Bill Nye

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For the journalist, see Edgar Wilson Nye. For the actor, see Bill Nighy. For the actor sometimes credited as Bill Nye, see G. Raymond Nye.
Bill Nye
Bill Nye at Bridgewater State College.
Born November 27, 1955 (1955-11-27) (age 52)
Washington, D.C.
Citizenship American
Fields Mechanical engineering
Institutions Boeing
Cornell University
Planetary Society
Alma mater Cornell University
Doctoral advisor Dr. Mann
Known for Bill Nye the Science Guy

William Nye (born November 27, 1955 in Washington, D.C.)[1] also known as "Bill Nye the Science Guy," is an American comedian, television host, science educator and mechanical engineer.

Contents

Education

Nye holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University. He has been awarded honorary doctorate degrees by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Goucher College[2], and The Johns Hopkins University[3].

Aeronautics career

Nye began his career at Boeing where, among other things, he starred in training films and developed a hydraulic pressure resonance suppressor still used in the Boeing 747.

Later, Nye worked as a consultant and in the aeronautics industry. Nye was also a member and fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

Nye told the St. Petersburg Times in 1999 that he applied to be a NASA astronaut every few years but was always rejected.[4]

Entrance into entertainment

After winning a Steve Martin look-alike contest, Nye began a dual career as an engineer by day and stand-up comic by night. This eventually transitioned into an exclusive entertainment career. Nye got his television start performing on a Seattle-area sketch comedy show called Almost Live!, and appeared regularly on the show for many seasons. It was on this show that "Bill Nye the Science Guy" was born.[5] He left the show to start producing Bill Nye the Science Guy in 1993. Once famous, Bill returned as a guest-star for an episode that opened with a skit of Nye not being recognized and having trouble entering the KING-TV building. Nye was also the assistant of Emmett "Doc" Brown in the live-action segments of Back to the Future: The Animated Series (1991–1993). In one episode, Bill corrected Doc Brown on the pronunciation of gigawatt (not jigawatt), only for Doc Brown to fire back with "Who are you, Bill Nye the science guy?"

The Science Guy

Main article: Bill Nye the Science Guy
Nye's catchphrase on the show, shown here on a t-shirt.
Nye's catchphrase on the show, shown here on a t-shirt.

Nye appeared in a series of segments on Almost Live!, a local Seattle television show which aired on NBC affiliate KING-TV (channel 5) immediately before Saturday Night Live. It was in these appearances that he was first called "The Science Guy."

Nye later hosted the educational television program Bill Nye the Science Guy from 1993 to 1997. Each episode (100 in all) aimed to teach a specific topic in science to a preteen audience, yet it garnered a wide adult audience as well. The show was somewhat popular as a school resource and is still used to this day. He has written several books as The Science Guy. In addition to hosting the show, he was also a writer and producer for it.

Bill Nye has appeared alongside Ellen DeGeneres and Alex Trebek in Universe of Energy, an attraction playing since 1996 inside Epcot at Walt Disney World.

Post Science Guy career

Nye remained interested in science education through entertainment. He created a PBS KCTS-TV 13-episode series about science, called The Eyes of Nye, aimed at older audiences than his previous show. Airing in 2005, it often featured episodes based on politically relevant themes such as genetically modified food, global warming, and race. Nye held the boom microphone during four episodes of Popular Mechanics for Kids, a Canadian-produced show that debuted after his series ended.[citation needed]

Nye played the role of a science teacher in Disney's Principal Takes a Holiday. Though a small role, Nye goes on to make a hovercraft to demonstrate science in an unusual classroom manner. From 2000 to 2002, Nye was the technical expert in BattleBots. In 2004 & 2005, Bill Nye hosted 100 Greatest Discoveries, an award-winning series produced by THINKFilm for Discovery Channel-spinoff The Science Channel and in high definition on the Discovery HD Theater.

Nye has 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 the Numb3rs show. [6] Nye was a regular in TV Land discussions. He has also made guest appearances on the VH1 reality show America's Most Smartest Model.[7]

Nye also appears in segments of The Climate Code on The Weather Channel (United States) telling his personal ways of saving energy. He still makes regular appearances on the show, often asking quiz questions.

Bill Nye currently hosts Stuff Happens, a show on the new Planet Green channel.

Life outside television

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.[8] Nye was also the vice president of the Planetary Society, an organization that advocates space science research and the exploration of other planets, particularly Mars.

He held several patents, including one for ballet shoes[9] and another for a magnifying glass that used water.[10]

From 2001-2006 Nye served as Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 University Professor at Cornell University. Since 2006, Nye lives in Los Angeles in a 1930's stucco home with ecologically-friendly modifications. [11]

Nye announced his engagement during an appearance on Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show, and was married to his fiancée of five months, Blair Tindall, author of Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music, on February 3, 2006. The ceremony was performed by Rick Warren at The Entertainment Gathering, which took place at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. Yo-Yo Ma provided the music.[12] Nye left the relationship seven weeks later when the marriage license was declared invalid; their impromptu ceremony that preceded the license purchase violated California state law, said Tindall in a radio interview. [1]

When Pluto was reclassified from a planet to a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, Nye came out in favor of the change.[13]

Nye also narrates an audio tour for The Sagan Planet Walk, a walking scale model of the solar system in Ithaca, NY. The model begins at the Ithaca Commons and ends at the Sciencenter. The audio tour can be heard online, or reached at the telephone number 703 637-6237.

As of July 2007, Nye and environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr. are engaging in a friendly competition "to see who could have the lowest carbon footprint," according to Begley.[14] In a 2008 interview, Nye joked that he wants to "crush Ed Begley" in their environmental competition.[11] But Nye and Begley are neighbors in Los Angeles, and sometimes dine together at a local vegetarian restaurant.[11]

Cultural references

References

  1. ^ Bill Info page on http://www.billnye.com
  2. ^ Bill Nye to Speak at Commencement, http://www.hmc.edu/newsandevents/nye08.html
  3. ^ Johns Hopkins University Commencement Speakers 2008, http://www.jhu.edu/news/commence08/releases/speakers.html
  4. ^ Davis, Pamela (11 October 1999). Bill Nye, the successful guy. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved on 2008-01-26.
  5. ^ Nye Labs, Bill's Bio, <http://www.nyelabs.com/nye_bio.pdf>. Retrieved on 27 June 2007 
  6. ^ "The Numb3rs Guy", Time Magazine, December 4, 2005. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. 
  7. ^ IMDB.com: Bill Nye
  8. ^ Friend, T. (2004 January 5). The sun on Mars. In The talk of the town. The New Yorker, LXXIX, 27.
  9. ^ The Seattle Times: Television: Eye to eye with Bill Nye the Science Guy
  10. ^ Bill Nye 'The Science Guy' to headline engineering open house
  11. ^ a b c "Greener Pastures", New York Times, April 20, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. 
  12. ^ MSNBC, Bill Nye, the Science Guy, gets hitched, <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11226109/>. Retrieved on 12 October 2007 
  13. ^ "'Science Guy' Likes Pluto Change", ABC News, 27 August 2006.
  14. ^ ABC News: Actor and 'Science-Guy' in Enviro-Smackdown http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3413135&page=1
  15. ^ Science Guy Bill Nye Killed In Massive Vinegar/Baking-Soda Explosion | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

External links


Persondata
NAME Nye, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American scientist
DATE OF BIRTH November 27, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, D.C.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH