Claim: The "Universe" columns for Natural History were contributed to by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Neil deGrasse Tyson -LRB- -LSB- ˈniːl_dəˈɡræs_ˈtaɪsən -RSB- born October 5 , 1958 -RRB- is an American astrophysicist , author , and science communicator . Since 1996 , he has been the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City . The center is part of the American Museum of Natural History , where Tyson founded the Department of Astrophysics in 1997 and has been a research associate in the department since 2003 .   Born and raised in New York City , Tyson became interested in astronomy at the age of nine after a visit to the Hayden Planetarium . After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science , where he was editor-in-chief of the Physical Science Journal , he completed a bachelor 's degree in physics at Harvard University in 1980 . After receiving a master 's degree in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 , he earned his master 's -LRB- 1989 -RRB- and doctorate -LRB- 1991 -RRB- in astrophysics at Columbia University . For the next three years , he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University . In 1994 , he joined the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist and the Princeton faculty as a visiting research scientist and lecturer . In 1996 , he became director of the planetarium and oversaw its $ 210-million reconstruction project , which was completed in 2000 .   From 1995 to 2005 , Tyson wrote monthly essays in the `` Universe '' column for Natural History magazine , some of which were published in his books Death by Black Hole -LRB- 2007 -RRB- and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry -LRB- 2017 -RRB- . During the same period , he wrote a monthly column in Star Date magazine , answering questions about the universe under the pen name `` Merlin '' . Material from the column appeared in his books Merlin 's Tour of the Universe -LRB- 1998 -RRB- and Just Visiting This Planet -LRB- 1998 -RRB- . Tyson served on a 2001 government commission on the future of the U.S. aerospace industry , and on the 2004 Moon , Mars and Beyond commission . He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in the same year . From 2006 to 2011 , he hosted the television show NOVA ScienceNow on PBS . Since 2009 , Tyson hosted the weekly podcast StarTalk . A spin-off , also called StarTalk , began airing on National Geographic in 2015 . In 2014 , he hosted the television series Cosmos : A Spacetime Odyssey , a successor to Carl Sagan 's 1980 series Cosmos : A Personal Voyage . The U.S. National Academy of Sciences awarded Tyson the Public Welfare Medal in 2015 for his `` extraordinary role in exciting the public about the wonders of science '' .