Great interviewer. He let Neil complete sentences and looked very much interested too. Other interviewers are always in a hurry to get done with their questions.

A perfect interview. He let the guest speak and don't interrupt him. So many journalists fail at that.

How could you not admire this man, his passion and his ability to communicate in such a way that you feel confident that you will understand what he is saying.

This is perhaps the best interview with mister Tyson that I have ever seen. Many fantastic questions and answers.

I must echo what others have said: THIS is how you conduct an interview. Ted Simons asks concise, serious questions, and then lets his guest answer them at his own pace without interruption. Other hosts spend far too much time trying to be centers of attention, letting their own egos elbow aside the information their guests are there to communicate. Thank you Ted!

What a great interviewer. Always love Tyson, but it's great to see an interviewer whose entire goal is to get the interviewee to be interesting and to ask the right questions at the right time.

probably the best interviewer that Tyson has ever had. good stuff

Gah, why aren't all interviews like this? Great interviewer, really interesting questions, and a decent amount of time provided to the speaker. Well done, Arizona PBS.

Got teary eyed when he gave that anecdote about Sagan.

This guy is GREAT. I'm impressed that to this day he still seems awestruck by his first encounter with Carl Sagan. That he feels a "duty" to educate others is something others should inspire to. Truly a great man. A shame there aren't more like him.

The way Dr. Tyson expresses his love of science is one of the most moving thing's I've ever seen. I think it's rare because atheism has become a social norm so strong (in academia) that people feel they'll lose credibility if they even SOUND religious. Tyson doesn't have this reservation, so he's free to express his feelings about science in a very unusual way. I love how he talks about being “called by the universe”. It's easy to relate to that, since most of us feel as though we have a purpose

This is one of the best interviews I've ever seen. Best questions, excellent interviewee

This interview was conducted very well. Great! Thanks also for the up-loader!

Neil is so genuine and always on the spot and the core of the problem .I find him breathtakingly inspirational. You know someone is talking interesting and smart stuff when you just can't get enough and always watch him with a sort of smile.

The story of his interaction with Carl Sagan is really beautiful, it just goes to show what an inspiring person that he was.

Agree. Best interview ever. I'm glad to see him take the torch from Carl Segan. Carl was the popularizer who brought the wonder of science to us mortals. Now that Carl is gone, I'm very happy to see someone else pick up the torch and carry it. I have watched many presentations my Dr Tyson and I like him more every time I watch. Go Dr Tyson. "How is the Universe Dr Tyson?" He will tell you. THANKS!

I watched most of Neil's interviews and this is one of the best I've seen. Ted Simons asked brilliant questions. And Neil's enthusiasm and passion just shine through.

We need this guy to improve the public understanding of science. His mindset is absolutely spot on.

every time I listen to this man speak it makes me happier that I pursued a degree in physics...thanks for posting this, he is truly a great man peace

If I were in my 20's again I would offer to have this mans child!! He is without a doubt one of the most brilliant men I've come across.

Whenever I see an interview with one of my heros (Bill Hicks, Carl Sagan, George Carlin, Neil deGrasse Tyson) I'm hyper critical of the interviewer: Ted Simons deserves a national platform, he asked great questions, and created a fantastic piece of journalism. Thank all three of you (AZPBS, NdGT, & TS) for this video.

10:37 Teacher here. I completely agree with him that the job of the educator is like driving a stick shift and knowing when to switch the gear. It's challenging when you have vast range of ability levels in your audience. I have several students who understand the periodic table of elements and are ready to learn about the process of nuclear fusion in the sun and other students (in the same class) who are confused by the concept of a "sphere." We're shifting gears for multiple cars at once.

I have work in 6 hours. I think ill just stay up and watch Neil deGrasse Tyson videos until then.

Great interviewer and great questions. This was really enjoyable to watch.

My compliments, not only to Neil DeGrasse Tyson (of whom I have seen and heard many presentations) but also to Ted Simon (hadn't heard of him before). His questions made this interview outstanding. Regards.-

Dr Tyson was very good as usual, the kudos to the interviewer, his questions were meaningful and his style of questioning was excellent.

Such a great and accurate talk about inspiring curiosity. In my own words, 'To inspire someone to learn more about a field of study, you must first interest them with facts. You must develop their ability to become curious and ask questions. And only then, once their curiosity and interest is at a peak, can you introduce the long and arduous learning of calculations to get answers.' I mean, why would I learn complex mathematics if there are no deep personal questions I am trying to solve?

I discovered this via RevTyson's "Carl Sagan's influence on Neil deGrasse Tyson." Wow! We need to chop this interview into many more excerpts and get them viewed by having real titles on the vid. This is so good! It deserves more views!

I love his passion, him and Sagan among others really sincerely love what they do and learning about the world/universe they live in. It really draws the lay person in to learning about this place I believe.

great interview, well prepared host!

That was great, kudos for the interviewer - excellent questioning.

This is a terrific interview. Great, different questions, and informative answers.

I LOVE Neil, this was a great interview. The interviewer is one of the best I've seen too, great well-thought-out questions.

I like this interviewer, he listens and he asks good questions. There's no ego with him. Shame not more interviewers are like this

Wow, what a surprise, great (dare I say perfect?) interview. And even more mind-blowing: a large consensus in the YT comments about the professionalism of the interviewer.

Excellent Interviewer - "Nailed it!" with one of the most important people to live in my life time!

Mr. Tyson is not only brilliant, he is also hilarious and really down to earth. (No pun intended ) I truly wish I had a Science teacher like him growing up! I had to mature, get in my 50's before I developed a love for the Cosmos and our great physicists both today and in the past.

