Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, an author, and host of PBS' NOVA ScienceNOW.
In his discussion with students, he talks about his lifelong interest in astrophysics, the universe, stars, the Milky Way, and how ihis interest began as he was growing up, visiting the Hayden Planetarium.
He recommends that while in school, take a few extra math classes, and learn a foreign language that uses symbols not used in English. He first obtained a physics degree and later, a Ph.D. in astrophysics...and he learns every day! He has a great deal of curiosity and says the universe is in his daily thoughts. He says it is the unknown that excites him and that is why research is so important to him.
Dr. Tyson discusses dwarf galaxies and his interest in them. He also discusses Einstein's Theory of Gravity - the General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, and how they cannot coexist--they preclude each other's existence. String Theory is a mechanism to marry those two branches of theory into one common umbrella that could then account for the entire universe--and we're not there yet.
He describes a typical workday including writing, research, fundraising and running programs that run at the planetarium, television work, and some travel, and balancing that with his family life. He also discusses the Hubble Telescope.
