History UsefulNotes / NeilDeGrasseTyson

Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Doctor Tyson is one of the scientists (along with Brian Cox, Phil Plait, Michio Kaku, Creator/StephenHawking and several others) who have taken up the task, largely pioneered by Sagan, of bringing easy-to-understand science to the general public. He was the host of PBS's science series ''Nova [=ScienceNow=]'', has written multiple books (all easily understood by laymen) about astrophysical phenomena, and is a frequent guest on ''Series/TheDailyShow'', ''Series/TheColbertReport'', and ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}''. He also runs the ''Star Talk'' radio show, in which he and guest speakers discuss astronomy, science and science-fiction (often {{Lampshading}} {{Physics Goof}}s).

Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Doctor Tyson is one of the scientists (along with Brian Cox, Phil Plait, Michio Kaku, Creator/StephenHawking and several others) who have taken up the task, largely pioneered by Sagan, of bringing easy-to-understand science to the general public. He was the host of PBS's science series ''Nova scienceNOW'', has written multiple books (all easily understood by laymen) about astrophysical phenomena, and is a frequent guest on ''Series/TheDailyShow'', ''Series/TheColbertReport'', and ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}''. He also runs the ''Star Talk'' radio show, in which he and guest speakers discuss astronomy, science and science-fiction (often {{Lampshading}} {{Physics Goof}}s).

Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Doctor Tyson is one of the scientists (along with Brian Cox, Phil Plait, Michio Kaku, Creator/StephenHawking and several others) who have taken up the task, largely pioneered by Sagan, of bringing easy-to-understand science to the general public. He's the host of PBS's science series ''Nova'', has written multiple books (all easily understood by laymen) about astrophysical phenomena, and is a frequent guest on ''Series/TheDailyShow'', ''Series/TheColbertReport'', and ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}''. He also runs the ''Star Talk'' radio show, in which he and guest speakers discuss astronomy, science and science-fiction (often {{Lampshading}} {{Physics Goof}}s).

He has been criticized by some for being a little too casual with facts when presenting popular science. On one occasion, he misattributed a quote to George Bush science and argued that Bush was disparaging Islam ([[http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/09/22/does-neil-degrasse-tyson-make-up-stories/ here's a summary of the controversy]]). In another case, critics argued that his series ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' oversimplified the case of Giordano Bruno to make it a cartoonish story of good-scientist-evil-church ([[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2014/03/dishonestcosmos/ a critique is here]]).

He has been criticized by some for being a little too casual with facts when presenting popular science and that his series ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' oversimplified the case of Giordano Bruno to make it a cartoonish story of good-scientist-evil-church ([[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2014/03/dishonestcosmos/ a critique is here]]). Both criticisms -- coming primarily from fundamentalist Christians who objected to his activism against their anti-science agenda -- were responded to effectively and no one who isn't a religious fundamentalist really buys into them.

And best of all, he is OneOfUs. His lectures frequently reference science fiction movies (he's especially a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan) and comic book characters (he collects ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'', ''Franchise/GreenLantern'', and the ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''), and [[http://www.space.com/18348-neil-tyson-superman-krypton-planet.html helped DC Comics name the star that Krypton orbits]] (red dwarf [=LHS=] 2520 in the Corvus constellation). He provided the title for the WebVideo/SymphonyOfScience songs ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akek6cFRZfY Onward to the Edge]]'' and ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk We Are All Connected]]'', and appears in the videos. He appeared in season 4 episode 7 of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' as well as in season 5 episode 16 of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. And as Sagan's successor, he hosted ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' series. He even guest narrated on WebVideo/CinemaSins' Everything Wrong With series to help provide scientific inaccuracies with the films, ''Film/{{Gravity}}'', ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'' and ''Film/TheMartian''. He plays Waddles the pig on ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' when he becomes hyper-intelligent (Waddles is normally "voiced" by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker).

On the other side of the ledger, has been criticized by some for being a little too casual with facts when presenting popular science. On one occasion, he misattributed a quote to George Bush and argued that Bush was disparaging Islam ([[http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/09/22/does-neil-degrasse-tyson-make-up-stories/ here's a summary of the controversy]]). In another case, critics argued that his series ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' oversimplified the case of Giordano Bruno to make it a cartoonish story of good-scientist-evil-church ([[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2014/03/dishonestcosmos/ a critique is here]]).

