What is Neil deGrasse Tyson’s IQ?
He joked about the test more than anyone has ever measured him.
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.
Neil deGrasse Tyson’s estimated IQ
- BA in Physics from Harvard (1980); MA in Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin (1983); MPhil (1989) and PhD (1991) in Astrophysics from Columbia University.
- Recruited directly by Carl Sagan for Cornell’s astronomy program while still in high school — Tyson chose Harvard instead, but the recruitment itself is a documented mark of early recognition.
- Awarded the National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Medal in 2015, the Academy’s highest honour and one previously given to Sagan himself.
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.
- Born
- 5 October 1958, Manhattan, New York City
- Field
- Astrophysics, science communication
- Education
- BA Physics, Harvard (1980); PhD Astrophysics, Columbia (1991)
- Known for
- Director, Hayden Planetarium; host of Cosmos and StarTalk
What an IQ of 140–155 actually means
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 →Who Neil deGrasse Tyson is
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 AnalystReviewed by Aarav Vardhan, Editor-in-Chief · Last reviewed August 2026
Neil deGrasse Tyson: the documented record
The 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.
- 1958Born in Manhattan, New York City.
- 1976Graduates the Bronx High School of Science.
- 1980BA in Physics, Harvard University.
- 1983MA in Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin.
- 1991PhD in Astrophysics, Columbia University.
- 1994Joins the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist.
- 1996Appointed Director of the Hayden Planetarium.
- 2004Receives NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal.
- 2014Hosts Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.
- 2015Receives the National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Medal.
Where the 123 figure came from
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 sources behind our estimate
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.
Neil deGrasse Tyson — frequently asked
What was Neil deGrasse Tyson’s IQ?
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.
Has Tyson ever taken an IQ test?
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.
What is Tyson’s actual academic record?
Bronx High School of Science, a Harvard physics degree, a University of Texas master’s, and a completed Columbia PhD in astrophysics (1991).
Did Carl Sagan really recruit him?
Yes — Sagan personally reached out during Tyson’s college search, after learning of his application to Cornell. Tyson chose Harvard instead.
Why does his page use a doctorate-based method rather than a test-based one?
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.
Where does 123 come from?
Not traceable. Two aggregator sites repeat it with no cited source, and no earlier appearance could be located.
How does my IQ compare with Neil deGrasse Tyson?
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.
Where does this estimate come from?
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.
- Take the 30-question IQ test — get a measured score and percentile of your own
- Average IQ by country — how the scale behaves across populations
- How IQ Metrics scores its assessment — the method behind our own number
- More on how IQ testing works — reliability, error and what a score can and cannot say
- More scientists profiles — same field, same method
More scientists
Photograph by Jay Murdock, CC BY-SA 4.0. · Photograph, publisher Mathematical Association of America, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photographer unknown, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE. Background removed for the portrait above.
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