As a regular on popular talk shows, cosmologist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, loves chronicling the mysteries of the cosmos.

During the 2016 World Government Summit, he told delegates that any government wanting to lead in this world had to “embrace science and technology” as the engines of the 21st century world economy.

“We have to create a culture of discovery, those are the most fertile times,” he said. “The US valued exploration discovering every element in 20th century, but three new elements were discovered just weeks ago, one by the Japanese. It doesn’t matter what country you come from or religion you practice, science transcends it.”

Science instilled pride in countries, according to Tyson, with scientists honoured on bank notes around the world, and makes for good marketing, citing German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss as an example.

“Germany is very high on the list in engineering excellence, it’s a selling point. Where did it come from? Gauss on a bank note is a statement from the government [saying that] calculating things is important. Nations want to share the spirit of discovery with its citizens,” he explained.

In the Arab world he pointed out stars tell the story of achievements.
“Two-third of all stars have Arabic names.”