Neil DeGrasse Tyson: science funding can “guarantee your economic future”

America's Astronomer-in-Chief drives his point home by showing magazine covers with NASA's iconic Earthrise photo.

Rob Pegoraro

Neil DeGrasse Tyson came to Washington on Wednesday to deliver the science-specific version of President Barack Obama's second inaugural address.

Where Obama emphasized the utility and necessity of government doing what citizens cannot do individually across the breadth of society, Twitter's favorite astrophysicist focused on the case for government having a unique capacity to fund basic research.

The occasion for Tyson's speech was the launch of the new House Science and National Labs Caucus, founded by Reps. Randy Hultgren (R-IL; Fermilab is in his district), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM; Los Alamos is in his), and Alan Nunnelee (R-MS). This group isn't the only one aiming for better science funding—the Research And Development Caucus has similar goals and a six-year head start—so the new caucus opted to call attention to its launch with a name-brand guest at the Library of Congress's Coolidge Auditorium.