Neil deGrasse Tyson Talks Science, Space, Neckties, Vests and Fountain Pens

He’s one of America’s most distinguished scientists and the director of the Hayden Planetarium at New York City’s American Museum of Natural History. You may be familiar with Neil deGrasse Tyson, 57, as the host of the award-winning Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey on Fox or from his StarTalk podcast and National Geographic Channel TV series.

Soon he’ll be on the big screen—sort of—as the voice of Neil deBuck Weasel in the new animated comedy Ice Age: Collision Course, in theaters July 22.

“I’m not up there very long,” Tyson says. “Just a few minutes. But they’re key minutes.” Tyson’s character is imaginary. He appears inside the subconscious of Buck the weasel to help him figure out how to save the Earth from a doomsday date with an asteroid by steering him toward solutions based on science, facts and reason.

“None of the Ice Age movies take themselves too seriously, and that’s part of their charm,” Tyson says. “I’m there, in part, to make sure the little bit of science that matters, they get it right—the force of gravity, electricity, magnetism, static electricity, collisions shaping planetary surfaces and shaping the early solar system.”

If you go see Ice Age: Collision Course, you’ll see countless playful attempts to put science into action, he says—and a reminder that “science is not ‘some other thing,’ but is all around us at all times.”

Does Ice Age: Collision Course Get the Science Right?

Vested Interests

Tyson bought his first “space” vest at Hansen (now Clark) Planetarium in Salt Lake City. “They didn’t have any my size and weren’t getting any more,” he says. “All the people working there were wearing them, so I found a salesperson approximately my size and said, ‘Would you sell me the one you’re wearing?’” You’ll see the illustrated version on Neil deBuck Weasel in Ice Age: Collision Course.

Tie Guy

“If you attend any conferences of astrophysicists, everybody’s got some kind of geeky space tie. They’re basically camouflage,” Tyson says. He has about 120. “I may own more than most,” he admits. “I draw a line—it has to be art, no photos. I have four different renderings of Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. Also, I try not to have people, but I have two exceptions: I have one with Einstein and one with Isaac Newton.”

The Pen is Mightier

“I collect fountain pens and enjoy writing with them, as an homage to days when you would dip your pen in an inkwell and liquid ink was the medium in which you communicated your thoughts.” He knows his collection of 40 is “modest” compared to those of heavy-duty collectors, but “they’re kind of like my children—each one has a different temperament, and not all of them behave the same way under the same conditions.”

Fave Space Flicks

Contact. Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey starred in this 1997 drama based on a Carl Sagan novel. “How would people react to the discovery that not only are we not alone in the universe, but that the aliens might, in fact, be much smarter that we are?” Tyson says. “And what are the consequences of that to our philosophy, our culture, our religion and our relationships to one another?”

Deep Impact. A 1998 “asteroid collision movie that gets most of the physics right.”

My Secret Life

“If I had another life—in a parallel universe—I would be a lyricist for Broadway musicals. I love the simple turns of phrase that convey information when set to music. When I’m writing for the public, I want a sentence to resonate with a rhythm and a context that gives deeper meaning than a simple conveyance of those words would otherwise give you.”