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Neil deGrasse Tyson

Goodreads Author

Born

in New York, New York, The United States

Website

http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/

Twitter

neiltyson

Genre

Science, Nonfiction, Astrophysics

Influences

Carl Sagan ...more

Member Since

December 2017

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Neil deGrasse Tyson was born and raised in New York City where he was educated in the public schools clear through his graduation from the Bronx High School of Science. Tyson went on to earn his BA in Physics from Harvard and his PhD in Astrophysics from Columbia.

In 2001, Tyson was appointed by President Bush to serve on a twelve-member commission that studied the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry. The final report was published in 2002 and contained recommendations (for Congress and for the major agencies of the government) that would promote a thriving future of transportation, space exploration, and national security.

In 2004, Tyson was once again appointed by President Bush to serve on a nine-member commission on the Implementation o Neil deGrasse Tyson was born and raised in New York City where he was educated in the public schools clear through his graduation from the Bronx High School of Science. Tyson went on to earn his BA in Physics from Harvard and his PhD in Astrophysics from Columbia.

In 2001, Tyson was appointed by President Bush to serve on a twelve-member commission that studied the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry. The final report was published in 2002 and contained recommendations (for Congress and for the major agencies of the government) that would promote a thriving future of transportation, space exploration, and national security.

In 2004, Tyson was once again appointed by President Bush to serve on a nine-member commission on the Implementation of the United States Space Exploration Policy, dubbed the “Moon, Mars, and Beyond” commission. This group navigated a path by which the new space vision can become a successful part of the American agenda. And in 2006, the head of NASA appointed Tyson to serve on its prestigious Advisory Council, which guides NASA through its perennial need to fit ambitious visions into restricted budgets.

In addition to dozens of professional publications, Dr. Tyson has written, and continues to write for the public. From 1995 to 2005, Tyson was a monthly essayist for Natural History magazine under the title Universe. And among Tyson’s fifteen books is his memoir The Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist; and Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution, co-written with Donald Goldsmith. Origins is the companion book to the PBS NOVA four-part mini-series Origins, in which Tyson served as on-camera host. The program premiered in September 2004.

Two of Tyson’s other books are the playful and informative Death By Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, which was a New York Times bestseller, and The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet, chronicling his experience at the center of the controversy over Pluto’s planetary status. The PBS NOVA documentary The Pluto Files, based on the book, premiered in March 2010.

In February 2012, Tyson released his tenth book, containing every thought he has ever had on the past, present, and future of space exploration: Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier.

For five seasons, beginning in the fall of 2006, Tyson appeared as the on-camera host of PBS NOVA’s spinoff program NOVA ScienceNOW, which is an accessible look at the frontier of all the science that shapes the understanding of our place in the universe.

During the summer of 2009 Tyson identified a cadre of professional standup comedians to assist his effort in bringing science to commercial radio with the NSF-funded pilot program StarTalk. Now also a popular Podcast, for three years it enjoyed a limited-run Television Series on the National Geographic Channel. StarTalk combines celebrity guests with informative yet playful banter. The target audience is all those people who never thought they would, or could, like science. In its first year on television and in three successive seasons, it was nominated for a Best Informational Programming Emmy.

Tyson is the recipient of twenty-one honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest award given by NASA to a non-government citizen. His contributions to the public appreciation of the cosmos have been recognized by the International Astronomical Union in their official naming of asteroid “13123 Tyson.” And by zoologists, with the naming of Indirani Tysoni, a native species of leaping frog in India. On the lighter side, Tyson was voted “Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive” by People Magazine in 2000.

