Neil deGrasse Tyson
The late twentieth century saw a growing public appetite for science communication, as researchers and educators began reaching beyond academic journals to engage broader audiences. Neil deGrasse Tyson, born on October 5, 1958, in Manhattan, emerged from that environment as an astrophysicist, astronomer, physicist, author, and science communicator whose career has spanned both institutional research and public outreach.
Tyson's education took him through Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy and the Bronx High School of Science before he went on to Harvard College and Columbia University, where he also attended the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He completed further study at the University of Texas at Austin. From 1991 to 1994, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University, and in 1994 he joined the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist while also serving Princeton as a visiting research scientist and lecturer. Since 1996, he has been the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City — a role that placed him at one of the country's most prominent public science institutions.
His institutional contributions have extended well beyond the directorship. In 1997, Tyson founded the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History, and since 2003 he has served there as a research associate. That combination of research and institutional leadership has defined much of his professional life, running alongside his work as a science writer and author.
Recognition for his efforts has come from several directions. Tyson has received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, which the agency awards for contributions that have benefited NASA's mission. He has also received the Isaac Asimov Science Award and the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, the latter acknowledging his work as a writer. Those honors, taken together, reflect the range of his activity across scientific research, public communication, and the written word.
Quotes by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson's insights on:
Space in general gave us GPS. That's not specifically NASA, but it's investments in space.
You know that passage in the Bible that says, ‘And the meek shall inherit the Earth’? Always wondered if that was mistranslated. Perhaps it actually says, “And the geek shall inherit the Earth.
I have to recognize the elements of exploration that excite people. It's not only the discoveries and the beautiful photos that come down from the heavens; it's the vicarious participation in discovery itself.
I said that if an alien came to visit, I'd be embarrassed that we fight wars to pull fossil fuels out of the ground to run our transportation. They'd be like,'What?'
In 5-billion years the Sun will expand & engulf our orbit as the charred ember that was once Earth vaporizes. Have a nice day.
The cosmic perspective not only embraces our genetic kinship with all life on Earth but also values our chemical kinship with any yet to be discovered life in the universe, as well as our atomic kinship with the universe itself.
No astrophysicist would deny the possibility of life. I think we're not creative enough to imagine what life would be like on another planet. Show me a dead alien. Better yet, show me a live one.
Stephen Hawking's been watching too many Hollywood movies. I think the only kind aliens in Hollywood are the ones created by Steven Spielberg — 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and 'E.T.,' for example. All other aliens are trying to suck our brains out.
I think the greatest people in society carved niches that represented the unique expression of their combinations of talents, and if everyone had the luxury of expressing the unique combination of talents in this world, our society would be transformed overnight.
For centuries, epilepsy was the exact expectation of someone being possessed by the Devil. There was no better explanation, and it allows you to admit the existence of the Devil. If there's a Devil, that mean's there's a God.