Neil deGrasse Tyson
Author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
About the Author
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was born in New York City on October 5, 1958. Interested in astronomy since he was a child, Tyson gave lectures on the topic at the age of 15. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and was the editor-in-chief for its Physical Science Journal. After earning show more a B.A. in Physics from Harvard in 1980, Tyson received an M.A. in Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983. He earned his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Columbia in 1991. Since 1996, Tyson has held the position of Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at Manhattan's American Museum of Natural History. In 2001, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry. In 2004, Tyson joined the President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy. He has hosted PBS's television show NOVA scienceNOW since 2006. Tyson can also be seen frequently as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Tyson has written many popular books on astronomy, and he began his "Universe" column for Natural History magazine in 1995. In 2009, he published the bestselling book The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet to describe the controversy over Pluto's demotion to dwarf planet. His other books include Accessory to War: The Unspoken alliance between astrophysics and the military. Tyson was recognized in 2004 with the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, and Time named him one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2007. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson at the November 29, 2005 meeting of the NASA Advisory Council, in Washington, D.C. Photo by NASA
Works by Neil deGrasse Tyson
StarTalk: Everything You Ever Need to Know About Space Travel, Sci-Fi, the Human Race, the Universe, and Beyond (2016) 231 copies
Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going (2021) 191 copies
Just Visiting This Planet: Merlin Answers More Questions about Everything under the Sun, Moon, and Stars (1998) 45 copies
Universe: Antimatter Matters 1 copy
Universe: Ends of the World 1 copy
Universe: Onward to the Edge 1 copy
Universe: Outward Bound 1 copy
Universe: On Being Round 1 copy
Universe: Darkness Visible 1 copy
Universe: On Being Dense 1 copy
Tide and Time 1 copy
Universe: Star Magic 1 copy
The Milky Way Bar 1 copy
Universe: Galactic Engines 1 copy
Associated Works
Cosmos: The Story of Cosmic Evolution, Science and Civilisation (1980) — Foreword, some editions — 8,102 copies
Know the Past, Find the Future: The New York Public Library at 100 (2011) — Contributor — 115 copies
Where Did Pluto Go?: A Beginner's Guide to Understanding the "New" Solar System Foreword by Neil DeGrasse Tyson… (2009) — Foreword — 27 copies
NOVA: Origins: fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution [2004 TV series] (2004) — Narrator — 12 copies
Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?: Season 1 — Guest Star — 5 copies
NOVA: Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster [2008 TV episode] — Narrator — 1 copy
How Smart Are Animals? [2011 TV episode] — Narrator — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Tyson, Neil deGrasse
- Legal name
- Tyson, Neil deGrasse
- Other names
- Tyson, Neil
- Birthdate
- 1958-10-05
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, USA (Manhattan)
- Places of residence
- New York City, New York, USA
Manhattan, New York, USA
Bronx, New York, USA
Currier House, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA - Education
- Columbia University (M.Phil|1989|Ph.D|1991(
University of Texas at Austin (MA|1983)
Harvard University (BA|1980)
Bronx High School of Science (1976) - Occupations
- astrophysicist
television host
planetarium director
research associate
professor
radio host - Relationships
- Degrasse Tyson, Cyril (father)
- Organizations
- Planetary Society
New York Academy of Sciences
American Astronomical Society
American Physical Society
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
International Planetarium Society (show all 13)
National Society of Black Physicists
PBS
Hayden Planetarium
Rose Center for Earth and Space
American Museum of Natural History
Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry
President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy - Awards and honors
- People Magazine's "Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive" (2000)
Asteroid Namesake "1312 Tyson" (2001)
Columbia University's Medal of Excellence (2001)
NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (2004)
Klopsteg Memorial Award (2007)
Time's "100 Most Influential People of 2007" (show all 10)
Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award (2009)
Discover Magazine's "50 Best Brains in Science" (2008)
Isaac Asimov Award (2009)
Honorary Doctorate (x18) - Short biography
- Neil deGrasse Tyson (born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, planetary scientist, author, and science communicator.
Since 1996, he has been the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. The center is part of the American Museum of Natural History, where Tyson founded the Department of Astrophysics in 1997 and has been a research associate in the department since 2003.
Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. In 1994, he joined the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist and the Princeton faculty as a visiting research scientist and lecturer. In 1996, he became director of the planetarium and oversaw its $210 million reconstruction project, which was completed in 2000.
From 1995 to 2005, Tyson wrote monthly essays in the "Universe" column for Natural History magazine, some of which were later published in his books Death by Black Hole (2007) and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (2017). During the same period, he wrote a monthly column in StarDate magazine, answering questions about the universe under the pen name "Merlin". Material from the column appeared in his books Merlin's Tour of the Universe (1998) and Just Visiting This Planet (1998). Tyson served on a 2001 government commission on the future of the U.S. aerospace industry and on the 2004 Moon, Mars and Beyond commission. He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in the same year. From 2006 to 2011, he hosted the television show NOVA ScienceNow on PBS. Since 2009, Tyson has hosted the weekly podcast StarTalk. A spin-off, also called StarTalk, began airing on National Geographic in 2015. In 2014, he hosted the television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a successor to Carl Sagan's 1980 series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences awarded Tyson the Public Welfare Medal in 2015 for his "extraordinary role in exciting the public about the wonders of science".
Members
Discussions
Cosmos and Giordano Bruno in Let's Talk Religion (April 2014)
Reviews
Lists
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 58
- Also by
- 14
- Members
- 11,070
- Popularity
- #2,129
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 345
- ISBNs
- 255
- Languages
- 19
- Favorited
- 22
- About
- 1
- Touchstones
- 162