On the other side of the ledger, Tyson became embroiled in a scandal in September of 2014 when he was accused by Sean Davis of the ''Federalist'' of fabricating several quotations he used in his public speeches. A [[http://thefederalist.com/2014/09/27/neil-degrasse-tyson-just-trust-me-on-those-things-i-said-ok/ summary of the accusations is available here.]] In one of these instances, Tyson was criticizing the press for not understanding what an average was, even though it seemed to be Tyson himself who appeared to be confused about the difference between an average, or mean, and a median. In another, Tyson referenced a speech that President George W. Bush gave after the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in which the President quoted a passage from the Book of Isaiah to the effect that God, who named the stars, also knew the astronauts who had died in the shuttle disaster. Tyson instead claimed that the passage came from the Book of Genesis, and that Bush had used the passage to claim the superiority of Christianity over Islam following September 11, 2001. In another case, critics argued that his series ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' oversimplified the case of Giordano Bruno to make it a cartoonish story of good-scientist-evil-church ([[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/outthere/2014/03/10/cosmos-pick-wrong-hero/ critiqued here]]).

Creator/CarlSagan's [[SpiritualSuccessor direct successor]] as "Coolest Scientist in America", which is appropriate, as Sagan was Tyson's mentor, and was to a degree responsible for Tyson becoming an astrophysicist in the first place.

And best of all, he is OneOfUs. His lectures frequently reference science fiction movies (he's especially a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan) and comic book characters (he collects ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'', ''Franchise/GreenLantern'', and the ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''), and [[http://www.space.com/18348-neil-tyson-superman-krypton-planet.html helped DC Comics name the star that Krypton orbits]] (red dwarf [=LHS=] 2520 in the Corvus constellation). He provided the title for the WebVideo/SymphonyOfScience songs ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akek6cFRZfY Onward to the Edge]]'' and ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk We Are All Connected]]'', and appears in the videos. He appeared in season 4 episode 7 of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' as well as in season 5 episode 16 of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. And as Sagan's successor, he hosted ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' series. He even guest narrated on WebVideo/CinemaSins' Everything Wrong With series to help provide scientific inaccuracies with the film, ''Film/{{Gravity}}'' (and again in their ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'' video). He plays Waddles the pig on ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' when he becomes hyper-intelligent (Waddles is normally "voiced" by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker).

Dr. Tyson was the primary driving force behind the [[PlutoIsExpendable demotion of Pluto]] from "planet" status to "dwarf planet" status, based on his view that Pluto is only one of thousands of Kuiper Belt objects that have been discovered (an action he has admitted has brought him "a lot of hate mail... mostly from children").

In addition to his scientific endeavors, Tyson is [[RenaissanceMan a dancer (he won a gold medal in an International Latin Ballroom competition), a wrestler, a collector of fine wines, and a model rocketeer]]. In collaboration with RichardDawkins, he's also opposed the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_Design Intelligent Design Movement]] and their attempts to include religion as part of school science curricula.

On the other side of the ledger, Tyson became embroiled in a scandal in September of 2014 when he was accused by Sean Davis of the ''Federalist'' of fabricating several quotations he used in his public speeches. A [[http://thefederalist.com/2014/09/27/neil-degrasse-tyson-just-trust-me-on-those-things-i-said-ok/ summary of the accusations is available here.]] In one of these instances, Tyson was criticizing the press for not understanding what an average was, even though it seemed to be Tyson himself who appeared to be confused about the difference between an average, or mean, and a median. In another, Tyson referenced a speech that President George W. Bush gave after the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in which the President quoted a passage from the Book of Isaiah to the effect that God, who named the stars, also knew the astronauts who had died in the shuttle disaster. Tyson instead claimed that the passage came from the Book of Genesis, and that Bush had used the passage to claim the superiority of Christianity over Islam following September 11, 2001. In another case, critics argued that his series ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' oversimplified the case of Giordano Bruno to make it a cartoonish story of good-scientist-evil-church ([[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/outthere/2014/03/10/cosmos-pick-wrong-hero/ (critiqued here)]]).

