Neil deGrasse Tyson attended a historically black university.
Neil deGrasse Tyson . After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science , where he was editor-in-chief of the Physical Science Journal , he completed a bachelor 's degree in physics at Harvard University in 1980 . After receiving a master 's degree in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 , he earned his master 's ( 1989 ) and doctorate ( 1991 ) in astrophysics at Columbia University .