Bill Nye
William Sanford "Bill" Nye (born November
27, 1955), popularly known as Bill Nye the
Science Guy, is
an American science educator, television presenter,
and mechanical engineer. He is best known
as the
host of the PBS children's science show Bill
Nye the Science Guy (19931998), and for his
many
subsequent appearances in popular media as
a science educator. Currently, he is the CEO
of The
Planetary Society.
Early life
Nye was born on November 27, 1955, in Washington,
D.C., to Jacqueline (n�e Jenkins; 19212000),
a
codebreaker during World War II, and Edwin
Darby "Ned" Nye (19171997), also a World War
II veteran,
whose experience without electricity in a
Japanese prisoner-of-war camp led him to become
a sundial
enthusiast.
After attending Lafayette Elementary and Alice
Deal Junior High in the city, he was accepted
to the
private Sidwell Friends School on a partial
scholarship and graduated in 1973. He studied
mechanical
engineering at Cornell University (where he
took an astronomy class taught by Carl Sagan)
and
graduated with a B.S. in mechanical engineering
in 1977. Nye occasionally returns to Cornell
as a
guest-lecturer of introductory-level astronomy
and human ecology classes.
Career
Nye began his career in Seattle at Boeing,
where, among other things, he starred in training
films
and developed a hydraulic pressure resonance
suppressor for the 747. Later, he worked as
a
consultant in the aeronautics industry. In
1999, he told the St. Petersburg Times that
he applied to
be a NASA astronaut every few years, but was
always rejected.
Bill Nye the Science Guy
Nye began his professional entertainment career
as a writer/actor on a local sketch comedy
television show in Seattle, Washington, called
Almost Live! The host of the show, Ross Shafer,
suggested he do some scientific demonstrations
in a six-minute segment and take on the nickname
"The
Science Guy". His other main recurring role
on Almost Live! was as Speedwalker, a speedwalking
Seattle superhero.
From 1991 to 1993, he appeared in the live-action
educational segments of Back to the Future:
The
Animated Series in the nonspeaking role of
assistant to Dr. Emmett Brown (played by Christopher
Lloyd), in which he would demonstrate science
while Lloyd explained. The segments' national
popularity led to Nye's hosting an educational
television program, Bill Nye the Science Guy,
from
1993 to 1998. Each of the 100 episodes aimed
to teach a specific topic in science to a
younger
audience, yet it garnered a wide adult audience
as well. With its comedic overtones, the show
became
popular as a teaching aid in schools. When
portraying "The Science Guy", Nye wears a
light blue lab
coat and a bow tie.
Nye has also written several books as The
Science Guy. In addition to hosting, he was
a writer and
producer for the show. All of it was filmed
in the Seattle area.
Nye's Science Guy personality appears alongside
Ellen DeGeneres and Alex Trebek in a video
at
Ellen's Energy Adventure, an attraction that
has been playing since 1996 at the Universe
of Energy
pavilion inside Epcot at Walt Disney World.
His voice is heard in the Dinosaur attraction
in
Disney's Animal Kingdom park, teaching guests
about the dinosaurs while they queue for the
ride. He
appears in video form in the "Design Lab"
of CyberSpace Mountain, inside DisneyQuest
at Walt Disney
World, where he refers to himself as "Bill
Nye the Coaster Guy." His Science Guy persona
was also
the on-air spokesman for the Noggin television
network during 1999.
Entertainment/edutainment
Nye remained interested in science education
through entertainment. He played a science
teacher in
Disney's 1998 TV movie The Principal Takes
a Holiday; he made a hovercraft to demonstrate
science in
an unusual classroom manner. From 2000 to
2002, Nye was the technical expert in BattleBots.
In 2004
and 2005, Nye hosted 100 Greatest Discoveries,
an award-winning series produced by THINKFilm
for The
Science Channel and in high definition on
the Discovery HD Theater. He was also host
of an eight-
part Discovery Channel series called Greatest
Inventions with Bill Nye. He created a 13-episode
PBS
KCTS-TV series about science, called The Eyes
of Nye, aimed at an older audience than his
previous
show had been. Airing in 2005, it often featured
episodes based on politically relevant themes
such
as genetically modified food, global warming,
and race. Nye guest-starred in several episodes
of the
crime drama Numb3rs as an engineering faculty
member. A lecture Nye gave several years ago
on
exciting children about math was an inspiration
for creating Numb3rs. He also made guest appearances
on the VH1 reality show America's Most Smartest
Model.
