By Mira Krishnan
When I was just a little girl, I would look up at the night sky with awe, surprised that such beauty existed. It wasn’t until I discovered Neil DeGrasse Tyson that I started to understand what really happened in the vast vacuum that is our universe. Tyson was born in New York City and went on to earn a bachelor’s in physics and a doctorate in astrophysics. As the years past, he’s accumulated many credentials, like serving on a twelve-member commission that studied the future of the U.S. aerospace industry, being appointed by former President George W. Bush, among many other achievements.
As a child, Tyson often climbed to the top floor of the Skyview Apartments where he lived to stargaze. His parents were very supportive of his astronomy interests and regularly visited the Hayden Planetarium, which he is now the director of! In 1970, Tyson got a telescope for his twelfth birthday, which resulted with his interest in the cosmos skyrocketing into an obsession.
What makes him so special to me are his books and his YouTube channel, StarTalk. I love spending time watching his videos, where he speaks so passionately about astronomy. I’ve learned so much from him, and the way he explains things is so simple for someone like me to understand, since I knew almost nothing about astronomy before learning about him. He is one of my inspirations to pursue astrophysics as a career, and I’d love to meet him in person one day.