The University of Washington (commonly referred to as Washington or UDub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, UW is the largest university in the Northwest and one of the oldest universities on the West Coast. The university has three campuses: the largest in the University District, Seattle and two others in Tacoma and Bothell. Its operating expenses for fiscal year 2010 was more than US$ 5.0 billion.^{[not in citation given]} The UW occupies over 500 buildings, with over 20 million gross square footage of space, including the latest University of Washington Plaza consisting of the 325 ft UW Tower and conference center.

The University of Washington is considered a Public Ivy institution and is a member of the American Association of Universities. The university's research budget is among one of the highest in the United States and the university consistently ranks among the top 20 universities in the world. In athletics, the university competes in the NCAA Division I Pacific-12 Conference (Pac-12).

Neil deGrasse Tyson ( /ˈniːəl dəˈɡræs ˈtaɪsən/ born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist and science communicator. He is currently the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and a research associate in the department of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. Since 2006 he has hosted the educational science television show NOVA scienceNOW on PBS, and has been a frequent guest on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Jeopardy!. It was announced on August 5, 2011, that Tyson will be hosting a new sequel to Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage television series.

Tyson was born as the second of three children in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, but was raised in the Bronx. His mother, Sunchita Feliciano Tyson, was a gerontologist and his father, Cyril deGrasse Tyson, was a sociologist, human resource commissioner for the New York City mayor, John Lindsay, and was the first Director of HARYOU. Tyson attended the Bronx High School of Science (1972–1976, astrophysics emphasis) where he was captain of the wrestling team and was editor-in-chief of the school's Physical Science Journal. Tyson had an abiding interest in astronomy from the age of eleven, following his visit to the Hayden Planetarium at age nine. Tyson recalls that "so strong was that imprint [of the night sky] that I'm certain that I had no choice in the matter, that in fact, the universe called me." He obsessively studied astronomy in his teens, and eventually even gained some fame in the astronomy community by giving lectures on the subject at the age of fifteen.