NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON HONORED AT EXPLORERS CLUB DINNER
For Immediate Release
September 30, 2025 – New York, NY American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) and The Common Good sponsored an evening program featuring world renowned astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, from 6:00 PM to 7:15 PM at The Paley Center for Media in New York City, followed by a private reception and dinner in his honor in the Gallery of The Explorers Club.
Dr. Tyson has served as Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History for 29 years. He is the author of numerous bestselling books, including Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, and To Infinity and Beyond – A Journey of Cosmic Discovery. Dr. Tyson is also a popular television and podcast celebrity, hosting Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which aired on Fox and the National Geographic Channel, and StarTalk available on YouTube, Prime Video, SiriusXM, iHeart Media. His Twitter audience alone exceeds 14 million. Through his work, Dr. Tyson has brought complex scientific concepts to mainstream audiences, fostering public understanding of science and inspiring new generations to pursue careers in science, engineering, and mathematics. Dr. Tyson is the recipient of the Explorers Club Medal, the highest honor conferred by the 121 year organization dedicated to discovery on land, sea and outer space.
In his presentation at the Paley Media Center, Dr. Tyson traced America's history of bi-partisan support for scientific research and innovation, discussing the critical importance of sustained investment in scientific research and education to maintain America's global technological leadership.
Following Dr. Tyson's presentation, AIAC sponsored a reception and dinner for Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and invited guests at The Explorers Club. During the formal dinner, held in the exotic grand top floor gallery of the Explorers Club, Dr. Tyson energetically fielded a wide range of questions from guests, including the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, the feasibility of time travel, the benefits of the NASA program, and the engineering techniques required to build the pyramids in Egypt. He fondly recalled receiving a scholarship at the age of 14 from the Explorers Club to view the June 1973 total solar eclipse aboard the SS Canberra, a grant which launched his lifetime mission in astronomy and astrophysics.
Leonard M. Levie, Chairman of AIAC and Trustee of The Explorers Club, stated: "We were honored to support this important address by our friend, Neil deGrasse Tyson, on America's scientific competitiveness and innovation leadership. Throughout his distinguished career, Neil has inspired many millions to appreciate the wonders of discovery and to understand the vital role that scientific inquiry plays in advancing human knowledge and capability. Neil's extraordinary media presence makes him a highly influential advocate for space exploration and scientific research. He is truly the rock star among the stars.”
Mr. Levie continued, "As a global industrial group built on engineering excellence and technological innovation, AIAC understands that America's economic strength depends on robust investment in scientific research, development, and education. This evening's program, and the reception and dinner that followed at The Explorers Club, reflected our commitment to supporting exploration and discovery as essential pillars of American prosperity and global leadership."
On a lighter note, Mr. Levie added, "Only at The Explorers Club could one find oneself discussing interstellar travel and the Big Bang Theory of the Universe with Neil deGrasse Tyson while mounted rhinoceros, lions, tiger, leopard, walrus, and antelopes looked on approvingly—the perfect audience for contemplating our infinite universe."
Following the conclusion of the dinner, AIAC Chairman Levie conducted a tour of the clubhouse for guests, pointing out Napoleon's journals from Egypt, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela's chairs, Theodore Roosevelt's conference table on which the Portsmouth Peace Treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War was signed in 1905, relics from the North and South Pole expeditions of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Ernest Shackleton, and space suits from the Apollo missions to the moon.
Mr. Levie presented a poetic tribute to Neil deGrasse Tyson and his wife, Dr. Alice Young, entitled "The Modern Prometheus." The poem is found below:
AIAC and its affiliates, Bradford Space, Champlain Cable, SuperAlloy Manufacturing, and Canadian Kraft Paper Industries, are Partners of The Explorers Club, and sponsors for Ocean Week, Climate Week, the Explorers Club Annual Dinner, and other special club programs and events. In addition to his role as Trustee, Mr. Levie serves as Poet Laureate of the Explorers Club. He is also a Member of the Jesup Legacy Circle of the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium.
Co-sponsor of the program and dinner, The Common Good, is a non-partisan forum that brings together leaders from business, government, academia, and the arts for substantive conversations on critical issues facing society.
About Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator, born October 5, 1958, in Manhattan, New York. He was born as the second of three children into a Catholic family living in the Bronx. His father, Cyril deGrasse Tyson, was a sociologist and human resource commissioner for New York City mayor John Lindsay, and his mother, Sunchita Maria Tyson, was a gerontologist for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare and is of Puerto Rican descent.
