Interview with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

Available Now – Cosmology and Buddhist Thought (see below)

In May of 2011, I had the distinguished pleasure to interview Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Dr. Tyson is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space and a research associate in the department of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

He is also quite a television celebrity because of his appearances in The Universe, Through the Wormhole, NOVA, Cosmos: A Personal Journey (Carl Sagan), and in other scientific venues.

The half-hour interview turned into an hour and six minutes.

As a graduate student in physics, I contemplated the universe at times, but never thought of studying cosmology.

I was interested in quantum theory and how it related to altered states of consciousness.

Several books turned me in the direction of astronomy and cosmology.

The first one was The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism by Fritjof Capra. I actually met him in Santa Cruz in the late 70’s.

The second one was the Dalai Lama’s book, The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality.

Then, one evening, in 2007, as my wife was changing channels, I noticed a someone talking on a program called The Universe. Dr. Tyson was one of the narrators and I was hooked.

I started investigating courses I could take on modern developments in astronomy and cosmology.

Everywhere I looked, Dr. Tyson showed up!

When I knew I was going to be in New York, I wrote the Dr. Tyson, and to my surprise, he agreed to the interview.