Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson is, to my mind, the most valuable kind of scientist: the one who refuses to let knowledge stay locked inside the academy. The medals — NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Hubbard, the Hawking Medal — confirm what anyone who has heard him talk already knows: he treats wonder as a public utility. I am struck by the Bronx Science-to-Harvard arc, a New York kid who looked up past the streetlights and never stopped. Some critics find him too much of a showman; I would argue the showmanship is the point. In an era allergic to expertise, a charismatic translator of the cosmos is not a luxury — he is infrastructure.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (US: də-GRASS; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. 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.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Name (English)

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Name (Japanese)

ニール・ドグラース・タイソン

Reading

にーる・どぐらーす・たいそん

Born

October 5, 1958 (age 67)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Libra / Dog

Origin

Manhattan, New York, United States

Blood type

Private

Height

Private

Agency

Private

Occupation

astrophysicist / science writer / teacher / science communicator / cosmologist

Elementary school

Private

Junior high

Private

High school

Bronx High School of Science

University

Harvard University

Awards & achievements

• 2009 Isaac Asimov Science Award
• 2015 Knight Innovation Award
• NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal
• 2015 NAS Public Welfare Medal
• 2017 Hubbard Medal
• 2017 Stephen Hawking Medal For Science Communication
• Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
• Science Writing Award

Spouse

Private

Children

Private

Parents

Private

Siblings

Private

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttp://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/neildegrassetyson/
• Xhttps://x.com/neiltyson
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%89%E3%82%B0%E3%83%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%82%BD%E3%83%B3

Tags

• New York
• astrophysicist
• science writer
• teacher

Last updated

2026-06-11

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.