Astrophysicist and science promoter Neil deGrasse Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium, but that s just the tip of his accomplishments. Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
Some scientists get the Nobel Prize. A few get to appear on popular TV. Then you have the one who s on The Daily Show, is an Internet meme and trades lines with Superman in a comic book, all while publishing in prestigious journals and running a renowned planetarium.
You know we must be talking about Neil deGrasse Tyson, the African-American astrophysicist with the uncanny ability to reduce complex cosmic concepts into ideas the average person understands and finds entertaining. No wonder he has such a following among geeks and non-geeks alike.