Bill Nye

Background

William Sanford Nye, better known as Bill Nye, is a famous educator born on November 27, 1955, in Washington, D.C. His parents, Jacqueline Jenkins and Edwin Darby Nye, served in World War II. He attended Lafayette Elementary School and Alice Deal Middle School. He later got a scholarship to Sidwell Friends School and graduated in 1973. After graduation, Nye moved to Ithaca, New York, where he attended Cornell University and majored in mechanical and aerospace engineering. He graduated in 1977 and worked as a Boeing Company engineer in Seattle.

While at Boeing, Nye began a career in stand-up comedy. He quit Boeing in 1986 to focus on his newfound career. He worked as a writer/actor on “Almost Live!” Eventually, Nye was asked to fill in after a guest canceled an appearance, performing comical demonstrations dealing with science. He became a regular on the show from 1991 to 1993. By 1993, a new show called “Bill Nye the Science Guy” intended specifically for kids was created. The show ran from 1993 to 1998. It became one of the most-watched educational television shows in the U.S. winning 19 Emmys. Following the success of “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” Nye tried to work on a comeback project called “The Eyes of Nye,” an adult-focused science show. It premiered in 2005 but aired only one season owing to budgetary constraints. In 2016, Nye starred in the Netflix series “Bill Nye Saves the World.”

An environmental advocate, he assisted in the development of the MarsDial and served as president of the Planetary Society from 2005 to 2010. He was briefly to married Blair Tindall in 2006 but their marriage was annulled months later. They have a daughter named Charity. He’s now married to Liza Mundy, an award-winning journalist and author.