On the other side of the ledger, Tyson became embroiled in a scandal in September of 2014 when he was accused by Sean Davis of the ''Federalist'' of fabricating several quotations he used in his public speeches. A [[http://thefederalist.com/2014/09/27/neil-degrasse-tyson-just-trust-me-on-those-things-i-said-ok/ summary of the accusations is available here.]] In one of these instances, Tyson was criticizing the press for not understanding what an average was, even though it seemed to be Tyson himself who appeared to be confused about the difference between an average, or mean, and a median. In another, Tyson referenced a speech that President George W. Bush gave after the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in which the President quoted a passage from the Book of Isaiah to the effect that God, who named the stars, also knew the astronauts who had died in the shuttle disaster. Tyson instead claimed that the passage came from the Book of Genesis, and that Bush had used the passage to claim the superiority of Christianity over Islam following September 11, 2001. In another case, critics argued that his series ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' oversimplified the case of Giordano Bruno to make it a cartoonish story of good-scientist-evil-church ([[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2014/03/dishonestcosmos/ a critique is here]]).

And best of all, he is OneOfUs. His lectures frequently reference science fiction movies (he's especially a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan) and comic book characters (he collects ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'', ''Franchise/GreenLantern'', and the ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''), and [[http://www.space.com/18348-neil-tyson-superman-krypton-planet.html helped DC Comics name the star that Krypton orbits]] (red dwarf [=LHS=] 2520 in the Corvus constellation). He provided the title for the WebVideo/SymphonyOfScience songs ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akek6cFRZfY Onward to the Edge]]'' and ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk We Are All Connected]]'', and appears in the videos. He appeared in season 4 episode 7 of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' as well as in season 5 episode 16 of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. And as Sagan's successor, he hosted ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' series. He even guest narrated on WebVideo/CinemaSins' Everything Wrong With series to help provide scientific inaccuracies with the film, ''Film/{{Gravity}}'' (and again in the CinemaSins ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'' video). He plays Waddles the pig on ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' when he becomes hyper-intelligent (Waddles is normally "voiced" by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker).

And best of all, he is OneOfUs. His lectures frequently reference science fiction movies (he's especially a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan) and comic book characters (he collects ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'', ''Franchise/GreenLantern'', and the ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''), and [[http://www.space.com/18348-neil-tyson-superman-krypton-planet.html helped DC Comics name the star that Krypton orbits]] (red dwarf [=LHS=] 2520 in the Corvus constellation). He provided the title for the WebVideo/SymphonyOfScience songs ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akek6cFRZfY Onward to the Edge]]'' and ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk We Are All Connected]]'', and appears in the videos. He appeared in season 4 episode 7 of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' as well as in season 5 episode 16 of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. And as Sagan's successor, he hosted ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' series. He even guest narrated on WebVideo/CinemaSins' Everything Wrong With series to help provide scientific inaccuracies with the film, ''Film/{{Gravity}}''. He plays Waddles the pig on ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' when he becomes hyper-intelligent (Waddles is normally "voiced" by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker).

And best of all, he is OneOfUs. His lectures frequently reference science fiction movies (he's especially a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan) and comic book characters (he collects ''{{Superman}}'', ''GreenLantern'', and the ''JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''), and [[http://www.space.com/18348-neil-tyson-superman-krypton-planet.html helped DC Comics name the star that Krypton orbits]] (red dwarf [=LHS=] 2520 in the Corvus constellation). He provided the title for the WebVideo/SymphonyOfScience songs ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akek6cFRZfY Onward to the Edge]]'' and ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk We Are All Connected]]'', and appears in the videos. He appeared in season 4 episode 7 of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' as well as in season 5 episode 16 of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. And as Sagan's successor, he hosted ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' series. He even guest narrated on WebVideo/CinemaSins' Everything Wrong With series to help provide scientific inaccuracies with the film, ''Film/{{Gravity}}''. He plays Waddles the pig on ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' when he becomes hyper-intelligent (Waddles is normally "voiced" by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker).

And best of all, he is OneOfUs. His lectures frequently reference science fiction movies (he's especially a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan) and comic book characters (he collects ''{{Superman}}'', ''GreenLantern'', and the ''JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''), and [[http://www.space.com/18348-neil-tyson-superman-krypton-planet.html helped DC Comics name the star that Krypton orbits]] (red dwarf [=LHS=] 2520 in the Corvus constellation). He provided the title for the SymphonyOfScience songs ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akek6cFRZfY Onward to the Edge]]'' and ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk We Are All Connected]]'', and appears in the videos. He appeared in season 4 episode 7 of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' as well as in season 5 episode 16 of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. And as Sagan's successor, he hosted ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' series. He even guest narrated on WebVideo/CinemaSins' Everything Wrong With series to help provide scientific inaccuracies with the film, ''Film/{{Gravity}}''. He plays Waddles the pig on ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' when he becomes hyper-intelligent (Waddles is normally "voiced" by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker).

Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Doctor Tyson is one of the scientists (along with Brian Cox, Phil Plait, Michio Kaku, StephenHawking and several others) who have taken up the task, largely pioneered by Sagan, of bringing easy-to-understand science to the general public. He's the host of PBS's science series ''Nova'', has written multiple books (all easily understood by laymen) about astrophysical phenomena, and is a frequent guest on ''Series/TheDailyShow'', ''Series/TheColbertReport'', and ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}''. He also runs the ''Star Talk'' radio show, in which he and guest speakers discuss astronomy, science and science-fiction (often {{Lampshading}} {{Physics Goof}}s).

On the other side of the ledger, has been criticized by some for being a little too casual with facts when presenting popular science. On one occasion, he misattributed a quote to George Bush and argued that Bush was disparaging Islam ([[http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/09/22/does-neil-degrasse-tyson-make-up-stories/ here's a summary of the controversy]]). In another case, critics argued that his series ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' oversimplified the case of Giordano Bruno to make it a cartoonish story of good-scientist-evil-church ([[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2014/03/dishonestcosmos/ a critique is here]]).

On the other side of the ledger, Tyson became embroiled in a scandal in September of 2014 when he was accused by Sean Davis of the ''Federalist'' of fabricating several quotations he used in his public speeches. A [[http://thefederalist.com/2014/09/27/neil-degrasse-tyson-just-trust-me-on-those-things-i-said-ok/ summary of the accusations is available here.]] In one of these instances, Tyson was criticizing the press for not understanding what an average was, even though it seemed to be Tyson himself who appeared to be confused about the difference between an average, or mean, and a median. In another, Tyson referenced a speech that President George W. Bush gave after the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in which the President quoted a passage from the Book of Isaiah to the effect that God, who named the stars, also knew the astronauts who had died in the shuttle disaster. Tyson instead claimed that the passage came from the Book of Genesis, and that Bush had used the passage to claim the superiority of Christianity over Islam following September 11, 2001. In another case, critics argued that his series ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' oversimplified the case of Giordano Bruno to make it a cartoonish story of good-scientist-evil-church ([[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2014/03/dishonestcosmos/ a critique is here]]).

On the other side of the ledger, Tyson became embroiled in a scandal in September of 2014 when he was accused by Sean Davis of the ''Federalist'' of fabricating several quotations he used in his public speeches. A [[http://thefederalist.com/2014/09/27/neil-degrasse-tyson-just-trust-me-on-those-things-i-said-ok/ summary of the accusations is available here.]] In one of these instances, Tyson was criticizing the press for not understanding what an average was, even though it seemed to be Tyson himself who appeared to be confused about the difference between an average, or mean, and a median. In another, Tyson referenced a speech that President George W. Bush gave after the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in which the President quoted a passage from the Book of Isaiah to the effect that G-d, who named the stars, also knew the astronauts who had died in the shuttle disaster. Tyson instead claimed that the passage came from the Book of Genesis, and that Bush had used the passage to claim the superiority of Christianity over Islam following September 11, 2001. In another case, critics argued that his series ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' oversimplified the case of Giordano Bruno to make it a cartoonish story of good-scientist-evil-church ([[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2014/03/dishonestcosmos/ a critique is here]]).

On the other side of the ledger, Tyson became embroiled in a scandal in September of 2014 when he was accused by Sean Davis of the ''Federalist'' of fabricating several quotations he used in his public speeches. A [[http://thefederalist.com/2014/09/27/neil-degrasse-tyson-just-trust-me-on-those-things-i-said-ok/ summary of the accusations is available here.]] In one of these instances, Tyson was criticizing the press for not understanding what an average was, even though it seemed to be Tyson himself who appeared to be confused about the difference between an average, or mean, and a median. In another, Tyson referenced a speech that President George W. Bush gave after the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in which the President quoted a passage from the Book of Isaiah to the effect that G-d, who named the stars, also knew the astronauts who had died in the shuttle disaster. Tyson instead claimed that the passage came from the Book of Genesis, and that Bush had used the passage to claim the superiority of Christianity over Islam following September 11, 2001. In another case, critics argued that his series ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' oversimplified the case of Giordano Bruno to make it a cartoonish story of good-scientist-evil-church ([[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2014/03/dishonestcosmos/ a critique is here]]).

