“I’ve got billions and billions of rhymes to flex,
‘Cause I’ve got more rhymes than Carl Sagan’s got turtlenecks.”
Ok. I like the Beastie Boys. The above quote is from one of their songs. The point? Carl Sagan quickly entered the realm of pop culture icons. Through his books and promotion of science via such shows as Cosmos, he brought science education to those who may not have gotten into it otherwise. There aren’t many like him. The combination of deep scientific understanding and ability to talk in a way that engages readers and viewers from all walks of life seems to be a rare gift.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson possesses those qualities. He’s easily approachable, has a passion for science and knows his subject well. Perhaps I’m bias – I think Sagan left some mighty big shoes to fill. Being able to reach both adults and children can be a difficult task. However, from everything I’ve seen, Tyson’s the right man for the job.
Unfortunately, he’s also probably best known as The Man Who Killed Pluto. In his new book The Pluto Files
We are guided through the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh, an American amateur astronomer, to its continuously downgraded estimated size and the discovery of its moon Charon. It’s an American success story.
Fast forward 70 years and we find Tyson working on the planning of the rebuild of the Hayden Planetarium in New York. A giant sphere will house theaters inside. On the outside, the sphere would be used to show a sense of scale. At various points around the sphere it would represent the known universe, our local cluster, the Milkyway, all the way down the very small world of atoms.
At one point around the scale, the sphere represents the sun. On the railing around the walk, are the four interior “rocky” planets. Suspended from the ceiling are the outer four gas giants.
Wait a minute. Are you counting on your fingers right now, or trying to remember the “My very educated mother…” saying your grade school teacher taught you? Obviously, something’s missing. Oh God! What happened to Pluto?
The planetary status of Pluto, and the fallout of a New York Times article a year after the Hayden Planetarium display opened, are the primary focus of the book. Tyson, whose print and electronic mail boxes were soon slammed with letters from, well, everyone from the sounds of it, approaches the subject with a sense of good humor I’d likely be unable to express given the same situation. I think I’d be tempted to file all my email in the recycle bin.
From the letters of school children and teachers, to the often vitriolic critiques from fellow scientists, Tyson takes a light-hearted look at people’s deeply ingrained views on Pluto’s cosmic position. Should it retain Planet status simply to appease tradition? Who’s gonna have to rewrite all those textbooks, anyway? Should it be demoted to a Kuiper Belt Object? There’s bigger stuff than Pluto out there, anyway. Isn’t that right, Eris?
Well, how that all ends is history (to an extent) at this point. Pluto is a Dwarf Planet. But aside from the humor and history, Tyson raises a bigger question. Is how we currently teach students, of all ages, about science and the solar system really the right way?
I hate to use the word paradigm. Really, I do. When I went through grade school (oh, God, it was so long ago…) we were taught exactly how Tyson describes. Learn the mnemonic: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Prunes (Plumbs, Pizzas, Pies… whatever) – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus *snicker*, Neptune, Pluto.
In other words, memorize their place in order, then learn some basic facts about them. Possibly, but not always including the names of moons.
Tyson proposes a new way of looking at our solar system. Perhaps labels aren’t what we should be focusing on. Think of things different places have in common. Weather, volcanoes, aurora – Why do these things happen in certain places. What are the dynamics that drive these forces. Why do some planets have thick atmospheres, and others don’t.
Rote memorization only goes so far. If you want to engage students, keep them interested beyond the classroom, then perhaps a (I told you I hate this word…) paradigm shift is needed.
Pluto is still going to be out there, and it’s still going to be incredibly, temptingly interesting. No matter what you call it.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Laurel Kornfeld // Mar 31, 2009 at 1:25 PM
All is definitely NOT ended when it comes to the status of Pluto. At this point, even Tyson is distancing himself from the IAU demotion, which he accurately describes as “flawed.” At the recent Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, he admitted that it may be too early in the evolution of planetary science for us to be defining the term planet.
The IAU demotion was done by only four percent of its members, most of whom are not planetary scientists, and was opposed by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto.
The IAU definition makes no sense in stating that dwarf planets are not planets at all and in classifying objects solely by where they are while ignoring what they are. That is why there are efforts underway to either overturn the demotion of Pluto or to ignore it altogether.
This debate is far from over. I plan on writing my own book about Pluto within the next few years.
2 Roger Asbury // Mar 31, 2009 at 2:48 PM
Laurel, thanks for your comments. I didn’t mean to imply the debate had ended. My apologies if that’s how it came across.
I’ll look for your book when it comes out. I’m most certainly no expert, but I find this kind of thing fascinating.
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