Martian Sky a Taupe-salmon Pink, Says the Man Who Should Know

By Trevor Brasfield

 

Every once in a while a man or woman comes around who changes the face of science forever. Think Albert Einstein, Madame Currie, Stephen Hawking.

 

Utah State experienced one such man.

 

He happens to be Bill Nye "The Science Guy," a television personality who has made science fun and interesting for millions of young Americans.

 

Nye is a graduate of Cornell University, and a former standup comedian. Hence his jokes are funny and educational.

 

A packed crowd was on hand at the Kent Concert Hall on Thursday and many standing ovations were given to Nye as he entered the auditorium to talk to us about his love of science and his amazing Mars probe sundial. He gave not only a riveting speech on sundials but also shared many slides.

 

Sundials were, as he put it, his father's passion. Nye learned from that passion and talked NASA into incorporating one on the Mars Rover, not only to show the time on Mars, but to also figure out the true color of the Mars sky. The answer to that question has eluded NASA scientists for a long time.

 

So his lecture on Mars consisted solely of the fascinating experience of creating a sundial specifically for Mars and the outstanding findings that they have uncovered due to Nye's sundial. It took Nye and a partner five years to design and build the sundial, which sounds like a long time, but the sundial had to incorporate Mars' distance from the sun, which is much farther than Earth's, and a unique coloring scheme on the base of the sundial. The coloring scheme would help determine the true color of the sky without having to set foot on Mars.

 

They have found that the color is a salmon-pink-taupe-type color, as Nye put it.

 

During the hour-plus presentation, the power went out twice and Nye never skipped a beat. He took questions afterward from the audience, and that is where he spoke of his start in "show business." Turns out he was a standup comedian in Seattle before he became the legendary "Science Guy" and even won a Steve Martin lookalike contest in 1976 for the Pacific Northwest. That catapulted him into the comedic spotlight in Seattle.

 

Nye left USU with words of wisdom: "You could change the world." Meaning, with science and hard learning we can achieve anything.