Neil deGrasse Tyson's IQ Score

Neil deGrasse Tyson has said he never took an IQ test, and he is openly dismissive of them. No documented score exists; any number attributed to him is invented.

The Bronx, 1958–1976

Nine years old under the planetarium dome

Born in Manhattan in 1958 and raised in the Bronx, Tyson decided on astrophysics at nine after a visit to the Hayden Planetarium, the institution he would later run. He spent teenage nights with a telescope on his apartment building's roof.

At seventeen he was already lecturing on astronomy. Carl Sagan invited him to Ithaca for a day to recruit him to Cornell; he chose Harvard, but said Sagan's kindness shaped how he would treat students.

Four universities, one orbit

His academic path, drawn as an orbit outward from the Bronx.

1980

Harvard, BA physics

Rowed on the crew team and danced; he has said he was an average student there.

The Pluto files · 2000–2006

Is it a planet? Run the test

When the rebuilt Hayden Planetarium opened in 2000, Tyson's exhibit grouped Pluto with icy Kuiper Belt objects rather than the planets. Schoolchildren sent him hate mail. In 2006 the International Astronomical Union made it official with three criteria.

Pick a world and see which tests it passes.

Orbits the SunYes

Round under its own gravityYes

Has cleared its orbitNo

Dwarf planet

Transmissions: every book and show

Research papers aside, almost everything he makes is aimed at the public.

2000MuseumHayden PlanetariumThe rebuilt Rose Center exhibit he oversaw as director.

2004TVOrigins (NOVA)Four-part PBS series on the origins of the universe and life.

2007BookDeath by Black HoleEssays from his Natural History magazine column.

2009BookThe Pluto FilesThe story of Pluto's demotion and the public backlash.

2009PodcastStarTalkPodcast mixing science with comedians and celebrities; later a TV series.

2012BookSpace ChroniclesEssays arguing for renewed investment in space exploration.

2014TVCosmos: A Spacetime OdysseyThe revival of Carl Sagan's series, watched worldwide.

2016BookWelcome to the UniverseA textbook-style tour, with Michael Strauss and J. Richard Gott.

2017BookAstrophysics for People in a HurryA short primer that became a long-running bestseller.

2018BookAccessory to WarOn the entangled history of astrophysics and the military, with Avis Lang.

2019BookLetters from an AstrophysicistReplies to letters from the public.

2020TVCosmos: Possible WorldsThe follow-up season.

2022BookStarry MessengerApplying a cosmic perspective to politics and culture.

On IQ itself

Why he never took one

Tyson has argued in interviews that grades and test scores are poor predictors of whether someone will do good science, curiosity and persistence matter more, and he points to his own uneven school record as an example.

That makes him an unusual entry on a list like this: a scientist whose documented record is extensive, and whose documented IQ is deliberately nothing.