More recently, Tyson published Astrophysics for People In A Hurry in 2017, which was a domestic and international bestseller. This adorably readable book is an introduction to all that you’ve read and heard about that’s making news in the universe—consummated, in one plac ...more

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Neil deGrasse Tyson’s books

Average rating: 4.09 · 295,039 ratings · 25,950 reviews · 67 distinct works • Similar authors

	Astrophysics for People in a Hurry 4.08 avg rating — 188,587 ratings — published 2017 — 88 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries 4.10 avg rating — 31,237 ratings — published 2006 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization 4.11 avg rating — 12,877 ratings — published 2022 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson (Goodreads Author), Donald Goldsmith 4.14 avg rating — 10,485 ratings — published 2004 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Letters From An Astrophysicist 4.06 avg rating — 7,975 ratings — published 2019 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier by Neil deGrasse Tyson (Goodreads Author), Avis Lang (Editor) 3.99 avg rating — 6,882 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet 3.87 avg rating — 7,073 ratings — published 2008 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military by Neil deGrasse Tyson (Goodreads Author), Avis Lang 3.64 avg rating — 4,760 ratings — published 2018 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going by Neil deGrasse Tyson (Goodreads Author), James Trefil, Lindsey N. Walker (Editor) 4.17 avg rating — 3,223 ratings — published 2021 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour by Neil deGrasse Tyson (Goodreads Author), Michael A. Strauss, J. Richard Gott 4.25 avg rating — 3,015 ratings — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Neil deGrasse Tyson's Blog

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in digestible chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.

Release Date: May 2, 2017—Preorder now

Series by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries (1 book)
by

Neil deGrasse Tyson (Goodreads Author)

4.09 avg rating — 32,701 ratings

Merlin (2 books)
by

Neil deGrasse Tyson (Goodreads Author),

Stephen J. Tyson (Illustrator)

4.04 avg rating — 746 ratings

Summer is winding down, but that’s OK, as long as there are good books to read. As it happens, there are some great new books coming in...

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Neil’s Recent Updates

Neil Tyson answered Suzanne Griffiths's question: What's your opinion about online education? It became immensely popular during the Covid era, partly because it was a forced emergency measure, but what about now? Live teachers in a classroom or lecture hall are not nearly as inspiring as they should be. This empirical fact tells me that in-person lectures are over-rated and could easily be replaced with guided, on-line educational tools. The success of the Ka See Full Answer
Jan 25, 2023 05:03AM · 70 likes · like David Blankenship I agree! I got my degree online and a decade before the pandemic. I found the self drive to study most impactful. Jan 25, 2023 05:21PM · flag Amber Luke The 'thing' about being in person...is engaging with your professor and the engagement in class. There is a loss with not being in person at least in ...more Feb 17, 2024 04:23AM · flag
Neil Tyson answered Julie's question: What are your thoughts on the "Doomsday Clock," and it's recent movement to 90 seconds until midnight? When will the clock finally run out? All disaster movies begin with authorities ignoring scientists who warn of impending doom. Reality appears to be no different. -NDTyson
Jan 25, 2023 04:52AM · 29 likes · like

More of Neil's books…

Quotes by Neil deGrasse Tyson (?)

“For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson

tags: compassion, inspiration, inspirational, knowledge, learning, philosophy, science, values

2781 likes

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson

tags: belief, science, true

2743 likes

“Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of high mass stars that exploded their chemically rich guts into the galaxy, enriching pristine gas clouds with the chemistry of life. So that we are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically. That’s kinda cool! That makes me smile and I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It’s not that we are better than the universe, we are part of the universe. We are in the universe and the universe is in us.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson

tags: astronomy, cosmology

1080 likes

See all Neil deGrasse Tyson's quotes »

Polls

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 BOTM - Vote for Choice #2

First Ladies: The Ever Changing Role, from Martha Washington to Melania Trump by Betty Boyd Caroli

4 votes, 25.0%

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

2 votes, 12.5%

The Man Who Played with Fire: Stieg Larsson's Lost Files and the Hunt for an Assassin by Jan Stocklassa

2 votes, 12.5%

Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933 by Anne Applebaum

2 votes, 12.5%

The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest by Mark Synnott

2 votes, 12.5%

Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, The Berlin Wall, and the Most Dangerous Place On Earth by Iain MacGregor

1 vote, 6.3%

Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going by Neil deGrasse Tyson

1 vote, 6.3%

Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962 by Yang Jisheng

1 vote, 6.3%

Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath by Ted Koppel

1 vote, 6.3%

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark

0 votes, 0.0%

16 total votes

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