My Hero: Neil DeGrasse Tyson

In a time when humanity knew more about Kim Kardashian and Snooki's pregnancy than fallen heroes like the late Carl Sagan, when people cared about E! News more than NASA, when America's children stopped dreaming of the depths of space and instead stuffed their minds with the vapidity of Hollywood's stars, all hope for planet Earth seemed lost. Our dismal fate appeared sealed and just when the looming darkness of US Weekly began its final descent... the galaxy gave us Neil.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson is the director at the Hayden Planetarium in Manhattan, host of PBS' NOVA ScienceNow, and my personal favorite: creator of Star Talk Radio, a podcast that updates every Sunday where Neil and cohost/comedian Eugene Mirman (@eugenemirman) interview guests and discuss all types of science. 

(I would be remiss if I didn't mention Neil played a major part in revoking Pluto's planetary status. Oh and don't even get him started on the moon clause.)

What separates Neil and makes him (in my humble opinion) the new face of all Science, is his great sense of humor and bit of help from the internet. In 2011, a sketch of Neil's face with his hands raised and the caption "Watch out guys! We're dealing with a bad ass over here!" exploded, with a bit of help from the brief but popular internet meme fad, Neil's face became plastered all over the reddit rage-comics. 

However, unlike many other internet stars, Neil's popularity wasn't fleeting. Just last week, Neil's twitter (@neiltyson) reached over 500,000 followers. As someone who knows very little about physics and the universe, I have found that Neil is a master of simplifying even the most complex sciences. For example:

With all of Neil's fame exploding through television, radio and the internet, he has yet to fall to the darkside. Instead Neil is using his new found popularity to educate the world using humor and simplicity to give the public a better understanding of our universe. I believe he deserves his new fame and celebrity much more than any boring Hollywood actor. Neil is working for the future of our nation and our children by capturing their imaginations. Take a moment to view his video below called We Stopped Dreaming.