北宋嘉佑年间，眉州苏洵带着自己的两个儿子——苏轼、小苏苏辙出蜀进京赶考，高榜得中，深得仁宗宠爱。苏洵的《六国论》也轰动京师，“三苏”从此扬名天下。然而，抱负不凡、具有天纵之才、且被王安石称为“不知更几百年才出如此人物”的苏东坡，一个纵横于儒、释、道，诗词书画皆为另辟新界开山人物的苏东坡，一个在慈善事业和公立医院领域首开世界先河的苏东坡，一个政绩卓著、爱民如子、文韬武略兼备的苏东坡，却历尽坎坷，万劫不死。岁月失于道路，命运困于党争，生活寄于风雨，襟怀奉于苍生。才大遭嫉，挥之不去；虽为文雄，言祸偏来；真话虽贵，当权难容。在精神沙漠中特立独行的苏东坡，怀揣着小莲给予他的那份女神般的爱情，带着他的红颜知己王朝云，背负着政敌和亲朋好友的是是非非、恩恩怨怨及悲欢离合，先后与王弗、王润之搀扶着走过了大宋的山山水水、十湖九州。晚年被贬海南孤岛，走向天涯，走向中国的历史长河，走向炎黄子孙的心目中。
本剧以风云变换的北宋大舞台为历史背景，通过落榜举子闹风波、王安石变法、徐州抗洪、乌台诗案等一系列历史事件，再现苏东坡大悲大喜的人生历程。 隐藏详情
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
The Universe Within by Neil Shubin – review
We come trailing not Wordsworth's clouds of glory but clouds of primal hydrogen and remnants of a galactic nebula, a fabric of cold stardust and droplets of water more than 4bn years old. We arrive with billions of years of accumulated baggage: with, for instance, an internal waste disposal system first developed in a jawless fish more than 500m years ago; and a body clock determined by the planet's spin as it orbits the sun. Spring fades into summer not because that is the natural order of things, but because the same cosmic collision that chipped off the moon and made it our companion also tilted the coalescing planet off its axis of spin by 23.5 degrees, shifting any fixed spot on Earth towards or away from the sun in its annual orbit.
The Universe Within: A Scientific Adventure
by Neil Shubin
Buy the book
Tell us what you think: Star-rate and review this book
We see red, and marvel at the rainbow, because 40m years ago – in a suddenly cooler, more demanding world – a genetic mutation delivered in some mammalian ancestors the ability to distinguish colours, and with colour, the presence of more nutritious foods and fruits. At every scale, we are creatures of the universe we find ourselves in, the incidental product of a whole series of cosmic accidents that opened the way for us as arbitrarily as it ended the apparently inexorable careers of the trilobites or the dinosaurs, and the whole story is recorded, sometimes enigmatically, in our bodies and the landscape around us.
Neil Shubin laid out a focused version of this thesis in 2008, in his splendid book Your Inner Fish. A palaeontologist who discovered the first fossil of Tiktaalik, a perambulating fish, a creature that 375m years ago dragged itself on to land, Shubin used his find as a marvellous demonstration of the subtleties of evolution through natural selection, that preserved and redeployed the fishy inheritance to form skin rather than scales, lungs rather than gills, and hands and feet rather than fins.
The Universe Within is more ambitious: he wants to use the testimony of living things now to tell a story of everything that ever was, starting with the first trillionth of a second of creation, the making of hydrogen, helium and lithium, the arrival of gravity, the gathering of the galaxies, the forging of 89 new elements, and the supernova scattering of fabric that will eventually become stars, planetary systems, oceans, continents and people.
This should surprise no one. We evolved, so we evolved from the materials available. Even if we were created, we were fashioned – it quite bluntly says so in the Book of Genesis – from common clay: dust we were, and to dust we return. That said, this is a daring book: much of the evidence is still debated and some of it may never be unearthed. Physics has compiled a convincing history of the universe, except for the first second or so. But we cannot explain why the universe is as it is or even why it happened at all. Biology and palaeontology have outlined a convincing chronicle of life's development and colonisation, but the opening chapters are obscure and the beginning a mystery. Primate evolution is an exciting story with missing chapters, but we have no real idea why one species can ask abstract questions, compose poems and write books about the history of the universe.
But even though the direct connections between the wider cosmos and the details of physiology are sometimes difficult to make, this book offers a new, fresh way of telling the story of life, the universe and everything. There are delights in every chapter. At the beginning of the 20th century the exasperated director of the Harvard College Observatory told his staff that he could hire his maid to do their work at half the cost. He liked his threat so much that he actually employed the maid, Williamina Fleming, to examine pictures of the heavens, and catalogue and codify the stars and nebulae. Fleming was joined by other women: the group became known as the Harvard Computers (a reminder that the word is much older than the mainframe) and one of the women, Henrietta Leavitt, in 1912 spotted the link between luminosity and periodicity in a class of stars called the Cepheid Variables.
These became astronomy's first reliable long-range yardstick, with which astronomers could calculate the distances to the furthest stars. These distances turned out to be breathtaking. The same discovery led to the realisation, a few years later, that the Andromeda Nebula wasn't a nebula at all, it was another, faraway galaxy: the Milky Way was just one of what would turn out to be billions of galaxies, receding from each other at ever increasing speed.
As Shubin points out, every astronomer is a palaeontologist of sorts: the light from a distant star is direct evidence of conditions billions of years in the past. Stargazing had become a way of exploring our own ultimate beginnings. Henrietta Leavitt was employed at 30 cents an hour. There could hardly have been a richer return.
Some of Shubin's most enjoyable stories come from Harvard: another concerns the zoologist who cheerfully hurled a whole bucketful of live frogs one at a time from a five storey-building, to see whether they could survive the impact (they did). This experiment – which would not get past any modern ethics committee – is a reminder that size matters in biology: being small helps in some ways, and being big in others. It helps explain why species can migrate, can find new niches, can survive or fail to survive cataclysms. There's solid thinking on the revelation of the impact of cataclysm, and of continental drift and its role in the precipitation of the ice ages; on the discovery of the strange properties of light; on the exploration of the solar system, and on the odd, almost forgotten adventures of science.
