Neil deGrasse Tyson to meet with Pittsburgh students

One of the world’s leading astrophysicists, Neil deGrasse Tyson, will meet a group of 25 students and parents from Manchester Academic Charter School on Wednesday night.

Tyson will meet for a question-and-answer session with the students following his talk at 7:30 p.m. at Carnegie Music Hall located inside the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh in Oakland.

Tyson has hosted a podcast called “StarTalk” as well as the television series “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,” a successor to Carl Sagan’s 1980 series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.” Also from 2006 to 2011, he hosted “NOVA ScienceNow” on PBS.

In 2015, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences awarded Tyson the Public Welfare Medal for his “extraordinary role in exciting the public about the wonders of science.”

“There is nothing more inspiring than meeting someone who looks like you and is so very accomplished and motivational,” said Jason Brown, the Henry Buhl Jr. director of the Carnegie Science Center. “We are so thrilled to be able to work with Mr. Tyson’s team and our funders to provide this opportunity to inspire the next generation of scientists.”

Funding for the students’ tickets was provided by Tyson, the Lucchino Science Inspiration Fund, Arconic Foundation and Carnegie Science Center.

Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1895, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh encompasses the Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center and The Andy Warhol Museum.