you to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
1. Birthdays on Pluto
On Pluto, with its 248-year orbit around the Sun, birthdays are incompatible with human physiology.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 5, 2016
How old would you be if you were born on Pluto? Well, it takes 248-human years to complete just one orbit around the Sun, so let’s get our calculators and tweet back to Neil!
2. Birthdays on Other Planets
Not that anybody asked, but on Mercury, I’m 240 years old, and on Saturn, I’m just 2.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 5, 2016
On other planets, Neil has already done the calculation for us. Now, if only we can figure out how.
3. Animal Intelligence
Odd that our measures of animal intelligence are often tests of what humans do best rather than of what they do best.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) September 16, 2016
Some tweets aren’t all about Science, rather the understanding of things based on scientific knowledge. This was one such example.
4. Fast as Lightning
100,000 meters per sec: Lightning Bolt
13.4 meters per sec: Bolt
10.4 meters per sec: Usain Bolt pic.twitter.com/a01MwCiihS— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 15, 2016
Who says Astrophysicists don’t enjoy movies and sports? This tweet surely proved otherwise.
5. Perspective on Things
We’re short so Mountains seem tall. We’re mortal, so Earth seems eternal. Our spacecraft are slow, so the Universe seems vast
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) April 22, 2016
If you look at things with a different perspective, what once looked difficult might not seem that way.
6. Comparing Depths & Heights
The elevation difference between the Marianas Trench & Mount Everest’s summit is a mere 12 miles. Manhattan is a mile longer.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) April 22, 2016
Every now and then, Tyson likes to throw in comparisons of sizes of celestial bodies. But he hasn’t forgotten objects right here on our home planet, either.
7. Atmosphere is Thin
THIN AIR: The size of Earth’s atmosphere relative to Earth is the same as the skin of an Apple relative to the Apple.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) April 22, 2016
Another comparison of a daily earthly object and the Earth itself. Cool, eh?
8. Contact!
If I ever met a Space Alien, I’d resist shaking its extended appendage, not knowing for sure the details of alien anatomy.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) April 15, 2016
Would you? I bet 99% would agree with Tyson on this!
9. Flintstones
I wonder if we’d all be living like the Flintstones – modern stoneage families – if metal were never discovered on Earth.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 13, 2016
Perhaps not everyone will agree, but there’s no denying the importance of metal on humanity. Not the song genre, of course!
10. Cheeky
If you have a gene for celibacy, you didn’t inherit it.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 12, 2016
No need for ‘splainin this tweet, amirite?
11. It’s all Relative
Welcome back to Earth, Scott Kelly. After a year in orbit, Relativity says you’re 1/100 sec younger than you’d otherwise be.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 2, 2016
Heard of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity? Get right to it, then!
12. Leap Day
The Leap Day is misnamed. We’re not leaping anywhere. The calendar is simply, and abruptly, catching up with Earth’s orbit
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 29, 2016
Should we rename it to Catch-up Day? Nah.
13. Futuristic Shipping
Maybe what I really want is wormhole-shipping. Buy something online. A 4D portal opens and a person hands you the product.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 20, 2016
Let’s not forget online shopping. Or intergalactic shopping, even.
14. History of Science
1916: Einstein predicts Gravity Waves. 1917: He lays the foundation for Lasers. 2016: Gravity Waves discovered using Lasers.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 13, 2016
Oh yeah, this happened.
15. Red Tape!
Every day where someone could have made a discovery but cultural or political forces impede it, is a sad day for civilization
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 7, 2016
Discovery > ineffective process.
16. Oh, Sociology
In science, when human behavior enters the equation, things go nonlinear. That’s why Physics is easy and Sociology is hard.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 6, 2016
Different fields of Sciences, ya’ll.
17. Think Big
The Cosmos is knowable. When childhood curiosity persists as an adult, it inoculates against others telling you what to think
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 26, 2016
YES!
18. Santa’s Reindeer
Male & female Reindeer grow antlers, but males lose them in winter. All Santa’s reindeer, Rudolph too, are therefore female.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 25, 2015
Did you know this?
19. Good to Know
Not that anybody asked, but the Irresistible Force beats the Immovable Object — every time.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 14, 2015
Don’t ask how. It just does. Ok? Ok.
20. Keen Movie Observer
The @MartianMovie — where the protagonist survives not on Wit, Prayer, or Hope. but by “Sciencing the Shit” out of everything
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 2, 2015
This was one of the may jabs that Tyson took at the movie. But certainly the cheekiest.
21. Earth’s Rotation
If your body were bolted to the ground when Earth stopped rotating, then your head would snap off, and it would roll due east
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) September 5, 2015
Don’t try this at home!