One of these was the construction, during the cold war, of Camp Century, part of Project Iceworm: a nuclear-powered city deep in the glaciers of northern Greenland. Alas, glaciers flow, the tunnels were crushed and the camp was abandoned. But the excavation delivered the first cores of ancient Greenland ice, and these preserved a subtle record of seasonal, annual and decadal climate changes first used to trace the story of the last few million years.
The Universe Within may not quite deliver on the promise of its opening pages, but digressions such as these illuminate the story of discovery in unexpected and hugely enjoyable ways. Best of all, they hint at more to discover, and more to be told. The adventure is not over yet.
• Tim Radford's The Address Book is published by Fourth Estate.
The Universe Within: A Scientific Adventure
by Neil Shubin
Buy the book
Tell us what you think: Star-rate and review this book
We see red, and marvel at the rainbow, because 40m years ago – in a suddenly cooler, more demanding world – a genetic mutation delivered in some mammalian ancestors the ability to distinguish colours, and with colour, the presence of more nutritious foods and fruits. At every scale, we are creatures of the universe we find ourselves in, the incidental product of a whole series of cosmic accidents that opened the way for us as arbitrarily as it ended the apparently inexorable careers of the trilobites or the dinosaurs, and the whole story is recorded, sometimes enigmatically, in our bodies and the landscape around us.
Neil Shubin laid out a focused version of this thesis in 2008, in his splendid book Your Inner Fish. A palaeontologist who discovered the first fossil of Tiktaalik, a perambulating fish, a creature that 375m years ago dragged itself on to land, Shubin used his find as a marvellous demonstration of the subtleties of evolution through natural selection, that preserved and redeployed the fishy inheritance to form skin rather than scales, lungs rather than gills, and hands and feet rather than fins.
The Universe Within is more ambitious: he wants to use the testimony of living things now to tell a story of everything that ever was, starting with the first trillionth of a second of creation, the making of hydrogen, helium and lithium, the arrival of gravity, the gathering of the galaxies, the forging of 89 new elements, and the supernova scattering of fabric that will eventually become stars, planetary systems, oceans, continents and people.
This should surprise no one. We evolved, so we evolved from the materials available. Even if we were created, we were fashioned – it quite bluntly says so in the Book of Genesis – from common clay: dust we were, and to dust we return. That said, this is a daring book: much of the evidence is still debated and some of it may never be unearthed. Physics has compiled a convincing history of the universe, except for the first second or so. But we cannot explain why the universe is as it is or even why it happened at all. Biology and palaeontology have outlined a convincing chronicle of life's development and colonisation, but the opening chapters are obscure and the beginning a mystery. Primate evolution is an exciting story with missing chapters, but we have no real idea why one species can ask abstract questions, compose poems and write books about the history of the universe.
But even though the direct connections between the wider cosmos and the details of physiology are sometimes difficult to make, this book offers a new, fresh way of telling the story of life, the universe and everything. There are delights in every chapter. At the beginning of the 20th century the exasperated director of the Harvard College Observatory told his staff that he could hire his maid to do their work at half the cost. He liked his threat so much that he actually employed the maid, Williamina Fleming, to examine pictures of the heavens, and catalogue and codify the stars and nebulae. Fleming was joined by other women: the group became known as the Harvard Computers (a reminder that the word is much older than the mainframe) and one of the women, Henrietta Leavitt, in 1912 spotted the link between luminosity and periodicity in a class of stars called the Cepheid Variables.
These became astronomy's first reliable long-range yardstick, with which astronomers could calculate the distances to the furthest stars. These distances turned out to be breathtaking. The same discovery led to the realisation, a few years later, that the Andromeda Nebula wasn't a nebula at all, it was another, faraway galaxy: the Milky Way was just one of what would turn out to be billions of galaxies, receding from each other at ever increasing speed.
As Shubin points out, every astronomer is a palaeontologist of sorts: the light from a distant star is direct evidence of conditions billions of years in the past. Stargazing had become a way of exploring our own ultimate beginnings. Henrietta Leavitt was employed at 30 cents an hour. There could hardly have been a richer return.
Some of Shubin's most enjoyable stories come from Harvard: another concerns the zoologist who cheerfully hurled a whole bucketful of live frogs one at a time from a five storey-building, to see whether they could survive the impact (they did). This experiment – which would not get past any modern ethics committee – is a reminder that size matters in biology: being small helps in some ways, and being big in others. It helps explain why species can migrate, can find new niches, can survive or fail to survive cataclysms. There's solid thinking on the revelation of the impact of cataclysm, and of continental drift and its role in the precipitation of the ice ages; on the discovery of the strange properties of light; on the exploration of the solar system, and on the odd, almost forgotten adventures of science.
One of these was the construction, during the cold war, of Camp Century, part of Project Iceworm: a nuclear-powered city deep in the glaciers of northern Greenland. Alas, glaciers flow, the tunnels were crushed and the camp was abandoned. But the excavation delivered the first cores of ancient Greenland ice, and these preserved a subtle record of seasonal, annual and decadal climate changes first used to trace the story of the last few million years.
The Universe Within may not quite deliver on the promise of its opening pages, but digressions such as these illuminate the story of discovery in unexpected and hugely enjoyable ways. Best of all, they hint at more to discover, and more to be told. The adventure is not over yet.
