William Sanford Nye is an American mechanical engineer, science communicator, and television presenter.
63 Facts About Bill Nye
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Bill Nye is best known as the host of the science education television show Bill Nye the Science Guy and as a science educator in pop culture.
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Bill Nye continued to advocate for science, becoming the CEO of The Planetary Society.
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Bill Nye has written two bestselling books on science: Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation and Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World.
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Bill Nye has appeared frequently on other TV shows, including Dancing with the Stars, The Big Bang Theory, and Inside Amy Schumer.
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Bill Nye starred in a documentary about his life and science advocacy, Bill Nye: Science Guy, which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2017; and, in October 2017, was named a NYT Critic's Pick.
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In 2017, the Netflix series Bill Nye Saves the World debuted, and ran for three seasons until 2018.
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Bill Nye was born November 27,1955, in Washington, DC, to Jacqueline Jenkins, who was a codebreaker during World War II, and Edwin Darby "Ned" Bill Nye, who served in World War II and worked as a contractor building an airstrip on Wake Island.
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Bill Nye is related to William Foster Nye, founder of Nye Lubricants in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
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Jenkins-Bill Nye was among a small elite group of young women known as "Goucher Girls", alumnae of Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, whom the Navy enlisted to help crack codes used by Japan and Germany.
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Bill Nye attended Lafayette Elementary School and Alice Deal Junior High before attending Sidwell Friends for high school on a scholarship, graduating in 1973.
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Bill Nye moved to Ithaca, New York to attend Cornell University and study at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
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Bill Nye graduated with a BS in mechanical engineering in 1977.
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Bill Nye applied four times, unsuccessfully, for NASA's astronaut training program.
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Bill Nye started doing standup comedy after winning a Steve Martin lookalike contest in 1978.
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Bill Nye's friends asked him to do Steve Martin impressions at parties, and he discovered how much he enjoyed making people laugh.
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Bill Nye began moonlighting as a comedian while working at Boeing.
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Bill Nye participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and volunteered at the Pacific Science Center on weekends as a "Science Explainer".
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Bill Nye quit his job at Boeing on October 3,1986, to focus on his burgeoning comedy career.
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Bill Nye first got his big break on the show from John Keister who met him during an open mic night.
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Bill Nye entertained audiences with comical demonstrations, including what happened when you ate a marshmallow that had been dipped in liquid nitrogen.
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On Fabulous Wetlands, Bill Nye explained the importance of preserving estuaries, and the hazards of pollution.
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Bill Nye soon got more offers to appear on nationally broadcast programs, including eight segments of the Disney Channel's All-New Mickey Mouse Club.
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Bill Nye obtained underwriting for the show from the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy.
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Bill Nye acknowledged that omitting his bow tie on the program was a mistake.
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From 2000 to 2002, Bill Nye was the technical expert on BattleBots.
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Bill Nye appeared on segments of Heidi Cullen's The Climate Code, later renamed Forecast Earth on The Weather Channel, relating his personal ways of saving energy.
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In 2008, Bill Nye hosted Stuff Happens, a short-lived show on the Planet Green network.
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In October 2009, Bill Nye recorded a short YouTube video advocating clean-energy climate-change legislation, on behalf of Al Gore's Repower America campaign.
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Bill Nye joined the American Optometric Association in a multimedia advertising campaign to persuade parents to provide their children with comprehensive eye examinations.
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Bill Nye was a contestant in season 17 of Dancing with the Stars in 2013, partnered with new professional dancer Tyne Stecklein.
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In 2013, Bill Nye guest-starred in The Big Bang Theory episode "The Proton Displacement".
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Professor Proton accuses Bill Nye of making his TV series similar to Proton's show.
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On February 28,2014, Bill Nye was a celebrity guest and interviewer at the White House Student Film Festival.
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Bill Nye appeared in the 2016 documentary Food Evolution, directed by Academy Award-nominated director Scott Hamilton Kennedy and narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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Bill Nye was honorary co-chair of the inaugural March for Science on April 22,2017.
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In 2018, Bill Nye guest-starred in an episode of Blindspot, "Let It Go", playing a fictionalized version of himself who is the father of the character Patterson.
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Also in 2018, Bill Nye made a second guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory as himself, together with fellow scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson, in the first episode of the show's final season.
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Bill Nye later competed on The Masked Singer spinoff The Masked Dancer as "Ice Cube".
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From 2005 to 2010, Bill Nye was the vice president of the Planetary Society, an organization that advocates space science research and the exploration of other planets, particularly Mars.
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Bill Nye became the organization's second Executive Director in September 2010 when Louis Friedman stepped down.
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Bill Nye spoke of his father's passion for sundials and timekeeping, his time at Cornell, his work on the sundials on the Mars rovers, and the story behind the Bill Nye Solar Noon Clock, which he then presented to the university atop Rhodes Hall.
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Bill Nye is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, a US nonprofit scientific and educational organization that promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims.
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In September 2012, Bill Nye claimed that creationist views threatened science education and innovation in the United States.
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Since 2013, Bill Nye has been a member of the Advisory Council of the National Center for Science Education.
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On Earth Day 2015, Bill Nye met with US President Obama to visit Everglades National Park in Florida and discuss climate change and science education.
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In March 2015, Bill Nye announced he changed his mind and now supported GMOs.
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Bill Nye has residences in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, in New York City, and on Mercer Island near Seattle.
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In July 2012, Bill Nye supported President Barack Obama's reelection bid.
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Bill Nye frequently consulted with Obama on science matters during Obama's presidency, and famously took a selfie with him and Neil deGrasse Tyson at the White House.
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Bill Nye attended the 2018 State of the Union Address after being invited by Oklahoma Congressman Jim Bridenstine.
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On October 28,2020, Bill Nye took to Twitter endorsing Joe Biden for president, urging his followers to vote on behalf of climate change and science.
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Bill Nye married musician Blair Tindall on February 3,2006; however, he annulled the relationship seven weeks later when the marriage license was declared invalid.
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Bill Nye subsequently sued Tindall for $57,000 in attorney's fees after she allegedly violated the protective order.
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In July 2018, Bill Nye played for the National League squad at the MLB All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game.
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Bill Nye has written over a dozen books in his career, including:.
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Bill Nye holds three United States patents: one for ballet pointe shoes, one for an educational magnifying glass created by filling a clear plastic bag with water, and one for a device for training an athlete to throw a ball.
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Bill Nye holds a design patent for a digital abacus.
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In May 1999, Bill Nye was the commencement speaker at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree.
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Bill Nye received honorary doctorates from Johns Hopkins University in May 2008, and in May 2011 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 presenting the ceremony's keynote address.
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Bill Nye received an honorary doctor of pedagogy degree during a commencement ceremony at Lehigh University on May 20,2013.
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Bill Nye received the 2010 Humanist of the Year Award from the American Humanist Association.
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In October 2015, Bill Nye was awarded an honorary doctorate of science from Simon Fraser University.