22. Moar Bolts!
Summer Thought: If you convert a bug zapper to a human zapper, scaling by body mass, you’d receive a jolt of 50 billion volts
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 8, 2015
The bolts, they just keep on coming.
23. Leap Seconds
Since 1972, after we discovered we keep better time than Earth does, we’ve added 25 leap secs. Done only on June 30 & Dec 31.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 28, 2015
Leaping faster than we’ve ever leaped before.
24. Ant & Whale
Just an FYI: Stepping on an Ant is equivalent to a creature 10,000 times more massive than a Blue Whale stepping on you.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2015
For comparison: a Blue Whale’s tongue weighs as much as a fully grown Elephant.
25. Algebra Geeks
For Algebra Geeks: If the thickness of a pizza is A, and its radius is Z, and pi is just PI, then its volume is V = PIZZA.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 5, 2015
Brush up on your algebra skills, kids!
26. First in Space
If you’re curious: First mammals to orbit Earth, in order: Dog, Guinea Pig, Mouse, Russian Human, Chimpanzee, American Human.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) April 12, 2015
A dog was in space long before a human.
27. Alien Questions
If I were ever abducted by aliens, the first thing I’d ask is whether they came from a planet where people also deny science.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 25, 2015
What would your first question be?
28. Saved for Pi-day!
You’re curious — I can feel it. How many digits of Pi before the numerals 0123456789 appear in sequence? 17,387,594,879
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 14, 2015
Try memorizing this number.
29. Energy & Football
Just an FYI: A 250 lb football player, running 15 mph, has more kinetic energy than a bullet fired from an AK-47 rifle.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 2, 2015
You ain’t gonna question Football injuries now, huh?
30. Happy Christ.. err..
On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 25, 2014
This is the most re-tweeted tweet from Tyson’s account. It raked up a bit of controversy, too, before people went back to their calmer selves. He explained the success of this tweet in a Facebook post. More than 140 characters were needed, see.
31. Poor February!
Average cycle of Lunar phases is 29.5 days. So everybody except February can get a 2nd Full Moon. Happens every 2.5yrs, or so
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) July 29, 2015
So how does this affect the tidal waves? Maybe another time, another day.
32. Earth be Traveling Like..
Happy Hew Year to all on the Gregorian calendar. Today, Earth completes yet another 939,950,000 km journey around the Sun.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 1, 2015
All that traveling must be hard for our planet.
33. Time & Space
By the time the #CosmosFinale ends, the beginning of the program will have passed Jupiter, en route to the depths of space.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 9, 2014
Time moves in mysterious ways. So does Jupiter.
34. Tyson, the Movie Critic
Mysteries of #Gravity: Nearly all satellites orbit Earth west to east yet all satellite debris portrayed orbited east to west
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
And this tweet was one of the many jabs he took at Gravity, the Sandra Bullock hit from 2013.
35. Try at Own Risk
Cool Experiment: Poke a hole anywhere in a paper cup of water. Drop cup. Water, while weightless in free fall, stops spewing.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 7, 2013
When objects are in free fall…
36. Movie Critic Continues
Mysteries of #Interstellar: Stars vastly outnumber Black Holes. Why is the best Earthlike planet one that orbits a Black Hole
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 11, 2014
Interstellar wasn’t spared any jabs either. Here’s a tweet about the unlikelihood of Earth like planet near a Black Hole.
37. ISS Got Speed
Not that anybody asked, but the International Space Station travels four miles in 4/5 of a second.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 1, 2015
Well, it is traveling in space, after all.
38. B-O-R-I-N-G
The most boring constellation: Triangulum Australis. A profound lack of imagination – any 3 stars in the sky makes a triangle
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) September 19, 2011
A call to the scientific community to be more creative.
39. Romans Without 0
Just an FYI: Roman Numerals have no zero because it was not yet invented, allowing year 2000 to be written efficiently as MM.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 22, 2011
So, who invented zero? Depends on who you ask.
40. NASA’s Space Program
Apollo in 1969. Shuttle in 1981. Nothing in 2011. Our space program would look awesome to anyone living backwards thru time.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) July 8, 2011
If only they had enough funding.
41. Plants are Weird
Curiously, light-loving GREEN plants reject the Sun’s GREEN light, reflecting it back at you, which is why they look GREEN
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 17, 2011
They like green, they hate green. It’s complicated.
42. Bend Over and What?!
Next time you’re stunned by large Moon on horizon, bend over and view it between your legs. The effect goes away entirely.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 19, 2011
Perhaps don’t do it in public, should be a disclaimer.
ALSO READ: Why Spending on Space Research is not only Necessary, but Downright Useful
Last updated on 03 February, 2022
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