neil degrasse tyson is on a one- man mission to change that. et people so interested in the universe that they look up every time they go out. tyson is re-igniting a fascination for the great beyond. he's succeeded carl sagan as the country's most captivating scientific communicator. here's something you haven't seen before-- an astrophysicist, on stage, in a sold-out auditorium. ( cheers and applause ) his following has grown as he has mastered many mediums, including television, twitter, and radio. >> neil degrasse tyson: the good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. ( cheers and applause ) >> rose: we caught up with him in seattle, where he said, "a cosmic perspective could improve life on earth." >> tyson: we, in astrophysics, we think of the universe all the time. so, to us, earth is just another planet. from a distance, it's a speck. and i'm convinced that if everyone had a cosmic perspective, you wouldn't have legions of armies waging war on other people because someone would say, "stop, look at the univ

neil degrasse tyson is re- igniting a fascination for the great beyond.cceeded carl sagan as the country's most captivating scientific communicator. >> when i was 11, i said, "this is so amazing, who wouldn't want to study the universe?" >> rose: what was so amazing? >> the endless frontier of it all, the vastness of it, the mystery of it. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm lara logan. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm charlie rose. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." >> cbs money watch update brought to you in part by: >> good evening. the new prime minister of greece meets with germany's chancellor tomorrow over growing tensions over the greek bailout crisis. the number of working oil rigs in the u.s. is down to 825 a 50% drop from last october. and today delphi's driverless car began a cross country trip. i'm vinita nair, cbs news. ♪ the new, twenty-fifteen ford focus believes in "more." more to see. more to feel. ♪ more to make things really really... interesting. ♪ the new focus. from the auto brand more people buy, an

charlie: there was neil degrasse tyson going up onto the roof with a telescope. ne: neil was a kid. he was born in the 1950's, 1958, i think. he described he was the only african-american kid in his whole building. he said, what are the chances of anyone looking out their window in new york and seeing anyone on their rooftop across the way? he was up on a roof with a telescope -- he was about 12 and his father had given him a telescope as a birthday present. he had the telescope and somebody called the police. charlie: because there was an extension cord going up to the -- wasn't there? arlene: well, he had a cord snaked from the telescope to a dentist friend's apartment down below. this other person who called the police must have seen this bazooka-like thing on the roof. who knows? the police came and he completely disarmed them by showing them the craters of the moon through the telescope. they also saw he was a kid and that worked out all right. charlie: listen to this -- arlene alda graduated phi beta kappa from hunter college. received a fulbright scholarshi

i would tell you what it means but i know neil degrasse tyson thankfully joins me tonight.to ask and they're all dumb because my knowledge of science is virtually, but before i get to those, how can you tell when there's an eclipse? >> it's physics. >> which i never took. >> it's a cheap answer. >> but you can tell the date of the next eclipse a couple years from now. >> in physics and astro physics, we're the best predictors of the future there ever was, perhaps ever will be because we're armed, we're equipped with our utility valid math and formulas and -- >> turn to a liberal arts major. >> it's profound. we can write down an equation and tell you the future behavior of the sun, moon planets and stars. >> so this is do you really get behind blind with an eclipse? >> the reason these warnings go out is there might be a reason for you. >> next i'm going to ask you who between super man and bat man. >> so can go there. i could so go there. iron man would be the winner. so with an eclipse, if you have an urge to look at the sun then, saying no. don't look unless you have pro

neil degrasse tyson out in the bay area area last week, and he came by the office and i was asking him about an extraordinary exchange he had -- some of you may have seen this -- i think it was last christmas, and he tweeted out that on this day december 25, we celebrate -- i will do a bad job of paraphrasing, but this is the spirit of it, for you fact-checkers -- "on this day, we celebrate a man who was born, and by the time he was 30 revolutionized the world. happy birthday, isaac newton." it turns out people assign very special value to december 25 and he heard an earful about that, but to your question, any tweets that we or others regret -- he certainly was unapologetic in having made that. you know, i think, again, people are provocative in their lives. he is certainly a provocative member of our society, and i think he is probably just as provocative now as he was before twitter, it is just that we all get to experience it along with him. those types of behaviors, i love seeing. dean lyons: that is part of why the university is such an exciting place. the marketplace for ideas i

neil degrasse tyson out in the bay area area last week, and he came by the office and i was asking him about an extraordinary exchange he had -- it have seen the -- i think it was last christmas, and he tweeted out that on this day, december 25, we celebrate -- i will do a bad job of paraphrasing, but this is the spirit of it, for you fact-checkers -- "on this day we celebrate a man who was born, and by the time he was 30 revolutionized the world. happy birthday, isaac newton." it turns out people assigned very special value to december 25, and he heard an earful about that, but to your question any tweets that we or others regret -- he certainly was unapologetic and having made that. you know, i think again, people are provocative in their lives. he is certainly a provocative member of our society, and i think he is probably just as provocative now as he was before twitter, it is just that we all get to experience it along with him. those types of behaviors, i love seeing. dean lyons: that is part of why the university is such an exciting place. the marketplace for ideas is open, and