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123 circulates as Tyson’s IQ on aggregator sites that cite nothing. Tyson himself has publicly mocked the entire premise of the question — which is a stronger data point than most subjects on this site ever produce.
A completed doctorate reflects sustained academic achievement, not a cognitive score. The range here is inferred from the level of degree and the institutions involved, the same method used for other completed-PhD subjects on this site.
Set the claim aside for a moment. If someone genuinely scored in this range, here is what that would represent.
Average is 100 by construction, and about two-thirds of people fall between 85 and 115. Take the test to place your own score on this scale.
| Score range | Classification | Share of people | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 – 114 | Average | ~68% | The range most people fall into. |
| 115 – 129 | Above average | ~13.6% | Roughly one person in seven. |
| 130 – 144 | Gifted | ~2% | The threshold most high-IQ societies use. |
| Above 144 | Highly gifted | ~0.1% | Figures above this range are extrapolated from the curve rather than measured. |
Percentages are approximate and describe a normal distribution. The same number means different things on tests with different standard deviations.
Thirty questions gives you a measured position on this exact scale — your score, your percentile and the ability breakdown behind it.
Find out in 30 minutes →Neil deGrasse Tyson was born in 1958 in Manhattan and attended the Bronx High School of Science, where he captained the wrestling team and edited the school’s science journal, before Carl Sagan personally recruited him for Cornell.
He earned a physics degree from Harvard, a master’s from the University of Texas at Austin, and a PhD in astrophysics from Columbia in 1991, joining the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist in 1994 and becoming its director in 1996.
He has since become one of the most visible science communicators in the United States, hosting Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey and StarTalk, and received NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2004 and the National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Medal in 2015.
By Elora Mercer, Celebrity Research WriterFigures checked by Leon Falkner, Data & Research AnalystThe estimate above rests on this record. Every entry here is a matter of public fact, which is more than can be said for the number itself.
Following a claim back to its first appearance is the part almost nobody does — and it is what most people are actually asking.
Tyson’s case is unusual for this site because the subject has effectively pre-empted the audit himself. Rather than deny a specific figure, he has publicly treated the entire concept of a headline IQ number with open scepticism.
What is not in dispute is the academic record: Bronx High School of Science, a Harvard physics degree, and a completed Columbia doctorate under advisor R. Michael Rich. A finished PhD in a demanding technical field is one of the stronger achievement anchors this site can point to — stronger than an admissions record alone, because it represents years of examined, supervised work brought to completion.
123 sits well below what that record would suggest on any of the achievement-based estimates used elsewhere on this site, which is itself a small piece of evidence that the number was never derived from his record at all.
How we read a number →A dry joke on his own account about IQ tests measuring performance on themselves — the closest thing to a personal statement on the subject he has made.
Confirm the completed PhD (1991, advisor R. Michael Rich) and the Academy honour, previously awarded to Carl Sagan.
Does not cover Tyson — the study was limited to figures born 1450–1850. Noted here only to rule the method out explicitly.
No score report, school record or clinician’s account has ever surfaced, despite Tyson’s decades in the public eye.
Source URLs and first-appearance date pending audit.
Two independent aggregator pages repeat the figure with no cited source; a third aggregator explicitly declines to publish any number at all.
The figures that circulate for Neil deGrasse Tyson, what we were able to confirm, and where the two diverge.
123 is the figure repeated across multiple aggregator sites, always without a source.
No IQ test result for Tyson has ever been published. More than that, Tyson has publicly needled the concept itself: in a 2015 post on his own account, he wrote that research shows “your IQ is an excellent predictor of your score on an IQ test” — a dry joke about the test measuring itself. At least one aggregator (riotiq.com) has independently concluded the same thing this site did: no credible outlet has ever reported a real score for him.
Unlike most subjects here, there is not even a competing second figure — just one uncredited number, repeated.
Want a number that does hold up? Every figure on this page is somebody’s claim. Take the 30-question test and get a percentile you can check rather than a figure you have to trust.
No test result exists on record. 123 circulates on aggregator sites, but none of them cite a source, and Tyson has publicly mocked the idea of a headline score.
No public record of one exists. He has said he does not recall taking one, and has joked about the circularity of the test measuring itself.
Bronx High School of Science, a Harvard physics degree, a University of Texas master’s, and a completed Columbia PhD in astrophysics (1991).
Yes — Sagan personally reached out during Tyson’s college search, after learning of his application to Cornell. Tyson chose Harvard instead.
Because a completed PhD is the strongest documented achievement on his record — stronger than an admissions decision, and there is no test result to anchor to instead.
Not traceable. Two aggregator sites repeat it with no cited source, and no earlier appearance could be located.
You can find out in about fifteen minutes. The IQ Metrics assessment is 30 questions, scored on the same 100-mean scale used throughout this page, so your result and the estimate above are at least expressed in the same units — one measured, one inferred. Once you have a number, the leaderboard shows where it would sit, and how we score and norm it explains the benchmarking.
From the documented record rather than a test — the method is named above and set out in full under how we read a number. Compare it against the other scientists profiles, starting with Albert Einstein.
Portrait © Matthew Yohe, CC BY-SA 3.0. The background-removed portrait above is a derivative work and is likewise offered under the same licence. · Portrait © Debbie Rowe / The Royal Society, CC BY-SA 3.0. The background-removed portrait above is a derivative work and is likewise offered under the same licence. · Portrait by Christopher Smith, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — a work of the U.S. federal government, public domain. Background removed for the portrait above.
Thirty questions, scored against general-population benchmarks. Your score, your percentile, your ability breakdown and a printable IIF certificate.
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