Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson: The Search for Life in the Universe

Beginning with Mars, we review the ongoing effort to search for habitable planets, liquid water, and life in the cosmos, culminating in the search for intelligent life, whether or not it already exists on Earth. This talk updates continually due to the rapid pace of scientific discovery and looks nothing like the talk offered five years ago. About Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator with the uncanny ability to simplify complex cosmic concepts that the average person both understands and finds entertaining. Recipient of the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest award given by NASA to a non-government citizen, Tyson worked with professional standup comedians to bring science to commercial radio with the NSF-funded pilot program StarTalk, now a popular podcast, which combines celebrity guests with informative yet playful banter. In its first year on television and in three successive seasons, it was nominated for a Best Informational Programming Emmy. In 2021, Tyson published Cosmic Queries: StarTalk’s Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We are Going, coauthored with James Trefil. Among his 14 other books is his memoir, The Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist; the playful and informative Death By Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, which was a New York Times bestseller; and The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet, chronicling his experience at the center of the controversy over Pluto’s planetary status. Tyson is the recipient of 21 honorary doctorates. His contributions to the public appreciation of the cosmos have been recognized by the International Astronomical Union in their official naming of asteroid “13123 Tyson.” And by zoologists, with the naming of Indirani Tysoni, a native species of leaping frog in India. On the lighter side, Tyson was voted “Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive” by People Magazine in 2000.