“I DON’T KNOW IF HE’S A FULL-UP GEEK—THOSE FOLKS CAN CITE DIGITS OF PI AND SOLVE THE RUBIK’S CUBE AND ALL OF THIS. BUT WE’LL CERTAINLY TAKE HIM AS A GEEK SYMPATHIZER,” DR. TYSON SAID.
President Obama, who's been described as our first 'nerd president,' has been known to hang out in MIT research labs and be wedded to his Blackberry.
To find out just how strong his 'geek cred' really is, Politico sat down with astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York and host of PBS's 'NOVA Science Now' program.
The verdict?
Tyson told Politico, 'I think Obama, being a generation where 'Star Trek' was influential on people growing up as kids, one shouldn't be surprised that he would stand proud and say he's of this influence,' adding, 'I don't know if he's a full up geek -- full up geek, those folk can cite digits of Pi and solve the Rubik's Cube and all of this. But we'll certainly take him as a geek sympathizer.'
'Geek sympathizer' isn't bad.
But is Obama the first? Tyson reminds us, 'Consider that President Clinton, he might have been the first president to wear a digital watch.'
Posted By: Richard Kigel
Tuesday, March 16th 2010 at 9:24PM
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