October 19th, 2023
Restored to its former luster in 2009, the Fox PAC itself is a historic venue where “Gone With the Wind” once had its first public preview screening back in 1939.
This past week, my wife and I had tickets to see famed Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson at the Fox Performing Arts Center at 7:30 pm in downtown Riverside, California, for a one-night only event. Neil deGrasse Tyson is (for those living under a media blackout these past ten years) the famed astronomer, author (“To Infinity and Beyond”), pop-science advocate and current director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York.
Tyson has carved a high profile name for himself in media circles by making science concepts and ideas understandable, relevant and even urgent to both students and laymen alike, much like the late Dr. Carl Sagan (“Cosmos,” “Contact,” “The Demon Haunted World”), who was an inspiration to Tyson as well. In 2014, Tyson (with producers Seth MacFarlane and Brannon Braga) revived Sagan’s famed 1980 TV series “COSMOS,” with all-new stories of real-life scientists and thought-provoking ideas brought to vivid life in animated recreations and through the use of modern visual effects.
Like Sagan, Tyson currently uses his media clout and engaging public persona to combat science illiteracy; something desperately needed in an age where anti-vaccination, alien abductions, flat-Eathers and other pseudoscientific ‘beliefs’ have come to replace demonstrable facts and critical thinking—particularly in social media circles.
The theme for Tyson’s talk in Riverside was “Astronomy Bizarre,” which is one from a menu of such talks he does in similar venues around the country. “Astronomy Bizarre” covered a wide variety of topics from the ridiculously faked “alien mummies” to the very real dangers of asteroid impacts and black holes, leading to “the Great Rip”; the theoretical end to our universe. Tyson’s talk was animated, engaging, hilarious and absolutely mind-blowing.
Some Highlights
As I was sitting off to the side, I couldn’t see part of the projector image, but for your perusal, Topic number 9 was “Dark Matter and Dark Energy” discussing how most of the universe is both invisible and perhaps even unknowable to us. Number 12 was “Quantum Entanglement.” discusses how the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle puts a finite cap on how deeply we can explore the micro-realm, since the act of observing it changes the state of subatomic mass. Number 13 was “Simulation Universe,” a discussion of whether or not our universe could be an advanced computer simulation for a higher order of intelligence’s entertainment. Number 14 was “Death Plunge” which dramatized the final day of the Cassini Saturn mission.
While the entire two-plus hour talk was terrific, these are just a few highlights that, in my opinion, best summed up the overall gist of the event.
Top: A graphic shows the Manhattan-sized asteroid impact in the Yucatan Peninsula that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Bottom: The much smaller asteroid that exploded over Russia 10 years ago; while not a mass extinction event, it sure caused a lot of damage–with energy equal to roughly 20 atomic bombs with the same yield as the one that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. In the past, Tyson has famously called asteroids nature’s way of saying “How’s that space program coming along?”
Top: Tyson discusses the meteorite ALH84001, discovered in Alan Hills, Antartica in 1984, which contained possible microbiological fossils from Mars. Tyson would get very animated when recalling his arguments with biologists who insisted on using Earthly criteria as baselines for alien life. Bad idea, since, well…um, alien. Bottom: Tyson debunks the ridiculous (and obviously faked) “alien mummies” from Peru, presented before the Mexican Congress. Tyson actually corresponded with Mexican researchers who emailed him, and insisted that any test results gleaned from their alleged ‘alien mummies’ should be shared with the world, since science works best with peer review (i.e, the Apollo moon rocks which were shared with scientists worldwide).
Top: Tyson showed a 2005 video with actual footage of the ESA Huygens probe, which piggybacked on Saturn’s Cassini mission and became the first lander on Saturn’s methane-laked moon of Titan. Huygens (named after Titan’s discoverer, Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens) was also the furthest landing from Earth yet attempted in our solar system. Tyson also wondered what kind of life might’ve evolved on Saturn’s moon of Titan; a freezing moon with liquid methane on its surface and an atmosphere thicker than Earth’s. Bottom: The final topic of the evening was the related “Death Plunge,” which showed a beautiful computer simulation of the final moments of the Cassini spacecraft, as it purposefully plunged into the Saturnian atmosphere to destroy itself, after its 20 year mission (1997-2017)
Top: A computer simulation of a black hole ripping a star to shreds. Tyson also showed a Hubble telescope image of a black hole’s polar ‘jets’ as matter accretion at its center is so compressed that it actually forces some of the mass to shoot outward from the event horizon at perpendicular angles for light-years. Bottom: Tyson discussing how wormholes may hold the key to understanding quantum entanglement. He then discussed “the Big Rip”–an event roughly 22 billion years from now that would see dark matter and dark energy undoing the very atomic bonds of all matter in our current visible universe.
Tyson went into overtime for his scheduled two-hour talk, which began around 7:30 pm and ended around 9:45 or so, but the audience didn’t mind at all, since each topic on his table of contents was delivered with his trademark frankness, wit and energy. The evening ended with a standing ovation.
I’ve always appreciated how Tyson makes scientific and abstract concepts both relatable and awe-inspiring, yet he doesn’t pander. He will flat-out say when a cherished societal “belief” is simply wrong. Sometimes things are demonstrably false, no matter our sentimental or long-held attachments (looking at you, Pluto). Science illiteracy is not only wrongheaded, but it can even be deadly, such as climate change denial. As Tyson reminded his audience, we live in a universe that “is trying to kill us.”
As a 50-something, I’m inspired by his vigor and energy, as well as his pragmatism and curiosity.
Tyson also reiterated his famous catchphrase, which was even quoted by the equally logical Mr. Spock (Ethan Peck) in Star Trek: Discovery; “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to us.”
All 70 photos from my Flickr album for this event are linked here: “Astronomy Bizarre,” October 19th, 2023/Flickr. Enjoy!
Personal Log
My wife and I also saw Tyson speak in Pasadena in 2016, and we’d met him in person at our hotel restaurant for San Diego Comic Con, in 2012. He not only posed for a selfie with us, but he even stopped by our table after his dinner just to say goodbye. Delightful man. Couldn’t have been nicer.
If you ever have a chance to see Dr. Tyson speak live in a venue that’s at an affordable distance and ticket price? I highly recommend it.
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