People/Bill Nye
Bill Nye
The not a scientist "Science guy"
William Sanford Nye (born November 27, 1955) is an American mechanical engineer, science communicator, and television presenter. He is best known as the host of the science education television show Bill Nye the Science Guy (1993–1999) and as a science educator in pop culture. Born in Washington, D.C., Nye began his career as a mechanical engineer for Boeing in Seattle, where he invented a hydraulic resonance suppressor tube used on 747 airplanes. In 1986, he left Boeing to pursue comedy—writing and performing for the local sketch television show Almost Live!, where he regularly conducted wacky scientific experiments.
Nye's mother, Jacqueline Jenkins-Nye, worked for the U.S. Navy as a codebreaker during World War II. Working with the Enigma machines (just like Alan Turing, as depicted in the movie The Imitation Game), Jenkins-Nye helped intercept and decipher the code that the Nazis (See operation paperclip) used to transmit messages. Nye himself graduated from the Ivy League's Cornell University with a degree in mechanical engineering. (He even studied under Carl Sagan.) Nye parlayed that degree into an engineering position at Boeing, the massive Seattle-based airplane manufacturer. While there, he developed the hydraulic pressure resonance suppressor, which is part of what made the 747 such a powerful and speedy aircraft. It's still used on airplanes today.
Failed Actor
In 1978, Bill Nye entered a Steve Martin look-alike contest...and won. And so, like Martin, he started doing stand-up comedy—working at Boeing during the day and performing in clubs around Seattle at night. By 1986, he'd developed his chops enough that he started submitting jokes to Almost Live, a long-running Seattle TV sketch comedy show (think Saturday Night Live, but with more jokes about the rain). Host Ross Shafer thought Nye's material was okay, but had a better idea: Have Nye do humorous scientific demonstrations on the show. Almost immediately, the two came up with the name "Bill Nye the Science Guy."
Failed Astronaut
Bill Nye's father, Ned Nye, was imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. To pass the long hours in which he had nothing to do, he spent a lot of time building sundials out of old fence posts, and used pebbles to mark the hour lines as they passed. That developed into a lifelong obsession with sundials, both building and studying them, and he passed that on to his son. Bill, in turn, passed along that keen knowledge and interest to NASA (NASA needed keen knowledge of sundials?).
After years of persuasion, the space agency allowed Nye to lead the team that developed the MarsDial to be used on the Mars Exploration Rovers. They're essentially sundials that track time on Mars—which, in turn, helps calibrate the rovers' cameras for full-color photographs.
Before his involvement with NASA on the Mars Rover and the sundials, Bill Nye tried many times in his youth to enter the space agency's astronaut training program. All four times he applied, he didn't make the grade. Nye believes it's because he hadn't received enough education as is typically required of astronauts—he doesn't have a Ph.D., only a Bachelor's degree. (And his six honorary doctorates apparently don't count.)
Seems to bother real scientists
Nye, aka the Science Guy, is arguably the nation’s foremost science communicator, CEO of the Planetary Institute, and star of his own eponymous Netflix series. He’s got a science pedigree, though no Ph.D.
When members of 500 Women Scientists — an advocacy group activated by social issues as much as those that are scientific — found out that Nye would be Bridenstine’s guest, they condemned it in a Scientific American op-ed, under the title: “Bill Nye Does Not Speak for Us and He Does Not Speak for Science.”
“Bill Nye, who is basically an entertainer, is the public face of science, for better or worse,” Rukmani Vijayaraghavan, Ph.D., a postdoctoral astrophysics fellow at the University of Virginia and co-author of the op-ed, tells Inverse. “Having him lend his credibility to someone we thought is totally unqualified for the job of NASA administrator, we thought, was not good.”
Failed in his Netflix show
The beloved "scientist" and goofy TV host Bill Nye’s new Netflix series, "Bill Nye Saves the World", isn’t going down well with both old and new fans.
The insults vary, with some people upset that Nye didn’t go more in-depth with the topics he has chosen to include in the series. Others, many of whom live in various continents around the world and didn’t grow up with Nye, called out the show for being lame, corny and trying too hard to fit in.
