NEW YORK — The Sixers had an out-of-this-world experience when they arrived in New York City on Monday for Tuesday’s game against the Nets.
The team visited the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, where they heard from renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
“He dumbs it down where it’s not astrophysicist speak, and it’s just amazing,” head coach Brett Brown said. “You start going through, what’s the difference in a comet, an asteroid, a meteor, planet, universes, galaxies, stars, moons. He zooms out and he zooms in, and you’re sitting there in this unbelievable planetarium with him just talking to us. Then we had private time at the end.”
The players submitted questions through Elton Brand for deGrasse Tyson to answer. The inquiries ranged from gravity waves to wormholes to life on other planets.
“Quantum mechanics versus Einstein’s theory of relativity,” Hollis Thompson said of the topics covered. “He talked to us about literally how vast the universe is, what we know, what we don’t know about the universe, dark matter, anti-matter, tons of stuff.”
When the Sixers' travel schedule allows, Brown likes to occasionally coordinate a group activity to enhance their experience.
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“I think in small doses it all adds up, experiences like that,” Brown said. “It lets us share another, I think, unique opportunity, a unique experience and hear from somebody that’s world class, world renowned for his area of expertise.”