• Tim Radford's The Address Book is published by Fourth Estate.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Neil deGrasse Tyson-host of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey(started in March 2014)
Neil deGrasse Tyson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Neil deGrasse Tyson | |
|---|---|
Tyson hosting the 40th anniversary celebration of Apollo 11 at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, July 2009
| |
| Born | October 5, 1958 Manhattan, New York City, United States[1] |
| Residence | Manhattan, New York City, United States |
| Fields | Astrophysics, physical cosmology,science communication |
| Institutions | Hayden Planetarium, PBS,Planetary Society |
| Alma mater | Columbia University (MPhil, PhD) University of Texas at Austin (MA) Harvard University (BA) The Bronx High School of Science |
| Influences | Isaac Newton, Carl Sagan,Richard Feynman, Albert Einstein |
| Notable awards | NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal |
| Spouse | Alice Young (1988-present; 2 children) |
Neil deGrasse Tyson (/ˈniːəl dəˈɡræs ˈtaɪsən/; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, andscience communicator. He is currently 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. From 2006 to 2011, he hosted the educational science television show NOVA ScienceNow on PBS and has been a frequent guest on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Jeopardy!. Tyson is the host of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, an update to Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage television series; the updated series started in March 2014.[2]
Contents
[hide]Early life[edit]
Tyson was born as the second of three children in the borough of Manhattan in New York City and was raised in the Bronx.[1] His mother, Sunchita Marie (Feliciano) Tyson, was a gerontologist, and his father, Cyril deGrasse Tyson, was asociologist, human resource commissioner for the New York City mayor John Lindsay, and the first Director of Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited.[3][4]
From kindergarten through high school Tyson attended public schools in New York City, all in the Bronx, which included PS 36, PS 81, Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy (MS 141), and The Bronx High School of Science (1972–76)[5] where he was captain of the wrestling team, and editor-in-chief of the school's Physical Science Journal. Tyson had an abiding interest in astronomy since he was nine years old, following his visit to Pennsylvania and seeing the stars, saying "it looks like the Hayden Planetarium".[6] He obsessively studied astronomy in his teens, and eventually even gained some fame in the astronomy community by giving lectures on the subject at the age of fifteen.[7] Tyson recalls that "so strong was that imprint [of the night sky] that I'm certain that I had no choice in the matter, that in fact, the universe called me."[6]
Astronomer Carl Sagan, who was a faculty member at Cornell University, tried to recruit Tyson to Cornell for undergraduate studies.[3] In an interview with writer Daniel Simone,[8] Tyson said:
Interestingly, when I applied to Cornell, my application dripped of my passion for the study and research of the Universe. Somehow the admissions office brought my application to the attention of the late Dr. Sagan, and he actually took the initiative and care to contact me. He was very inspirational and a most powerful influence. Dr. Sagan was as great as the universe, an effective mentor.
Tyson revisited this moment on his first episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. Pulling out a 1975 calendar belonging to the famous astronomer, he finds the day Sagan invited his 17-year-old self to spend a day in Ithaca. Sagan had offered to put him up for the night if his bus back to the Bronx didn't come. Tyson said, "I already knew I wanted to become a scientist. But that afternoon, I learned from Carl the kind of person I wanted to become."[9][10]
Tyson chose to attend Harvard University, however, where he majored in physics and lived in Currier House. He was a member of the crew team during his freshman year, but returned to wrestling, eventually lettering in his senior year. In addition to wrestling and rowing in college, he was active in dance, in styles including jazz,ballet, Afro-Caribbean, and Latin Ballroom.[11] Tyson earned a Bachelor of Arts in physics from Harvard in 1980 and began his graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin; he was unable to complete his Ph.D. because his thesis committee voted to dissolve itself[12] and he received a Master of Arts in astronomy in 1983. In 1985, he won a gold medal with the University of Texas dance team at a national tournament in the International Latin Ballroom style. He was a lecturer at the University of Maryland from 1986-1987.[13] In 1988, Tyson was accepted into the astronomy graduate program at Columbia University, where he earned a Master of Philosophy in astrophysics in 1989, and a Doctor of Philosophy in astrophysics in 1991[14] under the supervision of Professor R. Michael Rich (now at UCLA). Rich obtained funding to support Tyson's doctoral research from NASA and the ARCS foundation[15] enabling Tyson to attend international meetings in Italy, Switzerland, Chile, and South Africa[13] and to hire students to help him with data reduction.[16] In the course of his thesis work, he observed using the 0.91 m telescope at theCerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, where he obtained images for the Calán/Tololo Supernova Survey[17][18][19] helping to further their work in establishing Type Ia Supernovae as standard candles. These papers comprised part of the discovery papers of the use of Type Ia supernovae to measure distances, which led to the improved measurement of the Hubble constant[20] and discovery of dark energy in 1998.[21][22] He was 18th author on a paper with Brian Schmidt, a future winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, in the study of the measurement of distances to Type II Supernovae and the Hubble constant.[23]
During his thesis work at Columbia University, Tyson became acquainted with Professor David Spergel at Princeton University, who visited Columbia University in the course of collaborating with his thesis advisor on the Galactic bulge.[24][25][26] Tyson was a postdoctoral research fellow at Princeton University from 1991 to 1994 and it was during this period that the project to renovate the Hayden Planetarium was conceived.
Career[edit]
Tyson's research has focused on observations in cosmology, stellar evolution, galactic astronomy, bulges, and stellar formation. He has held numerous positions at institutions including the University of Maryland, Princeton University, theAmerican Museum of Natural History, and Hayden Planetarium.
Tyson has written a number of popular books on astronomy. In 1995, he began to write the "Universe" column for Natural History magazine. In a column he authored for the magazine in 2002, Tyson coined the term "Manhattanhenge" to describe the two days annually on which the evening sun aligns with the cross streets of the street grid in Manhattan, making the sunset visible along unobstructed side streets. Tyson's column also influenced his work as a professor with The Great Courses.[27]
In 2001, US President George W. Bush appointed Tyson to serve on the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry and in 2004 to serve on the President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, the latter better known as the "Moon, Mars, and Beyond" commission. Soon afterward he was awarded theNASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by NASA.[28]
In 2004, he hosted the four-part Origins miniseries of PBS's Nova,[29] and, with Donald Goldsmith, co-authored the companion volume for this series, Origins: Fourteen Billion Years Of Cosmic Evolution.[30] He again collaborated with Goldsmith as the narrator on the documentary 400 Years of the Telescope, which premiered on PBS in April 2009.