Nye appeared numerous times on the talk show
Larry King Live, speaking about topics such
as global
warming and UFOs. He argued that global warming
is an issue that should be addressed by governments
of the world in part because it could be implicated
in the record-setting 2005 Atlantic hurricane
season. On UFOs, he has been skeptical of
extraterrestrial explanations for sightings
such as those
at Roswell and Malmstrom Air Force Base in
1967.
Nye appears in segments of The Climate Code
on The Weather Channel, telling his personal
ways of
saving energy. He still makes regular appearances
on the show, often asking quiz questions.
In the
fall of 2008, Nye also appeared periodically
on the daytime game show Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire
as part of the show's reintroduced "Ask the
Expert" lifeline. In 2008, he also hosted
Stuff Happens,
a show on the then new Planet Green network.
In November 2008, Nye appeared in an acting
role as
himself in the fifth-season episode "Brain
Storm" of Stargate Atlantis alongside fellow
television
personality and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse
Tyson.
In 2009, portions of Bill Nye's shows were
used as lyrics and portions of the second
Symphony of
Science music education video by composer
John Boswell. Nye recorded a short YouTube
video (as
himself, not his TV persona) advocating clean-energy
climate-change legislation on behalf of Al
Gore's Repower America campaign in October
2009. Bill joined the American Optometric
Association in
a multimedia advertising campaign to persuade
parents to get their children comprehensive
eye
examinations. Nye made an appearance in Palmdale's
2010 video "Here Comes the Summer"; the band's
lead singer Kay Hanley is his neighbor. Nye
(as his TV persona) also made a guest appearance
on The
Dr. Oz Show.
In September 2012, Nye claimed that creationist
views threaten science education and innovation
in
the United States. In February 2014, Nye debated
creationist Ken Ham at the Creation Museum
on the
topic of whether creation is a viable model
of origins in today's modern, scientific era.
In
reaction to the debate, Nye published Undeniable:
Evolution and the Science of Creation in 2014.
In
July 2016, Ham gave Nye a tour of the Ark
Encounter.
On February 28, 2014, Nye was a celebrity
guest and interviewer at the White House Student
Film
Festival.
On August 31, 2016, Netflix announced on Twitter
that Nye would appear in a new series titled
Bill
Nye Saves the World, which is set to premiere
in Spring 2017.
Scientific work
In the early 2000s, Nye assisted in the development
of a small sundial that was included in the
Mars
Exploration Rover missions. Known as MarsDial,
it included small colored panels to provide
a basis
for color calibration in addition to helping
keep track of time. From 2005 to 2010, Nye
was the vice
president of The Planetary Society, an organization
that advocates space science research and
the
exploration of other planets, particularly
Mars. He became the organization's second
Executive
Director in September 2010 when Louis Friedman
stepped down.
In November 2010, Nye became the face of a
new permanent exhibition at the Chabot Space
& Science
Center in Oakland, California. Bill Nyes Climate
Lab features Nye as commander of the Clean
Energy
Space Station and invites visitors on an urgent
mission to thwart climate change. Beginning
with a
view of Planet Earth from space, visitors
explore air, water, and land galleries to
discover how
climate change affects Earths connected systems,
and how to use the Sun, wind, land, and water
to
generate clean energy. In an interview about
the exhibit, Nye said, Everything in the exhibit
is
geared to showing you that the size of the
problem of climate change is big. Showing
you a lot about
energy use ... Its a huge opportunity ... We
need young people, entrepreneurs, young inventors,
young innovators to change the world.
Nye gave a solar noon clock atop Rhodes Hall
to Cornell on August 27, 2012, following a
public
lecture that filled the 715-seat Statler Auditorium.
Nye talked about his father's passion for
sundials and timekeeping, his time at Cornell,
his work on the sundials mounted on the Mars
rovers
and the story behind the Bill Nye Solar Noon
Clock. Bill Nye conducted a Q&A session after
the 2012
Mars Rover Landing.
Nye holds several United States patents, including
one for ballet pointe shoes and another for
an
educational magnifying glass created by filling
a clear plastic bag with water. From 2001
to 2006,
Nye served as Frank H. T. Rhodes Class of
'56 University Professor at Cornell University.
Nye
supported the 2006 reclassification of Pluto
from planet to dwarf planet by the International
Astronomical Union.
Nye is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical
Inquiry, a US non-profit scientific and educational
organization whose aim is to promote scientific
inquiry, critical investigation, and the use
of
reason in examining controversial and extraordinary
claims. Interviewed by John Rael for the
Independent Investigation Group IIG, Nye stated
that his "concern right now ... scientific
illiteracy ... you [the public] don't have
enough rudimentary knowledge of the universe
to evaluate
claims." In November 2012, Nye launched a
Kickstarter project for an educational Aerodynamics
game
called AERO 3D but it was not funded. His
book, Undeniable: Evolution and the Science
of Creation,
was released on November 4, 2014. His second
book, Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change
the
World, was published in 2015.