For some people, his past adorable online persona isn’t enough to save the series. Especially for those who didn’t grow up with the series. Coming to the show now in part because of the legacy Nye has created for himself, multiple people have written about how obnoxious they find Nye’s overall gusto.
“This show is terrible,” one commenter wrote. “I come from the UK, so I never grew up with Bill Nye. Does the guy always shout this much? He was also trying WAY too f**king hard to be 'cool'.”
The show’s audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is a mere 26 per cent, with many critics noting that it eschewed legitimate scientific inquiry in favour of mean-spiried mockery of pseudoscientific beliefs.
Ill tempered Environmentalist
Bill's fight for climate change, on a show "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" started throwing the F-word about – a lot.
“When something costs more, people buy less of it,” Nye says in a makeshift science lab, cutting to the chase. He goes on to explain why burning less fuel in our cars or burning less coal might help prevent fires, floods, and crop failures. And Nye says, because Oliver is a “42-year-old man who needs his attention sustained with tricks, here’s some f**king Mentos in a bottle of Diet Coke”, an experiment with mints and soda that appears to delight the host.
After explaining the idea being carbon taxes, and the difficulty politicians have getting people to accept the idea of a new tax, Nye returns for another experiment to cut through all the talk: “By the end of this century, if emissions keep rising, the average temperature on Earth could go up another four to eight degrees,” Nye says, losing his patience. “What I’m saying is the planet is on f**king fire,” he says while taking a torch to a globe. (I do that all the time)
“There are a lot of things we could do to put it out. Are any of them free? No, of course not. Nothing’s free, you idiots. Grow the f**k up. You’re not children any more. I didn’t mind explaining photosynthesis to you when you were 12. But you’re adults now, and this is an actual crisis, got it? Safety glasses off, motherf**kers.”
Hates Biblical history
Perhaps as a result of his very scientific mind, Nye is a vehement evolutionist, and he is very openly anti-creation. Some of his statements have sparked a lot of controversy, such as in his interview with Big Think titled ‘Creationism is not appropriate for children’.
In this interview he addresses ‘grown ups’, stating that if they choose to deny evolution and inhabit their own world which has no grounding and is inconsistent with what we all clearly observe in the universe, then that’s their choice. This video sparked an entire debate on Evolution versus Creation, wherein Bill Nye was challenged by Ken Ham.
In Williamstown, Ky. on July 5, 2016, at the replica of Noah's Ark at the "Ark Encounter theme park" during a media preview day, Bill Nye told NBC News, the eye-catching attraction was "much more troubling or disturbing than I thought it would be." To Nye says it's hogwash (although some scholars are open to the idea that a historic flood of Biblical proportions could have happened and inspired the Noah tale), "Scientists", however, say there's no evidence to suggest an epic, worldwide flood occurred within the past 6,000 years.
Nye said the exhibit encourages visitors to trust faith over science and thereby undercuts their ability to engage in critical thinking. "It’s all very troubling. You have hundreds of school kids there who have already been indoctrinated and who have been brainwashed," he said, recalling how one young girl on the Ark told him to change his way of thinking.
But nothing got people as riled as when he brought up Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”
The lesser light, he pointed out, is not a light at all, but only a reflector.
At this point, several people in the audience stormed out in fury. One woman yelled “We believe in God!” and left with three children.
The Science of a Jail bird
Bill Nye, the science educator and TV personality, recently made headlines for an unexpected reason: his arrest and subsequent jail time. The incident took place when Nye was attending a protest in Washington, D.C., and was taken into custody for civil disobedience. The arrest came as a shock to many, as Nye is best known for his role in promoting scientific literacy and environmental awareness.
During his time in jail, Nye used the opportunity to raise awareness about climate change and the importance of scientific research. He reportedly had discussions with fellow inmates about the impact of global warming and the need for sustainable practices. This unexpected turn of events shed light on Nye’s commitment to his cause, even in the face of adversity.