As director of the Hayden Planetarium, Tyson bucked traditional thinking in order to keep Pluto from being referred to as the ninth planet in exhibits at the center. Tyson has explained that he wanted to look at commonalities between objects, grouping the terrestrial planets together, the gas giants together, and Pluto with like objects and to get away from simply counting the planets. He has stated on The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and BBC Horizon that this decision has resulted in large amounts of hate mail, much of it from children.[31] In 2006, the International Astronomical Union(IAU) confirmed this assessment by changing Pluto to the dwarf planet classification. Daniel Simone wrote of the interview with Tyson describing his frustration. "For a while, we were not very popular here at the Hayden Planetarium."
Tyson recounted the heated online debate on the Cambridge Conference Network (CCNet), a "widely read, UK-based Internet chat group" following Benny Peiser's renewed call for reclassification of Pluto's status.[32] Peiser's entry, in which he posted articles from the AP and The Boston Globe spawned from The New York Times's article entitled "Pluto's Not a Planet? Only in New York".[33][34]
Tyson has been vice president, president, and chairman of the board of the Planetary Society. He was also the host of the PBS program Nova ScienceNow until 2011.[35] He attended and was a speaker at the Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival symposium on November 2006. In 2007, Tyson was chosen to be a regular on The History Channel's popular series The Universe.
In May 2009, he launched a one-hour radio talk show called StarTalk, which he co-hosted with comedienne Lynne Koplitz. The show was syndicated on Sunday afternoons on KTLK AM in Los Angeles and WHFS in Washington DC. The show lasted for thirteen weeks, but was resurrected in December 2010 and then, co-hosted with comedians Chuck Nice and Leighann Lord instead of Koplitz. Guests range from colleagues in science to celebrities such as Gza, Wil Wheaton, Sarah Silverman, and Bill Maher. The show is also available via the internet through a live stream or in the form of a podcast.[36]
In April 2011, Tyson was the keynote speaker at the 93rd International Convention of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society of the Two-year School. He and James Randi delivered a lecture entitled Skepticism, which related directly with the convention's theme of The Democratization of Information: Power, Peril, and Promise.[37] In 2012, Tyson announced that he would appear in a YouTube series based on his radio show StarTalk. A premiere date for the show has not been announced, but it will be distributed on the Nerdist YouTube Channel.[38] On February 28, 2014, Tyson was a celebrity guest at the White House Student Film Festival.[39]
Views[edit]
"[A] most important feature is the
analysis of the information that
comes your way. And that's what I
don't see enough of in this world.
There's a level of gullibility that
leaves people susceptible to being
taken advantage of. I see science
literacy as kind of a vaccine against
charlatans who would try to exploit
your ignorance."
analysis of the information that
comes your way. And that's what I
don't see enough of in this world.
There's a level of gullibility that
leaves people susceptible to being
taken advantage of. I see science
literacy as kind of a vaccine against
charlatans who would try to exploit
your ignorance."
—Neil deGrasse Tyson
from a transcript of an
interview by Roger Bingham
on The Science Network[40][41]
from a transcript of an
interview by Roger Bingham
on The Science Network[40][41]
Tyson has argued that the concept of intelligent design thwarts the advance of scientific knowledge.[42][43][44]
He has written and broadcast extensively about his views of science, spirituality, and the spirituality of science including the essays, "The Perimeter of Ignorance"[45] and "Holy Wars",[44] both appearing in Natural History magazine and the 2006 Beyond Belief workshop.[46][47] Tyson has collaborated with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and presented talks with him on religion and science.[48] When asked if he believed in a higher power, Tyson responded:
Every account of a higher power that I've seen described, of all religions that I've seen, include many statements with regard to the benevolence of that power. When I look at the universe and all the ways the universe wants to kill us, I find it hard to reconcile that with statements of beneficence.[49]
In an interview with Big Think, Tyson said, "So what people are really after is my stance on religion or spirituality or God, and I would say if I had to find a word that came closest, I would say agnostic... at the end of the day I'd rather not be any category at all."[50] During the interview "Called by the Universe: A conversation with Neil deGrasse Tyson" in 2009, Tyson said: "I can't agree to the claims by atheists that I'm one of that community. I don't have the time, energy, interest of conducting myself that way... I'm not trying to convert people. I don't care."[51]
In March 2014, philosopher and secularism proponent Massimo Pigliucci asked Tyson "What is it you think about God?” Tyson replied "I remain unconvinced by any claims anyone has ever made about the existence or the power of a divine force operating in the universe." Pigliucci asked him why then did he express discomfort with the label "atheist" in his Big Think video. Tyson replied by reiterating his dislike for one-word labels, saying "That's what adjectives are for. What kind of atheist are you? Are you an ardent atheist? Are you a passive atheist? An apathetic atheist? Do you rally, or do you just not even care? So I'd be on the 'I really don't care' side of that, if you had to find adjectives to put in front of the word 'atheist.'" Pigliucci contrasted Tyson with scientist Richard Dawkins: "[Dawkins] really does consider, at this point, himself to be an atheist activist. You very clearly made the point that you are not." Tyson replied: "I completely respect that activity. He's fulfilling a really important role out there." [52]
