The events of the last few days have shined a bare light upon one the horrors of our country’s inequalities. The hate and fear perpetrated by religions and demigods and charlatans has choked out the life of another 49 bright lights. Neil deGrasse Tyson is a famed astrophysicist and promoter of the sciences. Yesterday he used his expertise and his access to millions on Twitter to talk about rainbows.
xThe exact Rainbow any of us sees in the sky is entirely our own -- a personal, yet communal gift from the laws of optics.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016 xRainbows are always the same angular size in the sky — they are various segments of a circle that is 84-degrees across.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016 xA Rainbow forms only broadside to your line of sight. That's why the pot of Gold at its base remains eternally out of reach.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016 xIsaac Newton, in Opticks (1704), published his discovery that white light is composed of colors - the colors in Rainbows.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016 xIf we had vision like @StarTrek’s Giordi, Rainbows would look twice as thick, and include parts of ultraviolet & infrared.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016 xNewton assigned seven colors to the color-continuous Rainbow: Red-Orange-Yellow-Green-Blue-Indigo-Violet. Meet ROY G. BIV
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016 xMost people can take or leave Indigo as a Rainbow color, but Newton was mystically fascinated with 7, so we’re stuck with it.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016 xAnd sometimes you will find colors of the Rainbow on flags. pic.twitter.com/fl9AJuJANK
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 14, 2016I never thought science could make me feel so many emotions.