His fascination with astronomy began in childhood, when he studied the Moon through binoculars from the roof of his apartment building. At age 9 he was introduced to the stars at the American Museum of Natural History's old Hayden Planetarium. Tyson did his undergraduate studies at Harvard University in physics (1980). He earned a master's degree (1983) in astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin and master's and doctoral degrees (1989 and 1991, respectively) in astrophysics from Columbia University.
From 1991 to 1994, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. In 1994, he joined the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist. In 1996, he became director of the planetarium and oversaw its $210 million reconstruction project, which was completed in 2000. At 29 years old, he became the planetarium's youngest director. Since 1996, he has been the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City, part of the American Museum of Natural History, where Tyson founded the Department of Astrophysics in 1997.
Tyson is renowned as one of America's most visible science communicators. He served as Executive Science Editor and on-camera Host & Narrator for Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey, the 21st century continuation of Carl Sagan's landmark television series. On April 20, 2015, Tyson began hosting a late-night talk show entitled StarTalk on the National Geographic Channel, and he also hosts the StarTalk Radio podcast.
Tyson is a prolific author with numerous bestselling books, including The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist (2000), Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries (2007), The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet (2009), Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (2017), and Letters from an Astrophysicist (2019).
In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed him to a commission on the future of the aerospace industry. Tyson also served another commission three years later to examine U.S. policy on space exploration. Dr. Tyson has received nine honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the organization's highest civilian honor. The International Astronomical Union recognized him by naming an asteroid "13123 Tyson." Neil deGrasse Tyson lives in New York City with his wife, a former IT project manager with Bloomberg Financial Markets.
For further information, please see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson
https://neildegrassetyson.com/profile/
About the Hayden Planetarium
The Hayden Planetarium is a state-of-the-art astronomical facility located within the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The original Hayden Planetarium was founded in 1933 with a donation from banker and philanthropist Charles Hayden and opened to the public in 1935. It received nearly a million visitors in its first year and became one of New York City's most popular educational attractions.
By the 1990s, the museum recognized that the facility needed modernization to accommodate advances in astronomy, astrophysics, and technology. After considering various options, the museum decided on a complete redesign. The new Hayden Planetarium, designed by architects James Stewart Polshek and Todd Schliemann, opened to the public on February 19, 2000, following a $210 million reconstruction project. The striking modern structure features an 87-foot-diameter sphere that appears to float within a 95-foot-high glass cube, creating what one architect called a "cosmic cathedral."
The planetarium houses two main theaters. The Space Theater occupies the top half of the sphere and features a 67-foot dome screen with the world's most advanced planetarium projection system. This theater presents immersive Space Shows that use authentic data from NASA, the European Space Agency, and other scientific institutions to create scientifically accurate visualizations of the cosmos. Current shows transport audiences on journeys through the solar system and beyond, narrated by notable figures and presented every half hour throughout the day. The Big Bang Theater occupies the bottom half of the sphere, featuring a 36-foot-diameter screen that presents a four-minute program depicting the birth of the universe.
The facility also includes several notable exhibits outside the main sphere. The Heilbrun Cosmic Pathway is a spiral walkway that wraps around the sphere, connecting the second and first floors while providing a timeline of the universe's history from the Big Bang to the present day, complete with authentic artifacts including ancient rocks and fossils. The Scales of the Universe exhibit demonstrates the relative size of objects throughout the cosmos. Additional halls include the Gottesman Hall of the Planet Earth, which explores geological history and weather patterns, and the Cullman Hall of the Universe, which covers topics from planets and stars to cosmology and the possibility of life on other worlds.
Since 1996, the Hayden Planetarium has been directed by renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who also founded the Department of Astrophysics at the museum in 1997. The planetarium serves as both a public education center and a research facility, hosting programs ranging from immersive space shows to educational courses, public lectures including the annual Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, and community outreach initiatives. Through innovative technology and cutting-edge science communication, the Hayden Planetarium continues its mission to bring the frontier of cosmic discovery to audiences of all ages.
For further information, please see:
https://www.amnh.org/research/hayden-planetarium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Center_for_Earth_and_Space
About The Explorers Club
Founded in 1904, The Explorers Club is a prestigious international multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore. Based at its historic headquarters in New York City, the Club has served as a meeting point and unifying force for explorers and scientists worldwide for over a century.