Tyson lived near the World Trade Center and was an eyewitness to the September 11, 2001 attacks. He wrote a widely circulated letter on what he saw.[53] Footage he filmed on the day was included in the 2008 documentary film 102 Minutes That Changed America.[54]
On June 6, 2008, after the conclusion of the Democratic presidential primaries, Tyson wrote an op-ed in The New York Times in which he presented a statistical analysis of then recent polling data. From this analysis, Tyson concluded that in a hypothetical election held on the day of the publication of his article, Barack Obama would lose to John McCain, whereas Hillary Clinton would beat McCain.[55]
_-_September_28,_2010.jpg)
Tyson collaborated with the organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), on a public service announcement that stated, "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that kindness is a virtue."[56] He also granted PETA an interview, in which he discussed the concept of intelligence (both of human and other animals), the failure of humans to heretofore communicate meaningfully with other animals, and the need of humans to be empathetic.[57]
Tyson is an advocate for expanding the operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Arguing that "the most powerful agency on the dreams of a nation is currently underfunded to do what it needs to be doing".[58] Tyson has suggested that the general public has a tendency to overestimate how much revenue is allocated to the space agency. At a March 2010 address, referencing the proportion of tax revenue spent on NASA, he stated, "By the way, how much does NASA cost? It's a half a penny on the dollar. Did you know that? The people are saying, 'Why are we spending money up there...' I ask them, 'How much do you think we're spending?' They say 'five cents, ten cents on a dollar.' It's a half a penny."[58]
In March 2012, Tyson testified before the United States Senate Science Committee, stating that:
Inspired by Tyson's advocacy and remarks, Penny4NASA, a campaign of the Space Advocates nonprofit,[61] was founded in 2012 by John Zeller and advocates the doubling of NASA's budget to one percent of the Federal Budget, or one "penny on the dollar".[62]
Media appearances[edit]
As a science communicator, Tyson regularly appears on television, radio, and various other media outlets. He has been a regular guest on The Colbert Report, and host Stephen Colbert refers to him in his comedic book I Am America (And So Can You!), noting in his chapter on scientists that most scientists are "decent, well-intentioned people", but, presumablytongue-in-cheek, that "Neil DeGrasse [sic] Tyson is an absolute monster."[63] He has appeared numerous times on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He also has made appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and The Rachel Maddow Show.[64] He served as one of the central interviewees on the various episodes of the History Channel science program, The Universe. Tyson participated on the NPR radio quiz programWait Wait... Don't Tell Me! in 2007.[65] He has appeared several times on Real Time with Bill Maher, and he was also featured on an episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? as the ask-the-expert lifeline.[66] Tyson has also spoken many times on Philadelphia morning show Preston and Steve on 93.3 WMMR, as well as on SiriusXM's Ron and Fez.
Tyson has been featured as a guest interviewee on The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Radiolab, Skepticality, and TheJoe Rogan Experience podcasts and has been in several of the Symphony of Science videos.[67][68]
In 2007, Tyson was the keynote speaker during the dedication ceremony of Deerfield Academy's new science center, the Koch Center. He emphasized the impact science will have on the twenty-first century, as well as explaining that investments into science may be costly, but their returns in the form of knowledge gained and piquing interest is invaluable. Tyson has also appeared as the keynote speaker at The Amazing Meeting, a science and skepticism conference hosted by the James Randi Educational Foundation.[69]
Tyson made a guest appearance as himself in the episode "Brain Storm" of Stargate Atlantis[70] alongside Bill Nye and in the episode "The Apology Insufficiency" ofThe Big Bang Theory.[71] Archive footage of him is used in the film Europa Report.
Tyson is also a frequent participant in the website Reddit's AMAs (Ask Me Anythings) where he is responsible for three of the top ten most popular AMAs of all time.[72]
Tyson also made an appearance in an episode of Martha Speaks as himself.[73]
In Action Comics #14 (January 2013), which was published November 7, 2012, Tyson appears in the story, in which he determines that Superman's home planet, Krypton, orbited the red dwarf LHS 2520 in the constellation Corvus 27.1lightyears from Earth. Tyson assisted DC Comics in selecting a real-life star that would be an appropriate parent star to Krypton, and picked Corvus, which is Latin for "Crow",[74][75] and which is the mascot of Superman's high school, the Smallville Crows.[76][77]
In May 2013, the Science Laureates of the United States Act of 2013 (H.R. 1891; 113th Congress) was introduced into Congress. Neil deGrasse Tyson was listed by at least two commentators as a possible nominee for the position of Science Laureate, if the act were to pass.[78][79]
In a May 2011 StarTalk Radio show entitled The Political Science of the Daily Show, Tyson notes that he donates all income earned as a guest speaker.[80]
On March 8, 2014 Tyson made a SXSW Interactive keynote presentation at the Austin Convention Center.[81]
Personal life[edit]
Tyson lives in Lower Manhattan with his wife Alice Young. They have two children: Miranda and Travis.[82][83] Tyson met his wife in a physics class at the University of Texas. They married in 1988 and named their first child Miranda after the smallest of Uranus' five major moons.[84] Tyson is a fine-wine enthusiast whose collection was featured in the May 2000 issue of the Wine Spectator and the Spring 2005 issue The World of Fine Wine.
