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Neil deGrasse Tyson

American astrophysicist and science communicator · United States · Scientists · Born 1958 · age 68

Neil deGrasse Tyson is read about 3,176 times a day, in 67 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.

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He made physics appointments on late-night TV and turned astrophysics into bestsellers people actually finish. Director of the Hayden Planetarium, host of the Cosmos reboot, and the guy who demoted Pluto - then spent years fielding angry mail about it.

ScientistsScientistPhilosophyPhysicsAstronomyMoviesUnited StatesAmericas

A life in dates

2018Carl Sandburg Literary AwardAward2017Dwight Nicholson Medal for OutreachAwardHubbard MedalAwardStephen Hawking Medal For Science CommunicationAward2015Knight Innovation AwardAwardNAS Public Welfare MedalAward2009“Knowing how things work is important, but I think that's an incomplete view of what science literacy is or, at least, should be. Science literacy is an outlook.”In their words21 May 2009Global Ideas from Pluto's Challenger (May 21, 2009)

“Creativity is seeing what everyone else sees, but then thinking a new thought that has never been thought before and expressing it somehow.”In their words21 May 2009Global Ideas from Pluto's Challenger (May 21, 2009)

Isaac Asimov Science AwardAward2008“George Bush, within a week of this [the 9/11 attacks], gave us a speech, attempting to distinguish 'we' from 'they' … and how does he do it?....”In their wordsJune 2008"I, Skeptic - Modern Skepticism in the Internet Age", The Amaz!ng Meeting 6 keynote speech (June 2008).

1998“Yes, the universe had a beginning. Yes, the universe continues to evolve.”In their wordsMarch 1998"The Greatest Story Ever Told", in Natural History Magazine (March 1998) · "The Genesis of the Universe" narrated video at Britannica.com

1958Born5 October 1958

Also in Deutsch

Photos 11

Tyson hosting the 40th anniversary celebration of Apollo 11 at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, July 2009Tyson hosting the 40th anniversary celebration of Apollo 11 at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, July 2009Tyson with students at the 2007 American Astronomical Society conferenceTyson with students at the 2007 American Astronomical Society conferenceTyson in December 2011 at a conference marking 1,000 days after the launch of the spacecraft KeplerTyson in December 2011 at a conference marking 1,000 days after the launch of the spacecraft KeplerTyson promoting the Cosmos TV series in Australia for National Geographic, 2014Tyson promoting the Cosmos TV series in Australia for National Geographic, 2014Tyson in conversation with Richard Dawkins at Howard University, 2010Tyson in conversation with Richard Dawkins at Howard University, 2010Tyson, Bill Nye, and U.S. President Barack Obama take a selfie at the White House, 2014.Tyson, Bill Nye, and U.S. President Barack Obama take a selfie at the White House, 2014.

In their own words 10

,
Neil deGrasse Tyson
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. Knowing how things work is important, but I think that's an incomplete view of what science literacy is or, at least, should be. Science literacy is an outlook.

    May 21, 2009, Global Ideas from Pluto's Challenger (May 21, 2009), Own words

  2. Creativity is seeing what everyone else sees, but then thinking a new thought that has never been thought before and expressing it somehow.

    May 21, 2009, Global Ideas from Pluto's Challenger (May 21, 2009), Own words

  3. George Bush, within a week of this [the 9/11 attacks], gave us a speech, attempting to distinguish 'we' from 'they' … and how does he do it?....

    Jun 2008, "I, Skeptic - Modern Skepticism in the Internet Age", The Amaz!ng Meeting 6 keynote speech (June 2008)., Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Carl Sandburg Literary Award2018
Hubbard Medal2017
Stephen Hawking Medal For Science Communication2017
Dwight Nicholson Medal for Outreach2017
Knight Innovation Award2015
NAS Public Welfare Medal2015
Isaac Asimov Science Award2009
NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal
Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
Science Writing Award

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Neil deGrasse Tyson

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About this person

Tyson studied at Harvard, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia before landing postdoc work at Princeton in 1991. Three years later he joined the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist, and by 1996 he was directing it - steering a $210 million reconstruction finished in 2000. He founded the American Museum of Natural History's Department of Astrophysics in 1997. For a decade starting in 1995, he wrote monthly essays for Natural History (later collected in Death by Black Hole and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry) and answered cosmic questions in StarDate under the pen name "Merlin." He served on two government space commissions and earned NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2004. Then came the screen work: NOVA ScienceNow from 2006 to 2011, the podcast StarTalk in 2009, and in 2014 the Carl Sagan torch-pass, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. The National Academy of Sciences gave him the Public Welfare Medal in 2015 for making the public care about stars again.

Country
United States
Category
Scientists
Type
Scientist
Status
living
Dates
Born 1958 · age 68

In common with Neil

Lawrence M. KraussAlso in 400 Years of the Telescope (2009)Sofía VergaraAlso in This Is Me…Now (2024)Gary BuseyAlso in The Last Sharknado: It's About Time (2018)Nick OffermanAlso in Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)Scoot McNairyAlso in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)John MalkovichAlso in Zoolander 2 (2016)

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