And best of all, he is OneOfUs. His lectures frequently reference science fiction movies (he's especially a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan) and comic book characters (he collects ''{{Superman}}'', ''GreenLantern'', and the ''JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''), and [[http://www.space.com/18348-neil-tyson-superman-krypton-planet.html helped DC Comics name the star that Krypton orbits]] (red dwarf [=LHS=] 2520 in the Corvus constellation). He provided the title for the SymphonyOfScience songs ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akek6cFRZfY Onward to the Edge]]'' and ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk We Are All Connected]]'', and appears in the videos. He appeared in season 4 episode 7 of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' as well as in season 5 episode 16 of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. And as Sagan's successor, he hosted ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' series. He even guest narrated on WebVideo/CinemaSins' Everything Wrong With series to help provide scientific inaccuracies with the film, ''Film/{{Gravity}}''. He lends his voice to an episode of WesternAnimation/GravityFalls when Waddles the pig becomes hyper-intelligent.

And best of all, he is OneOfUs. His lectures frequently reference science fiction movies (he's especially a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan) and comic book characters (he collects ''{{Superman}}'', ''GreenLantern'', and the ''JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''), and [[http://www.space.com/18348-neil-tyson-superman-krypton-planet.html helped DC Comics name the star that Krypton orbits]] (red dwarf [=LHS=] 2520 in the Corvus constellation). He provided the title for the SymphonyOfScience songs ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akek6cFRZfY Onward to the Edge]]'' and ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk We Are All Connected]]'', and appears in the videos. He appeared in season 4 episode 7 of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' as well as in season 5 episode 16 of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. And as Sagan's successor, he hosted ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' series. He even guest narrated on WebVideo/CinemaSins' Everything Wrong With series to help provide scientific inaccuracies with the film, ''Film/{{Gravity}}''. He lends his voice to WesternAnimation/GravityFalls when Waddles the pig becomes hyper-intelligent.

And best of all, he is OneOfUs. His lectures frequently reference science fiction movies (he's especially a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan) and comic book characters (he collects ''{{Superman}}'', ''GreenLantern'', and the ''JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''), and [[http://www.space.com/18348-neil-tyson-superman-krypton-planet.html helped DC Comics name the star that Krypton orbits]] (red dwarf [=LHS=] 2520 in the Corvus constellation). He provided the title for the SymphonyOfScience songs ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akek6cFRZfY Onward to the Edge]]'' and ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk We Are All Connected]]'', and appears in the videos. He appeared in season 4 episode 7 of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' as well as in season 5 episode 16 of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. And as Sagan's successor, he hosted ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' series. He even guest narrated on WebVideo/CinemaSins' Everything Wrong With series to help provide scientific inaccuracies with the film, ''Film/{{Gravity}}''.

On the other side of the ledger, has been criticized by some for being a little too casual with facts when presenting popular science. On one occasion, he misattributed a quote to George Bush and argued that Bush was disparaging Islam ([[http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/09/22/does-neil-degrasse-tyson-make-up-stories/ here's a summary of the controversy]]). In another case, critics argued that his series ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'' oversimplified the case of Giordano Bruno to make it a cartoonish story of good-scientist-evil-church ([[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2014/03/dishonestcosmos/ a critique is here]]).

On the other side of the ledger, Tyson became embroiled in a scandal in September of 2014 when he was exposed by Sean Davis of the ''Federalist'' as fabricating several quotations he used in his public speeches. A [[http://thefederalist.com/2014/09/27/neil-degrasse-tyson-just-trust-me-on-those-things-i-said-ok/ summary of the scandal is available here.]] In one of these instances, Tyson was criticizing the press for not understanding what an average was, even though it was Tyson himself who appeared to be confused about the difference between an average, or mean, and a median. In another, Tyson took a speech that President George W. Bush gave after the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in which the President quoted a passage from the Book of Isaiah to the effect that G-d, who named the stars, also knew the astronauts who had died in the shuttle disaster. Tyson falsely claimed that the passage came from the Book of Genesis, and that Bush had used the passage to claim the superiority of Christianity over Islam following September 11, 2001. To make matters worse, when the fabrications were exposed, certain of Tyson's supporters responded by trying to silence the critics, including trying the get the ''Federalist'' page removed from TheOtherWiki.