Selected awards and honors[edit]
Awards[edit]
- 2001 Medal of Excellence, Columbia University, New York City
- 2004 NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal
- 2007 Klopsteg Memorial Award winner
- 2009 Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award from the Space Foundation for significant contributions to public awareness of space programs.[28]
- 2009 Isaac Asimov Award from the American Humanist Association[85]
Selected honorary doctorates[edit]
- 1997 York College, City University of New York
- 2000 Ramapo College, Mahwah, New Jersey
- 2000 Dominican College, Orangeburg, New York
- 2001 University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia
- 2002 Bloomfield College, Bloomfield, New Jersey
- 2003 Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
- 2004 College of Staten Island, City University of New York
- 2006 Pace University, New York City
- 2007 Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts
- 2007 Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts
- 2008 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 2010 University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama
- 2010 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
- 2010 Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, Connecticut
- 2011 Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
- 2012 Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts
- 2012 Western New England University, Springfield, Massachusetts
Honors[edit]
- 2000 Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive, People Magazine[86]
- 2001 asteroid named: 13123 Tyson, renamed from Asteroid 1994KA by the International Astronomical Union
- 2001 The Tech 100, voted by editors of Crain's Magazine to be among the 100 most influential technology leaders in New York
- 2004 Fifty Most Important African-Americans in Research Science[87]
- 2007 Harvard 100: Most Influential Harvard Alumni Magazine, Cambridge. Massachusetts
- 2007 The Time 100, voted by the editors of Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential persons in the world[88]
- 2008 Discover Magazine selected him one of the "50 Best Brains in Science".[89]
Selected bibliography[edit]
List of books by Tyson:[90]
- Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier (2012). ISBN 0-393-08210-5
- The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet (2009). ISBN 0-393-06520-0
- Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries (2007). ISBN 0-393-33016-8
- The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist (1st edn 2000 / 2nd edn 2004). ISBN 978-1-59102-188-9
- Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution (co-authored with Donald Goldsmith). (2004) ISBN 0-393-32758-2
- My Favorite Universe (a 12-part lecture series) (2003). ISBN 1-56585-663-5
- City of Stars: A New Yorker's Guide to the Cosmos (2002)
- Cosmic Horizons: Astronomy at the Cutting Edge (2000). ISBN 1-56584-602-8
- One Universe: At Home in the Cosmos (2000). ISBN 0-309-06488-0
- Just Visiting This Planet (1998). ISBN 0-385-48837-8
- Universe Down to Earth (1994). ISBN 0-231-07560-X
- Merlin's Tour of the Universe (1989). ISBN 0-385-48835-1
Filmography[edit]
- The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries (a 6-part lecture series from the Great Courses)[91]
- Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey: 2014 documentary (presenter)
References[edit]
- ^ a b The Science Foundation (January 1, 2011). "Neil deGrasse Tyson – Called by the Universe". YouTube. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
- ^ "2013-2014 New Series: Cosmos – A Spacetime Odyssey". Fox. Retrieved December 22, 2013.[dead link]
- ^ a b Whitaker, C. (August 2000). "Super Stargazer". Ebony 55 (10): 60.
- ^ "Advance Reading for Keynote address". CornerstoneLiteracy.org. Retrieved September 4, 2009.[dead link]
- ^ SiriusXM (March 6, 2014). "Opie & Anthony: Neil deGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson ft. Rich Vos & Bob Kelly (03/06/14)". YouTube. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
- ^ a b teridon (January 29, 2010). "Stephen Colbert Interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson at Montclair Kimberley Academy". YouTube.
- ^ "Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson – The Prodigy Astronomer". Parlemagazine.com. October 5, 1958. Retrieved 2013-05-27.
- ^ Tyson, P. (July 28, 2004). "A Conversation With Neil deGrasse Tyson". PBS. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
- ^ "Standing Up in the Milky Way". Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. Season 1. Episode 1. March 9, 2014. National Geographic Channel, FX, Fox Life, et al..
- ^ "A Successor to Sagan Reboots 'Cosmos'". New York Times. March 3, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
- ^ "Black News and News Makers in History: Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson". September 28, 2010. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
- ^ Cahalan, Rose (February 28, 2012). "Star Power". The Alcalde. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- ^ a b "curriculum vitae".
- ^ Tyson, N. D. (1992). A study of the abundance distributions along the minor axis of the Galactic bulge (PhD thesis). Columbia University.Bibcode:1992PhDT.........1T.
- ^ "5000 Alumni at work in the US".
- ^ Tyson, N. D.; Gal, R. R. (1996). "An exposure guide for taking twilight flatfields with large format CCDs". The Astronomical Journal 105 (3): 1206.
- ^ Wells, L. A.; et al. (1994). "The Type IA supernova 1989B in NGC 3627 (M66)".The Astronomical Journal 108 (6): 2233. Bibcode:1994AJ....108.2233W.doi:10.1086/117236.
- ^ Hamuy, M.; et al. (1996). "BVRI Light Curves for 29 Type IA Supernovae". The Astronomical Journal 112 (6): 2408. arXiv:astro-ph/9609064.Bibcode:1996AJ....112.2408H. doi:10.1086/118192.
- ^ Lira, P.; et al. (1998). "Optical light curves of the Type IA supernovae SN 1990N and 1991T". The Astronomical Journal 115: 234. arXiv:astro-ph/9709262.Bibcode:1998AJ....115..234L. doi:10.1086/300175.
- ^ Freedman, W. L. et al. (2001). "Final Results from the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project to Measure the Hubble Constant". The Astrophysical Journal 553 (1): 47. arXiv:astro-ph/0012376. Bibcode:2001ApJ...553...47F.doi:10.1086/320638.
- ^ Riess, A. G.; et al. (1998). "Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant". The Astronomical Journal116 (3): 1009. arXiv:astro-ph/9805201. Bibcode:1998AJ....116.1009R.doi:10.1086/300499.
- ^ Perlmutter, S.; et al. (1999). "Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae". The Astrophysical Journal 517 (2): 565. arXiv:astro-ph/9812133. Bibcode:1999ApJ...517..565P. doi:10.1086/307221.
- ^ Schmidt, B. P.; et al. (1994). "The expanding photosphere method applied to SN 1992am AT CZ = 14 600 km/s". The Astronomical Journal 107 (4): 1444.Bibcode:1994AJ....107.1444S. doi:10.1086/116957.
- ^ Zhao, H.-S.; Spergel, D.N.; Rich, R.M. (1994). "Signatures of bulge triaxiality from kinematics in Baade's window". The Astronomical Journal 108: 2154.
- ^ Zhao, H.-S.; Spergel, D.N.; Rich, R.M. (1995). "Microlensing by the Galactic Bar". The Astrophysical Journal 440: 13.
- ^ Zhao, H.-S.; Rich, R.M.; Spergel, D.N. (1996). "A consistent microlensing model for the Galactic bar". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society282: 175.
- ^ "Neil deGrasse Tyson". The Great Courses. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
- ^ a b "Symposium Awards". National Space Symposium. Retrieved October 25, 2010.[dead link]
- ^ WGBH Educational Foundation (2004). "NOVA – Origins". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved June 7, 2009.
