Niral Shah
9/30/15
Famous Person Formal Outline
“Things You Should Know Going Forward in Life”
Introduction:
Today, I will be discussing the commencement speech, “Things You Should Know Going Forward in Life,” delivered by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson at the University of Massachusetts in May 2015.
Firstly, I will provide a brief biography of Dr. Tyson mentioning his family, education, career and personal aspirations.
Secondly, I will summarize his speech and delve into the points he emphasized on, as well as mention which part of the speech I felt was most powerful.
And lastly, I will discuss why I chose this particular speech and the significance of his message pertaining to young adults today.
I. Biography
II. REAL WORLD – INSIGNIFICANT
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GPA III. POWER OF IGNORANCE IV. SCIENCE MATTERS V. CITIZEN VS. POLITICIAN VI. POWER OF SCIENTIFIC LITERACY VII. ROLE MODELS = OVERRATED VIII. THE BIGGER PICTURE IX. WHAT FREE SOCIETY? X. HELP OTHERS – BOOTSTRAPS QUOTE I.
Within this biography, I have included Dr. Tyson’s early life, education and some of his personal interests that have helped him get to where he is today.
A. Family-Secondary Education-personal interest growing up
1. The world-renowned astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science communicator, Neil deGrasse Tyson was born and raised in the Bronx, here in NY.
He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1976 where he was the captain of the wrestling team and editor-in-chief of the “Physical Science Journal”.
2. When he was nine years old, Dr. Tyson’s parents took him to the Hayden Planetarium, which is a day he will cherish for the rest of his life, as it was the very first experience that sparked his unfathomable interest in astronomy.
3. He started attending astronomy courses offered by the Planetarium where he had the pleasure to learn from Dr. Mark Chartrand III, the director of the planetarium at the time.
Dr. Tyson states, “ he was his first intellectual role model” labeling his time there with Dr. Chartrand III, “the most formative period” of his life.
Tyson was inspired by his ability to combine his enthusiastic and charismatic teaching style with humor, motivating Tyson to “communicate the universe to others the way he
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did.” 4. As his interest in astronomy grew he began obsessing over the subject. Soon after, the astronomy community grew quite fond of Dr. Tyson, especially once he started giving lectures at the age of 15. B. College career (Undergraduate, graduate, doctorate, post-doctorate)-New hobbies 1. When Neil was preparing for his next step in life, college, his application caught the interest of many admissions committees. Specifically, Cornell University where the famous astronomer as well as faculty member Carl Sagan, tried to recruit Neil. Dr. Tyson describes the special moment in his book, The Sky is Not the Limit, with quote: “My letter of application had been dripping with an interest in the universe. The admission office, unbeknownst to me, had forwarded my application to Carl Sagan's attention. Within weeks, I received a personal letter...” Sagan invited Tyson (who was 17 at the time) to Ithaca and had one of the most memorable experiences of his young life. Tyson claims, "I already knew I wanted to become a scientist. But that afternoon, I learned from Carl the kind of person I wanted to become." 2. Neil later declined Sagan’s personal offer and attended Harvard University in 1980, earning a bachelors degree in Physics. There he joined the crew team during his freshman year, but ended up returning to wrestling. 3. Tyson was also a major dance enthusiast. He grew active in several styles such as, Afro-Caribbean, ballet, jazz and Latin Ballroom. 4. After graduating, Dr. Tyson continued his education and pursued and received a master’s degree in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 and later he earned his master’s and doctorate in astrophysics from Columbia University in 1989 and 1991 respectively. 5. Lastly he became a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University for the next three years and joined the Hayden Planetarium in 1994 as a staff scientist and the Princeton faculty as a visiting research scientist and lecturer. C. Milestones 1. In 1995 he became acting director of the Hayden Planetarium and in 1996 he was appointed director. When he became director of the Hayden Planetarium, he managed a $210 million reconstruction project. II. Upon being asked for his thoughts on becoming director, Tyson said "...when I was a kid... there were scientists and educators on the staff at the Hayden Planetarium... who invested their time and energy in my enlightenment... and I've never forgotten that. And to end up back there as its director, I feel this deep sense of duty, that I serve in the same capacity for people who come through the facility today, that others served for me" 1. 2. In 2001, President G.W. Bush chose Dr. 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 Exploration Policy (aka Moon, Mars, and Beyond” 3. Tyson has been the vice president, president and chairman of the board of the Planetary Society, and what brought his more recent infamy was his resurrection of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey television series on both FOX and National Geographic. B. NASA 1. Dr. Tyson is a passionate advocate of the expansion of NASA. He argues, “"the most powerful agency on the dreams of a nation is currently underfunded to do what it needs to be doing". The general public seems to overestimate how much revenue is allocated to the space agency. He asked an audience once, “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." Tyson presented a plan to the United States Senate Science Committee exclaiming, for twice the annual Federal Budget allocated to NASA (1 Penny)- “we can transform the country from a sullen, dispirited nation, weary of economic struggle, to one where it has reclaimed its 20th century birthright to dream of tomorrow.” 2. Consequently, using Tyson’s proposal as inspiration, John Zeller founded Penny4NASA campaign of the Space Advocates nonprofit in 2012 in an attempt to promote the doubling of NASA’s budget to one percent of the Federal Budget. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson#Early_life III. Moving onto the topic at hand, I will delve into the speech I chose to talk about. I went to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to visit some old friends and watch them graduate a few months back. On Friday May 8th, 2015 I witnessed one of the most captivating, engaging and informative speeches I have ever heard. Being a recent college graduate, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s speech was undoubtedly relevant to me. Dr. Tyson has an extraordinary gift of speaking about complex ideas (whether they are about politics or science) and making them “both comprehensible and palatable to the masses,” which is a very useful skill to have as an educator. I will break down Dr. Tyson’ speech into several key points and briefly discuss each one. IV. A.
“Your grades, whatever is your GPA, rapidly become irrelevant in your life.” As we all know, grades should not be disregarded, especially if you are looking to apply to any type of graduate school or want to further your education. However, I believe Dr. Tyson was trying to tell us that life is about what you do today and what you WILL do in the future so you can save yourself a lot of time and avoid a great deal of stress, if you don’t get caught up on what has happened in the past. There are countless successful and inspirational individuals who did not earn the best grades and were in fact “terrible students.” Once you step into the real world, questions like are you a hard worker, are you a problem solver, are you committed, are you focused, hold more weight than questions regarding your GPA. If exams like the SAT meant anything, it was a reflection of who you were at that specific moment, not who you can be or who you want to be. Thus, they “do not define you for the rest of your
life.” B.
The "John Roberts Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. The Web. The Web.
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and he made his point very clear. His speech resonated with a variety of people as you
help get to his point. He also uses beautiful language to show his points, making his speech memorable.
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