Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson has weighed in on Gravity — the new film starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney — and we can start by saying the Twitter rant was all we could have wished for, and more.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson is an amazing evangelist for science, and so affable that even snark like his Gravity review not only is well-received, but also manages to be tongue-in-cheek without being snooty. Such is Dr. Tyson’s talent for science literacy advocacy that he always is accessible, even when pointing out the flaws in popular depictions of science.
One of the great things about Tyson’s Gravity rant is you can see the wheels turning — first he makes two throwaway comments, and the ball starts rolling. It’s kind of like when your friend who is awesome at something gives you a glimpse of their epic skills in passing.
First the science rockstar jokes that “ #Gravity should be renamed Zero Gravity ,” before adding that the “film #Gravity should be renamed Angular Momentum. ”
Then Dr. Tyson really gets on a roll, explaining how the film Gravity and real-life space stuff don’t always agree. The expert in all things space answers a lot of the questions we may not have even considered asking about the movie and its plot, and how that relates to what goes on in actual missions… and in orbit.
The astrophysicist tweeted:
The film #Gravity depicts a scenario of catastrophic satellite destruction that can actually happen.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity : Why Bullock, a medical Doctor, is servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity : How Hubble (350mi up) ISS (230mi up) & a Chinese Space Station are all in sight lines of one another.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity : When Clooney releases Bullock’s tether, he drifts away. In zero-G a single tug brings them together.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity : Why anyone is impressed with a zero-G film 45 years after being impressed with “2001:A Space Odyssey”
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
You can read the rest of Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Gravity rant over on Twitter .
