--- title: Neil deGrasse Tyson Teaches B.o.B that the Earth Is Round description: The renowned physicist tries convincing B.o.B that the Earth isn't really flat. canonical: https://time.com/4193114/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-25T20:59:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:54.063Z og:title: Neil deGrasse Tyson Teaches B.o.B the Earth is Actually Round og:description: B.o.B just wants us all to "grow up" and understand the Earth is flat og:url: https://time.com/4193114/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt861766fcfd420ffe/69887a890a4a2285c49c80de/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat-round.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: AOL BUILD Presents: "Star Talk" og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Neil deGrasse Tyson Teaches B.o.B the Earth is Actually Round twitter:description: B.o.B just wants us all to "grow up" and understand the Earth is flat twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt861766fcfd420ffe/69887a890a4a2285c49c80de/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat-round.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Neil deGrasse Tyson Tries Teaching Rapper B.o.B That the Earth is Actually Round > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=39ca316b-ec3a-482d-9f00-27868defc37a&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 10 Questions for Neil deGrasse Tyson [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1ubX2tzy.m3u8) (6:18)  _Published 2008-07-02. Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History and host of NOVA scienceNOW_ by [Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly Jan 25, 2016 8:59 PM UTC Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History and host of NOVA scienceNOW by [Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly Jan 25, 2016 8:59 PM UTC You can add “flat earth” alongside “chemtrails” to the ever-growing list of hilarious celebrity hoaxes. B.o.B. has been off the singles charts for awhile but recently launched back to fame (or infamy) with a string of tweets calling the earth flat. Every elementary school student learns that Christopher Columbus disproved the existence of a flat earth by sailing to the Americas in 1492 (and some later learn that the theory was widely discredited even before that), but that’s not cutting it for B.o.B. > [](https://twitter.com/bobatl/status/691439089543880704) > [](https://twitter.com/bobatl/status/691437469925900289) Enter America’s chief celebrity physicist. Neil deGrasse Tyson came along to do exactly the kind of thing he should be doing: correcting celebrity misconceptions. > [](https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/691647814338629632) > [](https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/691650342363209729) B.o.B. wasn’t having Tyson’s explanation. (He’s already tweeted two hour-long YouTube conspiracy videos – he’s in too deep now.) But thankfully Tyson reminded fans that an artist espousing crazy views doesn’t need to impact how we enjoy their music. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/01/25/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-flat-earth?xid=IFT-Trending) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com) ## Transcript [00:05] >>We're here with Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, [00:07] astrophysicist at Manhattan's American Museum of [00:10] Natural History and host of PBS' NOVA ScienceNOW for [00:13] TIME's 10 Questions. Neil, thanks for being with us [00:15] today. [00:15] >>I'm ready for you. [00:17] >>What should be done about the fact that our kids [00:19] lag lowfully far behind children in other countries in the [00:22] areas of physics and mathematics? [00:23] >>You know my first reply is, as a parent? [00:27] >>Uh- huh. [00:28] >>Get out of their way. When you're a kid, you're born [00:31] a scientist. What does a scientist do? We look up and [00:33] say, " I wonder what that is. Let me go find out ." [00:36] >>Right. [00:36] >>Let me poke it, let me break it. Let me-- let me [00:39] turn it around. This is what kids do. [00:43] >>Uh- huh. [00:43] >>You can't let a kid alone for a minute without them [00:46] laying waste to your couch, okay? Because they're [00:49] grabbing stuff off the [ unk ]. So, what do we do? We [00:51] prevent that. [00:52] >>Uh- huh. [00:52] >>We prevent these depths of curiosity from revealing [00:55] themselves, even within our own residences. And so, I [00:59] swore that when I had kids-- and I do have kids. I got [01:01] an 11- year- old and a 7. But when they were young, [01:03] and still today-- [01:04] >>Uh- huh. [01:04] >>If they see something they wanna experiment with, [01:06] even if they might break it, I just let it go. Let the [01:10] experiment run its course. Because therein are the [01:13] souls of-- is the soul of curiosity that leads to the kind [01:17] of mind you would want as a scientist. [01:20] >>So, you talk about events that can cause the end of [01:22] the world. Does this knowledge keep you awake at [01:25] night? [01:26] >>Yes. Yes. It might keep [01:30] me awake in a different way than others. There are [01:33] many people who when faced with disaster, impending [01:38] disaster, they say to themselves, " Okay. Let me buy [01:41] emergency food, let me find a shelter to go to, let me [01:44] alert the autho-- let me --" Okay. When you're trained [01:48] as a scientist or an engineer, that's not the first thing [01:51] you think of. First thing you think of is how can I [01:54] prevent the disaster? [01:56] >>Right. [01:57] >>Here comes the asteroid. You're gonna right-- run [01:59] away from it or you're gonna say, " how can I figure out [02:01] how to deflect it ?" [02:03] >>Uh- huh. [02:03] >>That's why you want scientists and engineers in [02:06] your myths. Otherwise, you're just running away from [02:09] every possible disaster that could affect life on earth. [02:12] And what kind of life is that? [02:14] >>What is the most astounding fact you can share with [02:17] us about the universe? [02:21] >>The most astounding fact, the most astounding fact [02:24] is the knowledge that [02:28] the atoms that comprise life on earth, the atoms [02:34] that make up the human body, are traceable to [02:38] a crucible that cooked light elements [02:43] into heavy hearts in their core, under extreme [02:48] temperatures and pressures. These stars, the [02:51] high- massed ones among them, when unstable in [02:54] their later years, they collapse and then exploded, [02:58] scattering their enriched guts across [03:02] the galaxy. Guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, [03:09] and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These [03:12] ingredients become part of gas clouds that condense, [03:16] collapse, form the next generation of solar systems, [03:21] stars with orbiting planets. And those planets now have [03:24] the ingredients for life itself. So [03:29] that when I look up at the night sky, and I know that [03:32] yes, we are part of this universe, we [03:37] are in this universe-- but perhaps more important [03:42] than both of those facts is that the universe is in us. [03:47] When I reflect on that fact, I look up. Many [03:51] people feel small 'cause they're small and the universe [03:53] is big. But I feel big because my [03:58] atoms came from those stars. [04:02] >>If you could meet and talk with any scientist who's [04:05] ever lived who would it be and why? [04:07] >>Isaac Newton. Isaac Newton. [04:09] >>Why? [04:10] >>No question about it. Isaac Newton. The [04:14] smartest person ever, ever [04:18] to walk the face of this earth. You read his writings. [04:22] The man was connected to the universe in spooky [04:26] ways. The most successful scientist in the history of the [04:29] world are those who pose the right questions. If I ask [04:33] you, at what temperature does the number 7 melt? [04:39] What's the square root of a pork chop? These are [04:41] meaningless questions. Maybe philosophers would [04:43] [ unk ] with it, but scientific, they're scientifically [04:45] meaningless. Abandon and go on to the next problem. [04:48] Newton, his questions reached in to the soul [04:52] of the universe. And he pulled out insights and wisdom [04:56] that transformed our understanding of our place and [04:58] the cosmos. [05:00] >>Uh- huh. [05:00] >>Somebody said, " Ike, why is it that planets orbit in [05:02] the shape you call ellipsis rather than circles? Why that [05:05] shape ?" And he says, " You know, I'll get back to you [05:09] on that. I'll get back to you ." Goes away for a few [05:12] months, come back. " Here's the answer. Here's the [05:14] answer. Here's why gravity produces ellipsis for [05:16] orbits ." The guy said, " Well, how did you finally figure [05:19] it out ?" " Well, I had to invent this new kind of [05:21] mathematics to do it. He invented Calculus. Most [05:25] of us sweat through it for multiple years in school just [05:28] to learn it. He invented it practically on a dare. He [05:32] discovered the Laws of Motion, the Laws of Gravity, the [05:35] Laws of Optics. Then, [05:40] he turned 26. Okay? [05:46] >>I'm with you. [05:47] >>And I own everything he's ever written. Most of [05:50] which written in his-- in his day. [05:52] >>Uh- huh. [05:53] >>I commune through time as I read Isaac Newton, [05:59] transporting me into a time and a place where people [06:02] were just figuring out how this universe worked. And [06:08] for me, that's thrilling and humbling. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4193114/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4193114/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat/"},"headline":"Neil deGrasse Tyson Tries Teaching Rapper B.o.B That the Earth is Actually Round","datePublished":"2016-01-25T20:59:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:40:54.063Z","description":"B.o.B just wants us all to \"grow up\" and understand the Earth is flat","url":"https://time.com/4193114/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt861766fcfd420ffe/69887a890a4a2285c49c80de/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat-round.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt861766fcfd420ffe/69887a890a4a2285c49c80de/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat-round.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"AOL BUILD Presents: \"Star Talk\"","caption":"Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson attends AOL BUILD Presents: \"Star Talk\" at AOL Studios In New York on October 28, 2015 in New York City.","creditText":"Desiree Navarro–WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4193114/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat/","name":"Neil deGrasse Tyson Tries Teaching Rapper B.o.B That the Earth is Actually Round"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions for Neil deGrasse Tyson","description":"Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History and host of NOVA scienceNOW","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1ubX2tzy/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2008-07-02T20:17:28.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1ubX2tzy.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4193114/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat/","duration":"PT6M18S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4193114/neil-degrasse-tyson-bob-earth-flat/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```