Neil Degrasse Tyson Facts
Neil Degrasse Tyson Facts
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| Interesting Neil Degrasse Tyson Facts: |
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| Neil Tyson was born in New York City and was the second of three children. |
| His mother was a gerontologist for the US Dept of Health and his father was a sociologist and human resource commissioner for New York City. |
| He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science where he was the editor of the Physical Science Journal and captain of the wrestling team. |
| The astronomer Carl Sagan noticed Tyson's college application and invited him to spend the day with at Cornell University. |
| Although he was recruited by Cornell University, he decide to attend Harvard and while there he lettered in wrestling and was a member of the rowing team. |
| In 1980 he earned his BA in Physics from Harvard University. |
| In 1983 he received an MA in astronomy from the University of Texas. |
| He received a master's degree in astrophysics from Columbia University in 1989 and his PhD in 1991. |
| He received funding for his graduate research project from NASA which enabled him to attend meetings abroad. |
| He assisted the Calan/Tololo Supernova Survey in Chile which led to improved measurement of the Hubble constant. |
| He was listed as 18th author with Brian Schmidt who won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for the study of the measurement of distances to Type II Supernovae. |
| After graduation he accepted a postdoctoral research position at Princeton University. |
| In 1996 he became the director of the Hayden Planetarium. |
| He credits mentors from the Planetarium with exciting his interest in astrophysics and he feels an obligation to mentor others and bring astrophysics into the popular arena. |
| From 1995 to 2005 he wrote a monthly column, titled Universe, in Natural History magazine. |
| At the same time he wrote a monthly column for StarDate magazine in which he answered questions from readers. |
| He received the NASA Distinguished Public Service in 2004. |
| In 2005 he was awarded the Science Writing Award and in 2007 was winner of the Klopsteg Memorial Award. |
| In 2015 he received the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal for his "extraordinary role in exciting the public about the wonders of science. |
| He has hosted television shows for Nova and been an engaging and popular guest on several comedy shows to make science accessible to the general public. |
| His has written ten books including The Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist and Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution. |
| His book, Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, was a New York Times bestseller. |
| He has served on several government commissions tasked with recommending our future space policy. |
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