New Delhi: Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, in an exclusive interview with Times Network Group Editor-in-Chief Navika Kumar, revealed his conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his US visit last year. Tyson said that PM Modi shared his space plan with him.
When asked about his conversation with PM Modi, the astrophysicist stated, "You take any opportunity that's offered to meet and greet a world leader who was shaping geopolitics. And so I definitely agreed to that encounter. We met downtown, and we spent maybe 20 minutes to half an hour in conversation."
"And over that time, he shared with me his space plans, right? He wants to put in education centers around the country to excite children to think about space and science and math and technology. And of course, I didn't need to remind him of the significant historical value of the Hindu scholarship that has occurred in the centuries past, major advances in mathematics. Of course, as we know, we get our zero from, I forgot exactly when it would have been 1,200 years ago, something like that," he added.
Tyson's Exclusive Interview With Navika Kumar:
TIMES NOW EXCLUSIVEPM Modi shared with me his space plans. He wants to put education centers to excite children to think about space and science… Astrophysicist @neiltyson tells @NavikaKumar about his meeting with PM Modi last year. pic.twitter.com/5GXu6TaXR2
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) September 23, 2024
Highlighting the importance of zero in astrophysicists, Tyson said, "The zero, very important in all of comes from that culture. But I also commented that the Muslim culture in the golden age of Islam also has a lot of contributions. And the mixture of children of all backgrounds, if they're in the same room, you can say, look at all these great things that these cultures have done in the past."
Tyson also revealed that PM Modi also discussed about discovery centres. "Let's bring it all together as an instrument of peace and of prosperity as we bring it together. So we had very good agreement on this, about how you would have these discovery centres. He had maybe had a different term for it, but that's what we would call it here in the United States, a discovery centre, a place where children can go and it can feed their curiosities, because every child is curious," the astrophysicist said.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi addressed the 79th UN General Assembly session. During his address, the Prime Minister talked about the challenges faced by the countries across the world during his address at the United Nations.
"Success of humanity lies in our collective strengths, not in the battlefield. For global peace and development, reforms are necessary in global organisations. Reform is the key to relevance. Permanent G20 membership to the African Union at the New Delhi Summit was an important step towards this," the Prime Minister stated.