- ^ Tyson, Neil deGrasse; Goldsmith, Donald (2004). Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0-393-05992-2.
- ^ The Colbert Report, August 17, 2006
- ^ Tyson, Neil deGrasse (19 January 2008). The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 194.
- ^ Change, Kenneth (22 January 2001). "Pluto's Not a Planet? Only in New York". New York Times.
- ^ Peiser, Benny (31 January 2001). "CCNet Special: Renewed Call for Reclassification of Pluto's Status". CCNet.
- ^ "NOVA – scienceNOW – PBS". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved June 7, 2009.
- ^ "StarTalk Radio Show". Retrieved May 30, 2011.
- ^ Phi Theta Kappa Honors Seminar Series. Austing Community College. Retrieved 2013-02-26
- ^ Nerdist Channel Sneak Peek (March 27, 2012) from YouTube
- ^ Boyle, Alan (2014-02-28). "Students Are Stars at White House Film Festival". NBC News. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
- ^ "TSN: Called by the Universe". Thesciencenetwork.org. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
- ^ "Called by the Universe | Neil deGrasse Tyson". Haydenplanetarium.org. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
- ^ "YouTube – Neil deGrasse Tyson on "Intelligent Design" at "Beyond Belief", Youtube". Youtube.com. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
- ^ "Neil deGrasse Tyson : "The Perimeter of Ignorance"". Haydenplanetarium.org. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
- ^ a b Holy Wars from PBS
- ^ The Perimeter of Ignorance from Tyson's website
- ^ Beyond Belief 2006: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival from The Science Network
- ^ Beyond Belief '06 – Neil deGrasse Tyson (Monday, November 5) from YouTube
- ^ "Richard Dawkins website". Richarddawkins.net. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
- ^ "YouTube video". Youtube.com. April 9, 2010. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
- ^ Tyson, Neil deGrasse. "Neil explains his views on youtube". Big Think on YouTube. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
- ^ Neil deGrasse Tyson - Called by the Universe on YouTube
- ^ Tyson, Neil deGrasse (3/9/2014). "Interview with Massimo Pigliucci and Julia Galef". Rationally Speaking podcast. Retrieved 4/11/2014.
- ^ "The Horror, The Horror" from Tyson's website
- ^ 102 Minutes That Changed America (2008)(TV) – Credits
- ^ Neil deGrasse Tyson (June 6, 2008). "Vote by Numbers". The New York Times. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
- ^ "Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson's Interview With PETA". Retrieved August 6, 2011.
- ^ "Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson's Exclusive PETA Interview". Retrieved August 6, 2011.
- ^ a b "Neil deGrasse Tyson at UB: What NASA Means to America's Future". University at Buffalo Communications. 2 April 2010. Retrieved 30 Nov 2012.
- ^ "Past, Present, and Future of NASA – U.S. Senate Testimony". Hayden Planetarium. 7 Mar 2012. Retrieved 4 Dec 2012.
- ^ "Past, Present, and Future of NASA – U.S. Senate Testimony (Video)". Hayden Planetarium. 7 Mar 2012. Retrieved 4 Dec 2012.
- ^ "About Us - Space Advocates". Space Advocates. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
- ^ "Why We Fight – Penny4NASA". Penny4NASA. Retrieved 30 Nov 2012.
- ^ Colbert, Stephen (2007). I Am America (And So Can You!). New York: Grand Central Publishing Hachette Book Group USA. ISBN 0-446-58050-3.
- ^ "Watch | Neil deGrasse Tyson". Haydenplanetarium.org. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
- ^ Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! from NPR
- ^ "Episode 201 guest stars". HBO. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ^ "Episode: A Theory of Everything? Podcast". PodcastDirectory. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
- ^ "Episode: Proving String Theory Podcast". PodcastDirectory. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
- ^ Neil deGrasse Tyson, Keynote Speech at TAM 6 on Adventures in Science Illiteracy or Brain Droppings of a Skeptic on YouTube uploaded by User ChristopherHitchslap
- ^ ""Stargate: Atlantis" Brain Storm (2008)" at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ ""The Big Bang Theory" The Apology Insufficiency (2010)" at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ "Inside the Reddit AMA: The Interview Revolution That Has Everyone Talking". Forbes. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
- ^ Amanda Kondolojy, "Popular Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson Guest Stars in Brand-New 'Martha Speaks' Episode", TV vy the Numbers, June 7, 2012.
- ^ Wall, Mike (November 7, 2012). "Superman's Home Planet Krypton 'Found'".Scientific American
- ^ Potter, Ned (November 5, 2012). "Superman Home: Planet Krypton 'Found' in Sky". ABC News.
- ^ Gregorian, Dareh (November 5, 2012). "NYER is 'super' smart". New York Post.
- ^ Henderson, David (November 5, 2012). "Neil deGrasse Tyson Consults On 'Action Comics' #14, Finds Krypton In Real Life". Multiversity Comics.
- ^ Marlow, Jeffrey (9 May 2013). "The Science Laureate of the United States".Wired Magazine. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- ^ raatz (8 May 2013). "I nominated Neil deGrasse Tyson as U.S. Science Laureate". The Daily Kos. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
- ^ "The Political Science of the Daily Show Podcast". PodcastDirectory. Retrieved May 23, 2011.
- ^ Gallaga, Omar (March 8, 2014). "SXSW Keynote: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson". austin360.com. Austin360. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
- ^ "Profile on Official Tyson website". Haydenplanetarium.org. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
- ^ "Dr Neil DeGrasse Tyson – TAM6", 2008, Vimeo, 38:33 mark, accessed March 4, 2011.
- ^ Rogers, Patrick (February 28, 2000). "Night Vision". People.com. Retrieved 2014-14-02.
- ^ Tyson's website. Honors listing[dead link].