As someone who works for the show, it was at Dr. Tyson's insistence. Ted found it weird, too, but Dr. Tyson insisted he call him something "less formal."

this guy is an EXCELLENT interviewer! he asked all the good questions. dr. tyson is the bomb.

Wow! That was an incredible interview!

I am a big fan of Dr. Tyson. The way he interprets science is exciting, making it more interesting to learn. I wish I was an astrophysicist. I love to learn from great minds, and he is one of them. I'm a fan of Richard Dawkins as well.

I loved this interview, 10/10. Thanks for uploading it.

Beautiful interview. Excellent job from both!

He's right about letting your children be curious. My parents weren't the type that said shut up and sit down, and I wasn't a rebellious teenager, and I also have a connection to the universe like Tyson does.

was a pleasure to watch this.

5:36 to 7:15 - the most beautiful story I've ever heard.

This interviewis outstanding. Perfect. Congratulations!

Great interview they should do a follow up interview since this is 3 yrs old

Neil Tyson great speaker ! Great stories. I can hear him speak for hours. Also good questions. Thanks for posting.

It extraordinarily touching, and I don't think it's even that much about the story itself - it's about what it means to him, which glows from the way he tells it

Congrats for great conducted interview! NDT rocks, such a cool guy :)

excellent interview. well done all!

I love that he has so much respect and looks up to Carl Sagan, since he has really taken up the torch of what Carl Sagan was doing for the general public.

I enjoyed this video immensely! Thank you for posting this.

Tyson is brilliant as usual, but this host also did an outstanding job. Great video!

This man is a genius and is more responsible for inspiring interest and excitement in the universe than perhaps anyone else in the last decade. Fantasy dinner party - Neil DG, Einstein, Sagan, Dawkins, Hawking...and Gervais...obviously

This great man THE MOST beneficial individual on the earth!

I have not seen an interview that well done in a long time...Most interviews tyson gets asked lame questions and interrupted in mid sentence. Every question was very interesting in this interview

I totally agree with your choice of heros, ... but I would like to add two more from the 20th Century, Richard P. Feynman and David Attenborough.

1. This is an old video, from back when it was a recent development. 2. This is in the Land of Lowell, where Pluto is Serious Business. 3. He was one of the people behind it all, and easily the most famous, so obviously he's the one to ask about it. 4. He's an educator. Explaining stuff over and over to people who don't know, until they get it, is kind of his thing.

"We spend the first year a child's life teaching it to walk and speak, and the rest of it's life telling it to sit down and shut up." Brilliance

Great guy! So intelligent and great to listen to. Wish I had him as a science teacher!

Really good interview, succinct questions with fascinating, interesting and awe inspiring responses, I'm high as hell but it still counts.

@REMsleeper428 I agree, this video needs way more views. I am sure it is because of the title. It needs to be explanatory to the content of the video, therefore it will come up way more in searches.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen Fry. Christopher Hitchins (RIP). These are the sorts of great men that make me proud to be a human being.

Very cool, thanks for posting this.

good interview thanks for sharing.

When Neil is talking about Einstein's theory at 17.17, HG Wells explained it in 1895 in "The Time Machine" when George is talking to his friends while showing them the model.

@Erickaf Yes, he was a teacher and researcher at Cornell.

excellent interview!

this is actually a pretty good interview by ted.

Great interview!

neil walks in the footsteps of carl sagan. he's an awesome person and a very important asset to the scientific community. a popularizer of science, and a generally cood dude.

What is the name of the effect responsible for 'rainbows' visible in Neil's shirt?

is there anyway to contact tyson?

This guy is great! Very smart, and very interesting interview.

One of the things that makes me smile, you could say about reality, is how fast light travels. 186,000 miles per second. Fast enough to go around the Earth seven times in one second. And to go from the Earth to the Moon in 1.6 seconds. And fast enough to go from New York City to Los Angeles and back 38 times in one second. If you started at 768 miles per hour, which is the speed sound travels at sea level on Earth, and increased the speed by 768 miles per hour once a second. It would take...

That is amazing . Way to pass the torch Dr(didn't look it up) Sagan !

6 months ago you were doing what I'm doing right now. Mind blown.

love the Sagan story, how nice.

Great interview

Agreed with dinulipati. Well put.

Thank you for uploading this. It's fascinating! Hey Kieth Tyson has had and inspired a lot of "ah ha" moments.

Neil is amazing, and THANK YOU Ted Simons for actually giving him intellectual questions, and not just the boring crap Neil usually has to deal with.. Apart from the Pluto crap..

This guy is great. And the interviewer too.

great questions!! great answers

I just realized he tells part of the story in THIS video. But, yes, the main reason is probably because there are so FEW astrophysicists in the world. Even then, applying to the program would have made him one of a very small handful of folks who would have applied.

great interview the guy actually let him speak

i didnt know about the meeting of a young neil and carl sagan. Thats awsome he met his hero and now hes the hero of so many other.

Sagan was teaching at Cornell when Tyson applied there. There is a great story about Sagan coming and picking him up, taking him to the lab, and later promising him that when he came back if the train couldn't make it for some reason, he should just call him. Sagan gave him his home telephone number and turned him loose. *grin*

i get were he is coming from i lived on a farm till i was around 20 and then in a city till i joined the army. i wish i had been a little younger when i saw it i was around 26 or 27 when i went to Afghanistan can remember the first time i looked up in to the night sky i was aw struck.now i wish i had been able to go to college and learn more about it.

For an astrophysicist, he's so down-to-earth.

great interveiw

That Carl Sagan stories is awesome...

I'd love to have this guy as a teacher

yeah i hate that. i could listen to this guy for ever without ever interrupting him, fascinating.

i would love to meet Neil Tyson.

Pluto is happier, hahahaha. I love it. Great interview, great man.

My wish would be to run in to him and for him to give me one of his books

Wow, this is great!