At age nine he visited the sky theater of the Hayden Planetarium. "...so strong was that imprint that I'm certain that I had no choice in the matter, that in fact, the universe called me." Neil deGrasse Tyson studied his favored sciences at Harvard, University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia. 

Tyson has written and broadcast his views of science and the spirituality of science his entire career. His definition of spirituality: "For me, when I say spiritual, I’m referring to a feeling you would have that connects you to the universe in a way that it may defy simple vocabulary. We think about the universe as an intellectual playground, which it surely is, but the moment you learn something that touches an emotion rather than just something intellectual, I would call that a spiritual encounter with the universe."

His latest book, Starry Messenger is a love letter to the universe, our planet, and a breath of a spiritual hope that we would all seek to see each other as the universe does. As one.