Bill Nye Biography

Bill Nye is an American television host, scientist, science educator, writer, actor and comedian. Check out this biography to get detailed information on his childhood, life and timeline.

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Quick Facts

Birthday: November 27, 1955

Nationality: American

Famous: Quotes By Bill Nye Actors

Age: 64 Years, 64 Year Old Males

Sun Sign: Sagittarius

Also Known As: Bill Nye the Science Guy, William Sanford Nye

Born in: Washington, D.C.

Height: 1.85 m

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Blair Tindall (m. 2006–2006)

father: Edwin Darby

mother: Jacqueline

More Facts

education: Cornell University (1977), Sidwell Friends School (1973)

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William Sanford ‘Bill’ Nye, is an American television artist, host and entertainer, known popularly as ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’. He was born and brought up in Washington D.C. to World War II veterans. His interest in science was initiated by his father who was a sundial enthusiast. He graduated from the Cornell University in mechanical engineering and began his science career at Boeing, Seattle where he developed a hydraulic pressure resonance suppressor. He is a big fan of speading science education through entertainment and for that he began his entertainment career with small gigs at the comedy theatres, working as an assistant on the show ‘Back to the Future: The Animated Series’ and eventually bagged the most famous role of his life, ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’. Besides these shows on the television and doing science miniseries for The Discovery Channel, Nye partook in every opportunity to spread the message on restoring energy and environment and teaching small children and sometimes the mature audience the importance and role of science in day to day life. He has been honored by many universities with several doctorates because of his contribution to science with his acting skills and talent on the television.

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Childhood & Early Life

Bill Nye was born on 27 November 1955 in Washington D.C. to Jacqueline Nye and Edwin Darby Nye. Both of his parents were World War II veterans; his mother was a code-breaker and father a sundial buff.
He attended the Lafayette Elementary High School and Alice Deal Junior High and went on a partial scholarship to the Sidwell Friends School. He graduated in mechanical engineering from the Cornell University.
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Career

He started his career as a mechanical engineer at Boeing in Seattle and during this time he built a hydraulic pressure resonance suppressor that is till date used in the Boeing 747.
Nye started his entertainment career by keeping his day job as an engineer and working as a stand-up comedian at comedy clubs during the night. He eventually became a writer and performer on ‘Almost Live’.
From 1991-1993, Nye worked as a silent demonstrator and an assistant to Dr. Emmett Brown on the show ‘Back to the Future: The Animated Series. He exhibited the science experiment that Dr. Brown explained.
From 1993-1998, because of the popularity of his earlier show, Nye got an educational television program to perform - ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’. The show had in total a hundred episodes.
In 1998, Nye did a role in Disney’s movie ‘The Principal Takes a Holiday’. He played the role of a science teacher in the movie and continued to exhibit his enthusiasm for science and teaching it with entertainment.
In 2000s, Nye gave his technical expertise in BattleBots. He also hosted the show ‘100 Greatest Discoveries’ for Discovery HD Theatre. He hosted ‘Greatest Inventions with Bill Nye’ for Discovery.
During that time, Nye co-developed ‘MarsDial’, which is a sundial created for the ‘Mars Exploration Rover’ missions. The dial was developed to help in keeping track of time when an astronaut is on Mars.
In 2005, he created a show called ‘The Eye of Nye’, which was a science show that was made for a mature audience and addressed the issues of environmental importance like global warming, modified food, etc.
He was made the vice president of The Planetary Society in 2005 for next 5 years after which he was chosen to be its second Executive Director. The organization was particularly interested in Mars.
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During 2008, Nye made appearances on shows like ‘America’s Most Smartest Model’, ‘Larry King Live’, ‘The Climate Code’ where he talked on saving energy, ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’, etc.
Around the same time he hosted a show called ‘Stuff Happens’ and acted in ‘Stargate Atlantis’. He made a Youtube video to support Al Gore’s Repower America Campaign and appeared on the show ‘The Dr. Oz Show’.
In 2010, he was chosen as the new representative of a new permanent exhibition at the Chabot Space & Science Center, California. The exhibition aimed at making people more aware about environmental issues.
In 2012, Nye came on CNN to express his views on the devastating natural repercussions of nuclear incidents in Japan. Around the same time, he contested in the dance competition show ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

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Personal Life & Legacy

In 2006, Nye announced his relationship with his musician fianc�e Blair Tindall on ‘The Late Late Show With Craig Feruson’. He was married in a few months time but they both separated after 7 weeks.

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Trivia

Nye has written many science books under the name of ‘The Science Guy’.
In 1996, he appeared in a video for ‘Ellen’s Energy Adventure’ with Ellen DeGeneres and Alex Trebek.
He has given his voice for the DINOSAUR attraction in the Disney’s Animal Kingdom, in which he his teaching children about dinosaurs.
Nye has United States patents for ballet pointe shoes, educational magnifying glass, etc.
Nye is in an affable competition with the environmental activist Ed Begley Jr. to prove who has the lowest carbon print out of the two. They both are neighbors and go out together for meals.
He has been awarded doctorates from universities like: John Hopkins University, Willamette University, Lehigh University and received the Humanist of the Year Award in 2010 from the American Humanist Association.
Quotes: Think, I