After seeing the “The Most Astounding Fact” video narrated by Neil DeGrasse Tyson on YouTube and enjoying him on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast this summer, I decided to check him out. There really isn’t a way one can go about truly evaluating his credibility as an award-winning Astrophysicist without being astrophysicists themselves. But when he spoke at Drake it was like he smoothly explained his thoughts on the universe in Laymen’s terms and I was wide-eyed and open-jawed (and drooling) the entire time. Although an astrophysicist, his focus was on education and the origin of the universe. He made it apparent to me that you really need to study what you want to study. He said that an educated man in something that he doesn’t truly love is no better than someone who never attended a higher education. Since the lecture was at Drake, he emphasized how lucky everyone was for having access to higher education. He didn’t change my views on religion and my beliefs about what happens after death as they were already aligned with his (we are created from star dust during the big bang and evolution), but he did help me evaluate what I wanted to do with my education. I changed my minor at Iowa State University the next day. And have considered deeply as to if I want to change my major.
Shaun Johnson 