- ^ "Neil De Grasse Tyson: Sexiest Astrophysicist". People Magazine 54 (20). November 13, 2000. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
- ^ "50 Of the Most Inspiring African Americans", Edited by Patricia Hinds, 2002, Essence Books (New York), p. 145.
- ^ Michael D. Lemonick (May 3, 2007). "Neil deGrasse Tyson". Time – The Time 100. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
- ^ Powell, Corey (November 19, 2008). "The 50 Most Important, Influential, and Promising People in Science". Discover Magazine. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
- ^ "Books by Neil deGrasse Tyson". haydenplanetarium.org. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
- ^ "The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries". Thegreatcourses.com. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
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Editorial Reviews
Library Journal
Rocks (which reside firmly in the camp of the inanimate) are unlikely to be the first things that come to mind when thinking about the history of humanity or the evolution of living creatures. Yet rocks, namely fossils, provide the evidence necessary to understand, and sometimes bridge, missing links in science. Shubin (The Universe Within) studies here the emerging interdisciplinary fields of expeditionary paleontology and developmental genetics. His work connects the dots between important fossil discoveries and what they tell scientists about the evolution of life through the ages. His book is part travelog—describing his experiences gathering fossils in remote areas across the globe, and part scientific exposition—skillfully tying together seemingly disparate facts. VERDICT The author's enthusiasm for his profession, especially the more harrowing aspects of fieldwork, is infectious, and he does an excellent job of showing the heart-pounding excitement of making new scientific discoveries. Readers will never think about rocks the same way again.—Marianne Stowell Bracke, Purdue Univ. Lib., West Lafayette, INPublishers Weekly
University of Chicago paleontologist Shubin wrote about the fishy origins of humanity in 2009’s Your Inner Fish. In his new book, he goes farther back and further out, explaining how humans bear the markings of cosmic phenomena; as he puts it, “Written inside us is the birth of the stars.” Here, the author surveys everything from glints in “Greenlandic rocks” to the spreading signs of supernovae to reveal “deep ties to the forces that shaped our bodies.” He demonstrates how mammals owe their “high-energy lifestyle” to oxygen released hundreds of millions of years ago as continents spread apart, and how color vision arose after continental drift cooled the planet, diversified flora, and resulted in biological competition that favored those organisms who could identify nutritious plants according to hue (“Every time you admire a richly colorful view, you can thank India for slamming into Asia”). Shubin is a leading proponent of the fusion of paleontology, developmental genetics, and genomics, and the result of his efforts is a volume of truly inspired science writing. Appropriately vast in scope, Shubin deftly balances breadth and depth in his search for a “sublimely beautiful truth.” Photos & illus. Agent: Katinka Matson, John Brockman, Max Brockman, and Russell Weinberger, Brockman Inc. (Jan.)From the Publisher
—Oliver Sacks, author of Hallucinations
“What is special about the book is its sweep, its scope, its panorama—how physics, biology, geology, chemistry, and seemingly every other science are brought to bear on the most intricate details of human life. . . . Shubin makes it all seem rather glorious.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“An illuminating account of how life on earth is shaped by the rhythms of the cosmos. . . . [A] dazzling excursion into life, the universe, and everything.”
—Times Literary Supplement
—The Guardian (London)
“Shubin shows that all creation, from the big bang on, is packed in [the human body]. . . . In short, universal history made us what we are. Wow.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Shubin illuminates, with a Carl Sagan–like clarity and elegance, the specifics behind the Joni Mitchell lyric ‘We are stardust.’”
—Time Out Chicago
“Even those familiar with the basic underpinnings of how we evolved will find The Universe Within engaging. It is laced with Shubin’s own fossil-hunting adventures and filled with colorful tales of historical figures.”
—Scientific American
“The Universe Within gives us an appreciation of how we are just small specks and small moments in time. But it also challenges us to take steps to protect our environment so our world can last a little longer.”
—BookPage
“Shubin shares the findings of some of the great scientific specialists —as well as those of a few unsung heroes. But he also explains how a generalist’s appreciation of their work is still possible, simply by looking inside the human body.”
—New Scientist
“An exhilarating ride through the workings of science and . . . a fascinating glimpse into the vast universe’s many constituents . . . To read The Universe Within is to arrive at all sorts of wonders.”
—Book Browse
“Wonderful . . . We need writers [like Shubin] who can make deeper connections between people and the natural world around them, as well as showing how that interrelatedness has played out over the deep time of geology.”
—The Seattle Times
“A volume of truly inspired science writing . . . Shubin deftly balances breadth and depth in his search for a ‘sublimely beautiful truth.’”
—Publishers Weekly
“Engrossing . . . An intelligent, eloquent account of our relations with the inanimate universe.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Kirkus Reviews
In a follow-up to Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body(2008), Shubin (Biological Sciences/Univ. of Chicago) delivers an equally engrossing history of life's connections to everything else. The author begins with the most common element in the human body, hydrogen, which also makes up 90 percent of the universe. All hydrogen existed along with helium and a trace of lithium when everything began 13.7 billion years ago. Heavier elements were made later inside stars, some of which end their lives violently. Cosmic dust that condensed to form the sun 5 billion years ago also made the planets. Microorganisms appeared soon after the Earth cooled enough to support liquid water--so soon that many scientists believe that life is not a rare accident, but inevitable under the right circumstances. Shubin recounts the subsequent 4 billion years of changes in both life and its surroundings. Oxygen, absent at first, slowly accumulated as photosynthetic plants multiplied. The Earth's rocky crust shifted, eroded and cracked, leaking volcanic gases from the interior. Continents formed and split, expanding and shrinking the oceans; the resulting mountains, shifting ocean currents and migrating landmasses carried life across the planet, forcing it to adapt to the changing environment or nearly wiping it out. The sun is 30 percent hotter than when life began; in another billion years, it will make the Earth too warm to support life. An intelligent, eloquent account of our relations with the inanimate universe.