is a program that is organized and funded by PAMKA. Uh, it is to bring

to campus outstanding speakers who will engage our students and our faculty

and our families and it is also our pleasure to be able to open it up to

the larger community. So we welcome you all. We're really delighted that you've

braved the elements to join us tonight

Before we get going, uh, with our program tonight there are just a couple people that i want to thank

for making it possible for us. Uh, first Amy South. Amy, where are you?

Amy's around somewhere. Amy is our community vice president

There she is, in the back

she is uh, ultimately, responsible for, uh, the entire event tonight

Next is Lucy [Botsick??]. Lucy is in the doorway up there. Lucy has

executed every single detail for tonight.

We have Trish Perlmutter

Trish has sheparded this program from the very beginning

And last but not least,

Judy Polonofsky and Debbie Kozak who make absolutely everything

happen for us here at MKA So thank you very much

So now, without further ado it's my pleasure to introduce

the headmaster of the Montclair Kimberly Academy, Tom Nammack

Good evening, and welcome. I'm delighted to welcome you to the Monclair Kimberly Academy

And I want to also thank again our parents' association.

They have made this evening possible for us

while the program

is free of charge

it's not clear expectations

for how we will conduct ourselves as an audience

I have a couple things I'd like to ask of you

Please, there's to be no

electronic recording

audio or video

please don't hold your phones up to take pictures

mostly because it distracts the people behind you

and we'd really like to focus on our very special guests this evening

it's my privilege to introduce our guests

i think they're well known to all of you

but I do want to say a couple things about them

Doctor Tyson

has been a frequent guest on the Colbert report

but, uh, or "Report" I guess is the proper

pronunciation

We're delighted that he's here

and we are also delighted and, uh

um... very grateful

that mr stephen colbert has agreed to interview him

for our benefit

Stephen Colbert

comedian, author

and host of the Colbert Report

is both one of the funniest

and possibly the bravest comedians of our time

I want you to consider his performance

at the national press club dinner in 2007

as he, uh, as he stood just a few feet from the President of the United States

known the rest of us as the most powerful man in the world

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

astrophysicist, Director of the Hayden Planetarium

author of nine books, teacher, lecturer

host of Nova's four-part series "Origins"

and member of two presidential commissions

on United States aerospace industry

and the future of our country's space exploration

Dr. Tyson has a gift for working successfully

within the realms of research,

education, and policy formation

i owe you all an explanation about our theater tonight

what you see on stage

is the beginning of a set

for a seventh-grade production of "Romeo and Juliet"

this year's selection

for what is as i said an annual performance

and I think it's fitting that Dr tyson is going to warmup the stage

for the two most famous star-crossed lovers in all of American literature

it occurred to me that there are few things

that stephen colbert

and Neil Tyson have in common

and I wanted to comment on them

both of them

share

an over-arching purpose

to make sense of the world

They also share a common strategy

They often look to the stars

human or heavenly

for evidence of how things work

though Stephen Colbert is far tougher

on the objects caught in his gaze

Whereas Dr. Tyson is only known

to have obliterated Pluto.

they share methods in their respective fields, whether it is the search

for evidence that makes sense of the world and the universe

or the creative construction of questions and tests

by which the truth and significance of who

or what is before them are evaluated

Perhaps then,

they both have something in common with william shakespeare

the desire to provide their audience with a lens

to see the world

from the previously unconsidered

point of view

and not just as others would have us see it

So while the stars may be dazzling

training and instinct appear to have taught each of them

to look away from celestial bodies

i'm really sorry i had to get that bad cliche in there somewhere

and to consider the effects

that those celestial bodies have on everything

and everyone around them

In addition to the challenge of questions

that each of them

make us confront, their work

has given the world a little more of that very rare

and gem-like substance

known as the truth

Or in Stephen Colbert's case: "truthiness"

and we are very grateful. ladies and gentlemen

Mr. Stephen Colbert

and Doctor Neil deGrasse Tyson

"Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo"

Uh, I don't know

Neil, thanks so much for coming Yeah ... thank you.

Mr/Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson is

he's been on my show six times

and often when I come out

to brief the audience before I do my show

they ask me "who's your favorite guest of all time?"

and I say, not just for volume, but it's Neil DeGrasse Tyson

but because not only uh... do I love what neil knows

but uh, I love

that he loves what he doesn't know

always interested in the next thing to learn (Oh yeah) and always rolled to whatever

idiocy my character wants to throw on him

I think the only time i ever surprised you as you told me a

a little while ago

uh was i asked you should uh... should scientists go to Argentina or hike

the Appalachian trail

If they want people to talk about them

it's the universe talking there the universe [??]

Yeah that ... I missed that one Yeah you missed that news story

To go on his show

it's like the hardest interview ever

I have to, like, I'm laden with current events just

to mix with my science cause I don't know where he's gonna come at me

and I gotta be, like, ready with seven tennis rackets

to hit it back

And on set with that one news story remember with that guy, was it south carolina guy

who remembers

He goes to Argentina and becomes well-known for having done so and you ask me straight-out

should scientists

visit Argentina more often to become better known

and it just went.. I just

you aced me on that one (You're welcome)

Now, Neil, we've got a lot of talk about tonight (yeah) a lot of

subjects science is a big thing but i want to start off with

this is not a bribe (that's alright)

I want to start off with .. with these chairs I feel myself sliding

No, no

This stage is not level

oh welcome to the barn raising

Didn't realize we were speaking before the Omish tonight

That's gonna

make it tought to talk about science and technology

All right, Neil

i want to start uh...

i want to start, in a broad way

are you Tweeting now, or are you actually trying to interview me?

no, i'm just looking at ...

i'm just looking at photos of myself

get a little work done I need a little freshen up

let me ask you a very basic question: science

from

"scientia", Latin, meaning knowledge

I didn't take Latin but I'll take your word for it

is it better

to know

or not to know

i think