CNN Howler: Abraham Lincoln Was Pro-Science Back in 1963

[See NewsBusters for more.] Celebrity scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson appeared on CNN, Sunday, to lecture those he deemed too stupid to accept the linkage of climate change to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Proving he should stick to science on TV, deGrasse pompously botched history: “Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president, signed into law in 1963 — a year when he had important things to be thinking about — the National Academy of Sciences.” Of course, Lincoln had been dead for 98 years in 1963. (The bill creating the National Academy of Science was signed by Lincoln on March 3, 1863.) Tyson added, “Because he knew that science mattered and should matter in governance.” History and getting your dates right also matter.