Neil deGrasse Tyson — "Kids are born scientists. They're born with a sense of wonder and a desire to ex…"
Kids are born scientists. They're born with a sense of wonder and a desire to explore.
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More from Neil deGrasse Tyson
"I'm a big proponent of space exploration, not just for scientific discovery, but for the inspiration it provides."
"I'm often asked if I believe in UFOs. I'm open to the possibility, but I need evidence. I need the aliens to land on the White House lawn, or at least in my backyard, and say hello."
"The universe is a symphony of strings, and the mind is an instrument that can play them."
"I'm not a fan of the term 'global warming.' I prefer 'global weirding,' because it's not just about things getting warmer, it's about things getting stranger."
"If you're religious, and you have some sort of revelation that makes you think something is true, that's not science. That's belief."
About Neil deGrasse Tyson (born 1958)
American astrophysicist, Hayden Planetarium director, and Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey host who carries the Carl Sagan public-science mantle. Closely associated with Bill Nye (fellow science communicator) and Brian Greene (theoretical physicist and string-theory popularizer). For an intellectual contrast, see Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum — Ham's career has been organized around defending biblical 6-day creationism — exactly the science-education position Tyson's mainstream-science communication is structured to refute.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Children naturally embody scientific thinking through curiosity, questioning, and hands-on exploration before formal education can dampen those instincts. They touch, taste, ask "why" relentlessly, and form hypotheses without knowing the word. The tragedy isn't that kids lack scientific ability — it's that institutions and culture often systematically extinguish that innate drive before it matures into genuine discovery.
Relevance to Neil deGrasse Tyson
Tyson built his career not just on research but on reigniting public curiosity through StarTalk, Cosmos, and countless media appearances. As director of the Hayden Planetarium, he specifically designs experiences for young visitors. His own origin story — inspired by the planetarium at age nine — directly informs this belief that early wonder, properly nurtured, creates lifelong scientists.
The era
Tyson articulated this amid fierce debates over STEM education funding, science literacy gaps, and American competitiveness with China post-2008. Declining physics enrollment, creationism battles in schools, and the anti-vaccine movement all signaled cultural erosion of scientific trust. His advocacy coincided with Obama's "Educate to Innovate" push, making protecting children's innate curiosity a policy-level urgency, not just a philosophical sentiment.
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