Bill Nye
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Bill Nye the Science Guy on BattleBots
William S. Nye, better known as Bill Nye the Science Guy (born November 27, 1955), is an American children's television program host and a mechanical engineer. Nye was born in Washington, D.C..
He graduated from Cornell University's Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 1977 with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering. At Cornell, he studied under Carl Sagan. He is a licensed mechanical engineer in the state of Washington since 1983. As an engineer, he developed a hydraulic pressure resonance suppressor used by Boeing in its 747 airliner.
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.
Nye's main source of fame is from hosting the Emmy Award-winning preteen educational program Bill Nye the Science Guy from 1992 to 1998. The show was incredibly popular in the 1990s and has been likened to a modern Mr. Wizard. He has also written several books as the Science Guy. In addition to hosting the show, he was also a writer and producer for it. Before he got his own show, Bill Nye was the mute assistant of Dr. Emmett L. Brown in the live-action segments of Back to the Future: The Animated Series.
Bill's TV persona is a tall and slender scientist wearing a lab coat and a bow-tie. He attempts to mix the serious science of everyday things with fast-paced action and humor.
Bill Nye stars alongside Ellen DeGeneres, Alex Trebek, and the tourists of Walt Disney World in "Ellen's Energy Adventure", an attraction playing since 1996 in the Universe of Energy pavilion inside Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort.
In 2001, he was appointed as Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 University Professor at Cornell University for three years. He has received two honorary doctorates, one from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and another from Goucher College.
In 2000, Nye joined the cast of BattleBots as an on-screen "technical expert".
In the early 2000s, he also 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. Nye is also the vice president of The Planetary Society, an organization that advocates space science research and the exploration of other planets (like Mars).
Bill Nye is currently working on a new prime-time science television series, called The Eyes of Nye, aimed at more mature audiences than his previous show.
Nye also hosts the Science & Nature category in the Atari video game Trivial Pursuit Unhinged, along with Terry Bradshaw, Brooke Burke, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, and John Ratzenberger.
Nye's character was parodied on The Weird Al Show as Phil Frye the Science Guy.
External links
- www.billnye.com
- www.eyesofnye.org
- Drinking Game (http://www.ringthis.com/tv_drinking_games/billnye.php)
- Cornell Chronicle: Janet Reno and Bill Nye appointed CU Rhodes Class of '56 Professors (http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/01/6.28.01/Reno-Nye_appoint.html)
- Current Online: Second Bill Nye series caught in KCTS troubles (http://www.current.org/ptv/ptv0309kctsnye.html)
Fan sites & discussion
References
- Friend, T. (2004, January 5). The sun on Mars. In The talk of the town. The New Yorker, LXXIX, 27.