Speakers

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director , Hayden Planetarium

Neil deGrasse Tyson, the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, is an internationally renowned astrophysicist, science policy advisor, and media personality.  A thought-leader in science and technology, Dr. Tyson has served on Presidential commissions on the future of the US Aerospace Industry and continues to serve on NASA’s Advisory Council. He has received eighteen honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest award given by NASA to a non-government citizen. He has written countless professional papers as well as ten books, including New York Times bestseller Death By Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet, and The Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist. Among his many television and media appearances, he hosted PBS-NOVA’s mini-series Origins, the NSF-funded pilot radio program StarTalk, and is currently working on a 21st century reboot of Carl Sagan's landmark television series COSMOS, to air in 2014. Tyson was voted Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive by People Magazine in 2000.