January 2006

Bill Nye the Science Guy
Uses Humor to Make Learning Fun

By Karen West

Bill Nye the Science Guy has a modest little New Year’s Resolution: He wants to change the world.

While this former Seattle-area resident might not be able to reinvent the planet, he is well on his way to changing the way children, teachers and adults view the world of science.

The 50-year-old comedian, television personality, author, inventor and mechanical engineer sees science through wacky eyes. Using a fast-paced approach that combines humor with zany experiments, Nye earns a living by making science cool, both for kids and adults.

His popular television persona gives people insight into the world around us. He’s a walking scientific encyclopedia, spouting such “did you knows” as: “Every 60 seconds, 150 babies are born” and “A person’s heart weighs about 10 ounces.”

“A guy came up to me the other day and said he became a physician because he watched my show as a kid,” Nye said in a telephone interview from his Los Angeles home. “There’s nothing more interesting than science.”

Nye is bringing his Science Guy show to Bainbridge Island Feb. 11 to benefit the Kids Discovery Museum. During two performances, at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., Nye will demonstrate some of his experiments as well as give kids “an earful about their place in the world.” His message is, “We have to do more with less.”

His syndicated Bill Nye the Science Guy television show is part education and part stand-up comedy. Donning his signature bow-ties (he reportedly owns six dozen) and blue lab coat, (size 38 tall), Nye encourages kids to ask hard questions, then shows them how to discover the answers. The show, which ran on PBS for 100 episodes from 1992 to 1998, is still popular on TV and as a school resource. It has also aired on the Disney Channel and Noggin.

Nye’s scientific humor is not limited to children. His most recent show, The Eyes of Nye, challenges adults to ponder such hard-hitting topics as over-population, cloning and global climate change. In an episode featuring population, Nye questions whether “earth can sustain us – a planet that by 2050 will have more than 9 billion people.” The show airs on public television stations across the country, including KCTS in Seattle and KBTC in Tacoma.

Nye was born in Washington, D.C., where his father, who worked in advertising sales, and his mother, who has a Ph.D. in education, fostered his curiosity for the world of science. He discovered his life-long love of physics as a young child, passing the time by throwing a rubber band-powered airplane called Sky Streak into the air and trying to figure out how to make it turn. He also spent hours taking his bicycle apart to “see how it worked.” Tinkering remains his favorite pastime today.

Nye, who says he always loved airplanes and flight, graduated from Cornell University in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. He studied under astronomer Carl Sagan. In 2001, Nye was appointed a visiting professor at Cornell University, where he continues to teach. He has received honorary doctorates from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and Goucher College in Baltimore.

After graduating from Cornell, Nye relocated to Seattle to work as an engineer for Boeing, where he helped develop flight control systems for the 747 jumbo jets. In the early 2000s, Nye assisted in the development of a small sundial that was included in the Mars Exploration Rover missions. He is on the board of directors of the Planetary Society, an organization that advocates space science research and the exploration of other planets.

Nye says he grew up in a funny family that made learning fun, and he always had a flair for comedy. So it was a “no-brainer” to transform himself from mechanical engineer during the day to stand-up comic at night. He gained fame after winning a Steve Martin look-a-like contest. “People wanted me to be Steve Martin at parties and I don’t even look like him,” Nye recalls.

He soon moved on to bigger comedy gigs which then led to his Science Guy role on the Seattle sketch comedy show, Almost Live. He left the television show to start producing Bill Nye the Science Guy in 1992.

In between creating his Science Guy shows, which won 28 Emmys in five years, Nye wrote five children’s books about science, including his latest, Bill Nye the Science Guy’s Great Big Book of Tiny Germs (Hyperion, 2005). He also holds several patents, including one for a collapsible, water-filled magnifying glass and an abacus that does arithmetic like a computer. While maintaining an office in Seattle, Nye currently lives in Los Angeles where he likes to surf, ride bikes and play ultimate Frisbee when he’s not working on his entertainment and educational projects.

His television star status will become even bigger this year when he appears as a college engineering professor on the CBS crime show, Numbers. He hopes to have a recurring role on the Friday night show. “I play a guy not that different from myself,” he says, noting that his television character shares his own passion for getting people excited about science.

Asked what’s next on his agenda for 2006, Nye replies: “Chipping away at all the millions of problems on earth.”

Karen West is a Bainbridge Island writer and mother of two.

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