Since I was a little boy, I have always had an interest in the cosmos. I watch all the shows and specials on National Geographic Channel and the Science Channel. Hands down, my favorite astrophysicist is Neil deGrasse Tyson (Michio Kaku being a close second). Tyson is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space and a research associate in the department of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History.
I have read many of his books including, Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries, and the highly publicized The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet. I even had the opportunity to hear him speak at the Hayden Planetarium several summers ago, where his celebrity status among nerds and space enthusiasts became even more apparent.
While many of you might know him best for his frequent appearances on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Jeopardy!, I enjoy him most on his PBS television series NOVA scienceNOW. I saw it last year, but it seemed more appropriate to share now that I have been blogging on these sorts of topics. In this segment, Tyson visits Andy Hildebrand at Antares Audio Technologies to explore how “Autotune” works. The software that many of us take for granted today, has a long and daunting history of development, but has been employed to expand the creative musical process.