Born and raised in New York City, astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson discovered his love for the stars at an early age. After studying at Harvard University, he earned his doctorate from Columbia University in 1991. Tyson went to work for the Hayden Planetarium in 1996 and still serves as its director. He hosted the NOVA ScienceNow series from 2006 to 2011. Tyson remains a popular TV science expert today and has amassed over 3.6 million followers on Twitter.

Tyson is one of the most in-demand science experts. He gives talks across the country and is a media favorite whenever there is an important science issue making news. Tyson is known for his ability to make difficult concepts accessible to every audience, his oratory skills and his sense of humor, which has led to appearances on such shows as Real Time with Bill Maher, The Colbert Report and The Daily Show. He also hosts his own podcast StarTalk Radio, a science-based talk show that features comedic co-hosts.

In 2014, Tyson hosted and was the executive editor of a 13-episode television series entitled COSMOS: A Space-Time Odyssey. The series reboots the classic science documentary, Cosmos. The original version featured Carl Sagan as host and provided a general audience with a greater understanding of the origin of life and our universe.

In early 2016, he got into a rap beef with B.o.B due to latter’s belief that the earth was flat. After various tweets sent at each other, B.o.B responded with “Flatline.” Almost immediately, DeGrasse Tyson’s nephew came back with “Flat to Fact”, a parody of Drake’s Grammy-nominated diss track “Back to Back.”