On Earth Day 2015, Nye met with US President
Obama to visit the Everglades National Park
in Florida
and discuss climate change as well as science
education.
In March 2015, Bill Nye announced he changed
his mind and now supports GMOs. In a new edition
of
Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation,
Nye rewrote a chapter on GMOs reflecting his
new
position. In a radio interview with Neil deGrasse
Tyson, Nye stated "compared to all of the
other
herbicides, Glyphosate is pretty benign...
there's no difference between allergies among
GMO eaters
and non-GMO eaters... organic farming takes
a lot more water... I've changed my mind about
genetically modified organisms".
Dancing with the Stars
Nye was a contestant in the 17th season of
Dancing with the Stars in 2013, partnering
newcomer Tyne
Stecklein. They were eliminated early in the
season after Nye sustained an injury to his
quadriceps
tendon on Week 3.
Personal life
Since 2014, Nye has divided his time between
the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles and
the Chelsea
district of Manhattan, though he has also
owned a house on Mercer Island near Seattle.
Since July 2007, Nye and environmental activist
Ed Begley, Jr. have engaged in a friendly
competition "to see who could have the lowest
carbon footprint," according to Begley. In
a 2008
interview, Nye joked that he wants to "crush
Ed Begley" in their environmental competition.
Nye and
Begley are neighbors in Los Angeles and sometimes
dine together at a local vegetarian restaurant.
Nye often appeared on Begley's HGTV/Planet
Green reality show Living with Ed.
Nye enjoys baseball and occasionally does
experiments involving the physics of the game.
As a
longtime Seattle resident before becoming
an entertainer, he is said to have been a
fan of the
Seattle Mariners, although recently he has
voiced his preference (as a D.C. native) for
the
Washington Nationals. He also played Ultimate
while in college and for a period of time
while living
in Seattle.
In July 2012, Nye endorsed President Barack
Obama's reelection bid.
Nye announced his engagement during an appearance
on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
and was
married to his fianc�e of five months, musician
Blair Tindall, on February 3, 2006. The ceremony
was
performed by Rick Warren at The Entertainment
Gathering at the Skirball Cultural Center
in Los
Angeles. Yo-Yo Ma provided the music. Nye
left the relationship seven weeks later when
the marriage
license was declared invalid. In 2007, Nye
received a protective order against Tindall
after an
incident in which she came onto his property
and used herbicide to damage his garden. Tindall
admitted this but denied being a threat to
him. In 2012, Nye sued Tindall for unpaid
attorney's fees
he incurred while he went to court in 2009
to enforce the protective order against Tindall
after she
allegedly violated it. According to Nye's
court filings, she was ordered to pay these
fees; to date,
she has not paid any of it.
Nye is an avid swing dancer and describes
himself as agnostic.
Awards and honors
In May 1999, Nye was the commencement speaker
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where
he was
awarded an honorary doctor of science degree.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Johns
Hopkins
University in May 2008. In May 2011, Nye received
an honorary doctor of science degree from
Willamette University In May 2015, Rutgers
University awarded him an honorary doctor
of science
degree and paid him a $35,000 speaker's fee
for his participation as the keynote speaker
at the
ceremony. In addition, Bill Nye also received
an honorary doctor of pedagogy degree from
Lehigh
University on May 20, 2013, at the commencement
ceremony. Nye received the 2010 Humanist of
the Year
Award from the American Humanist Association.
In October 2015, Nye was awarded with an honorary
doctorate of science from Simon Fraser University.
In 2011, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
(CSICOP) presented Nye their highest award
In Praise of Reason, Eugenie Scott stated:
"If you think
Bill is popular among skeptics, you should
attend a science teacher conference where
he is speaking"
it is standing room only. She continues by
saying that no one has more fun as Nye when
he is
"demonstrating, principles of science." In
1997, CSICOP also presented Nye with the Candle
in the
Dark Award for his "lively, creative... endeavor".
Works (selected)
Powell, Corey S., ed. (2014). Undeniable:
Evolution and the Science of Creation. ISBN
978-1250007131.
Powell, Corey S., ed. (2015). Unstoppable:
Harnessing Science to Change the World. ISBN
978-1250007148.
Time magazine has interviewed him for 12 Questions
With Bill Nye.
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