“Dinosaurs are extinct today because they lacked opposable thumbs and the brainpower to build a space program.”

— Neil deGrasse Tyson , book The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist

Source: The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Neil deGrasse Tyson 89

American astrophysicist and science communicator 1958

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An earlier similar quotation can be found in:
The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don't have a space program, it'll serve us right!
By Larry Niven As quoted by Arthur C. Clarke in "Meeting of the Minds : Buzz Aldrin Visits Arthur C. Clarke" by Andrew Chaikin (27 February 2001) http://web.archive.org/web/20010302082528/http://www.space.com/peopleinterviews/aldrin_clarke_010227.html