The Club's membership includes many of history's most renowned explorers and scientists, from polar explorers Robert Peary and Roald Amundsen to oceanic pioneers Jacques Cousteau and Robert Ballard, from aviation legends Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart to space pioneers like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Jim Lovell himself. The Club continues to support cutting-edge exploration in every realm—from the deepest ocean trenches to the highest peaks, from archaeological discoveries to space missions.
The Explorers Club is renowned for its rigorous standards of membership, requiring nominees to have made significant contributions to exploration or the sciences that advance our understanding of the world. The Club's Board of Trustees, Legacy Society, and various committees work to preserve the Club's mission while fostering new generations of explorers through grants, expeditions, and educational programs.
The Club's famous annual dinner, featuring exotic cuisine and presentations by leading explorers, has become legendary in New York society. More importantly, The Explorers Club continues to fund and support expeditions that push the boundaries of human knowledge, from climate research in Antarctica to biodiversity studies in remote rainforests to preparations for future Mars missions.
AIAC Chairman L. M. Levie serves as Member of its Board of Trustees and as Poet Laureate and Member of its Legacy Society. As Poet Laureate, Mr. Levie contributes to the Club's cultural mission by capturing the spirit of exploration through verse, honoring both historical achievements and contemporary discoveries that continue to expand the frontiers of human knowledge and experience.
For further information, please see:
About American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) is a diversified industrial group with manufacturing and distribution sites in 24 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia-New Zealand. AIAC has acquired and grown non-core subsidiaries and divisions of Boeing, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Johnson Controls, Merck, Pfizer, Astellas, Visteon, Carlyle, Ahlstrom, Tolko, Groupe Suez, Groupe Rexel, and many other leading multinational corporations.
AIAC companies serve companies and governmental entities worldwide in all major sectors, including aviation, space, defense, automotive, truck, rail, marine, petrochemical, solar, nuclear, food, confectionary, beverage, civil engineering and infrastructure, commercial construction, mining, dredging, disaster relief, education, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, AIAC companies are exclusive, authorized distributors of leading branded industrial and consumer products and serve as critical suppliers for the construction of major airports, schools, hospitals, performing arts and sports centers, offices and hotels throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. AIAC is a leading manufacturer of building, street, and highway signage in Europe, signage and illumination structures in North America, and a distributor of electrical products throughout France.
Of note, AIAC purchased Boeing Canada in 2005 and has produced over 10,000 unique components for every Boeing jet plane ever since, reliably serving Boeing from manufacturing facilities in North America. A leader in ultra-high precision jet engine component manufacturing, AIAC companies produce 2,200 fan blades for each jet engine produced by GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and Honeywell.
AIAC companies actively support exploration into outer space, manufacturing critical components for launching and propelling spacecraft and satellites. AIAC customers in this sector include NASA, the European Space Agency, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Boeing. research. AIAC affiliate, Champlain Cable Corporation, supported the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space missions with high performance wire and cable. AIAC companies also lead in the design and manufacture of undersea umbilical cables for worldwide oceanographic research.
AIAC companies produce the critical automotive wire and cable for Tesla, GM, Ford, Chrysler-Fiat, Toyota, and Nissan. In connection with its kraft paper manufacturing interests in Canada and the US, AIAC controls and sustainably manages 22 million acres of Manitoba, Canada forestland, an area equivalent in size to the nation of Hungary.
AIAC affiliate, Metallwarenfabrik Gemmingen GmbH, located in Germany, designs, manufactures and distributes high performance, emergency portable power generators utilized in global conflict zones and during natural disasters.
For further information, please see:
About AIAC Philanthropy
AIAC and the AIAC Foundation support a wide range of nonprofit, nonsectarian, bipartisan organizations which promote international conflict resolution, disaster relief, economic development, environmental sustainability, exploration, and the performing arts.
The exploration-focused nonprofit organizations which they actively support include the Explorers Club, the National Geographic Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Space Society, and the United States Space Foundation.
AIAC's other beneficiaries include the Appeal of the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation Inc., the Asia Society, the Atlantic Council, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Gates Philanthropy Partners, the Bretton Woods Committee, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Foreign Policy Association, the Institut Française des Relations Internationales, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Crisis Group, the International Rescue Committee, the Japan Society, the JFK School of Government of Harvard University, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the Sierra Club, the Trilateral Commission, and the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute.
For further information, please see:
https://www.aiac.com/our-values
Media Contact:
Isabel Carro-Toro, Vice President
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
+34 689 295 827 (Spain)
+1 787 244 3175 (USA)
icarro-toro@aiac.com
