Super Stargazer - astrophysicist Neil De Grasse Tyson - Brief Article

Ebony, August, 2000 by Charles Whitaker

But the study of the universe was his true calling. After picking up a BA in physics from Harvard, he headed to the University of Texas for graduate school, but only stayed long enough to meet his future wife, Alice Young, now a computer programmer, who was working on a Ph.D. in mathematical physics. (They were married in 1988 and have a 4-year-old daughter, Miranda.) Ultimately, Tyson transferred to Columbia, where he earned his Ph.D. in astrophysics.

For all his success, Tyson is wary about his status as one of the nation's preeminent Black scientists. "I suspect that there's a whole population out there--people who are underrepresented in the sciences, people who are just like me, but who did not have as deep an energy reserve as I did--who ultimately got discouraged and turned away," he says. "So my hope is that by being visible, I'm opening doors so that people better than I am, who may never even have thought they could do this, will come along and be revealed to modern society."