Neil deGrasse Tyson's IQ has never been published, and he jokes about IQ tests. Here is what he has said, plus the verified credentials behind the fame.
Dr. Russell T. WarneChief Scientist
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Neil deGrasse Tyson has never published an IQ score, and no credible outlet has ever reported one. The numbers that appear on celebrity-IQ sites conflict with each other and cite nothing. Tyson is also unusual among the famous names in this series in that he has told the public exactly what he thinks of the metric, which is not much. What is documented is one of the strongest academic resumes in science media, from the Bronx High School of Science to a Columbia doctorate in astrophysics.
No score exists, and he likes it that way
Extensive searching turns up no test result, no self-reported number, and no journalist who has seen either. The listicle figures attached to Tyson's name disagree with one another, which is the usual signature of invention. This is the same pattern we document for Elon Musk: a public appetite for a number, and no number. The difference is that Tyson has gone on record about why he would not care anyway.
What Tyson has actually said about IQ
In March 2015 he posted a much-shared line on Twitter: "Ongoing research continues to demonstrate conclusively that your IQ is an excellent predictor of your score on an IQ test." The joke is aimed squarely at the tests, implying that an IQ score predicts nothing beyond itself. His skepticism is his documented, consistent public position, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a dismissal.
Is he right that IQ only predicts itself?
The line lands as comedy, but as psychometrics it is wrong. Cognitive ability scores are among the best-validated predictors in psychology. A 1997 editorial in the journal Intelligence, signed by 52 researchers, summarized the mainstream evidence that IQ predicts school achievement, job performance, and many life outcomes. Deary and colleagues later showed that intelligence measured in childhood strongly predicts national exam results five years on. Our article on what IQ predicts walks through the numbers. Reasonable people can debate what a score means for any one life; the claim that it predicts nothing does not survive the data.
The credentials that are actually documented
Tyson's own curriculum vitae, long posted on the Hayden Planetarium site, lays out the record. He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1976, earned a BA in physics from Harvard in 1980 and an MA in astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983, then completed an MPhil in 1989 and a PhD in astrophysics in 1991 at Columbia University. He has been the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium since May 1996, and in 2004 NASA awarded him its Distinguished Public Service Medal, the agency's highest honor for a non-government civilian.
What a record like that does and does not tell you
Doctorates in physics and astrophysics select heavily for quantitative reasoning, and PhD holders in those fields score well above average on cognitive tests as a group. That makes it a safe inference that Tyson's ability is high. It does not license a number. Group averages describe groups, and assigning an individual score requires an individual test, which is why this article refuses to guess. Stephen Hawking, another scientist who publicly brushed off IQ talk, presents the identical situation: an extraordinary documented record, and no score.
Frequently asked questions
What is Neil deGrasse Tyson's IQ?
Unknown. He has never published a score, and no credible source reports one. Numbers floating around on celebrity-IQ sites conflict with each other and cite no test.
What has Neil deGrasse Tyson said about IQ tests?
He is publicly skeptical. In a widely shared 2015 tweet he joked that "your IQ is an excellent predictor of your score on an IQ test," implying the tests measure little else. Decades of research disagree, but the quip accurately reflects his personal stance.
What degrees does Neil deGrasse Tyson have?
Per his own CV: the Bronx High School of Science (1976), a BA in physics from Harvard (1980), an MA in astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin (1983), and an MPhil (1989) and PhD in astrophysics (1991) from Columbia University.
Is Neil deGrasse Tyson a genius?
He is a credentialed astrophysicist and arguably the most effective science communicator of his generation, and he has directed the Hayden Planetarium since 1996. Whether that equals "genius" is a label question with no test score to settle it, and he would likely say the label does not matter.
Does a physics PhD mean you have a high IQ?
Doctorates in physics select heavily for quantitative reasoning, and PhD holders score well above average as a group. But group averages cannot assign a specific number to one person, which is why this article does not.
The takeaway
Tyson's resume is the evidence, and it requires no invented number to be impressive. As for his skepticism, the fairest response is measurement rather than argument. If you disagree with him about whether IQ is worth knowing, the Reasoning and Intelligence Online Test from RIOT IQ measures yours properly, with modern norms and stated precision, and you can judge the result's usefulness for yourself.
References
1. Tyson, N. d. (n.d.). Curriculum vitae. Hayden Planetarium (archived September 18, 2018). web.archive.org
2. Tyson, N. d. [@neiltyson]. (2015, March 10). Ongoing research continues to demonstrate conclusively that your IQ is an excellent predictor of your score on an IQ test [Post, archived]. web.archive.org
3. Gottfredson, L. S. (1997). Mainstream science on intelligence: An editorial with 52 signatories, history, and bibliography. Intelligence, 24(1), 13-23. doi.org
4. Warne, R. T. (2020). In the know: Debunking 35 myths about human intelligence. Cambridge University Press. doi.org
5. Deary, I. J., Strand, S., Smith, P., & Fernandes, C. (2007). Intelligence and educational achievement. Intelligence, 35(1), 13-21. doi.org
Hero image: Neil deGrasse Tyson at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 2014. Photo: NASA Goddard, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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