William Sanford Nye famed as Bill Nye is an American television personality, science communicator and a mechanical engineer who is often regarded as the Science Guy. He is famous for his appearance in the syndicated children’s science show Bill Nye the Science Guy as its host which aired from 1993 to 1998. Since 2017, he is the host of the television show entitled Bill Nye Saves the World and is well appreciated for his media appearance as a science expert/ educator. Overall, he is a multi-talented person.
TV Host Bill Nye Arrested for Manufacturing and Selling Illegal Drugs
In September 2019, a years-old rumor started spreading on social media that television host Bill Nye the Science Guy had been arrested on suspicion of manufacturing and selling illegal drugs. Some social media users also shared a brief piece of text detailing Nye’s alleged arrest: Bill Nye was arrested in his Los Angeles home after investigators became suspicious of Nye taking part in the sale and manufacture of illegal drugs. Investigators found pounds of illegal drugs and money in a secret basement in Bill Nye’s home, including 6 Million dollars cash.
Early Life of Bill
Born as William Sanford Nye, he landed the planet on 27th November 1955. He was born in Washington, D.C. the United States of America. His nationality is American and his ethnicity is White. His religion is Christian. As of 2018, he celebrated his 63rd birthday. He was born as the son to the parents named Jacqueline Jenkins-Nye (mother) and Edwin Darby Nye (father). His father died in 1997 whereas his mother left this world in 2000. His mother was a codebreaker during World War II whereas his father worked as a contractor building an airstrip on Wake Island and has also served during World War II. During the war, his father Edwin was captured and therefore spent his life in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp for four years where he was deprived of watch and electricity. As per the reports, Edward was able to learn to calculate the time seeing a shovel handle’s shadow. He was enrolled at Lafayette Elementary School and later joined the Alice Deal Junior High School. Later, he grabbed scholarship while attending Sidwell Friends for high school in 1975. For his higher education, he went to Cornell University for which he moved to Ithaca, New York. Being interested in science from an early age, Nye joined the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. In 1977, he completed his graduation with a BS degree in mechanical engineering.
Body Measurements of Bill
At the age of 63, Bill Nye still looks very handsome. He has an estimated net worth of 6.5 feet inches or 184 cm. He weighs about 70 kilograms or 154.5 lbs making him stay with a slim build structure. His natural hair color is dark brown which now has turned gray with his advancing age. His distinctive features are his hazel eyes, slim build tall height and mostly he appears in a suit or lab coat with a bowtie. As per some online sources, Bill is highly conscious regarding his fitness and food items like Peanut Butter, Apples and Sandwich are his favorites. Overall, he has got a healthy body.
Career of Bill
- Bill Nye initiated his career by working as an engineer after completion of his mechanical engineering degree.
- He began working at the Boeing Corporation where he was successful to invent a hydraulic resonance suppressor tube.
- He had a dream of working at NASA and therefore applied for NASA’s astronaut training program four times but was rejected every time.
- In the year 1978, he went to start his standup comedy career being motivated after being the winner of Steve Martin look-alike contest.
- He realized the quality possessed inside him to entertain people after performing Steve Martin impressions at parties in front of his friends.
- Although he was working as a mechanical engineer at Boeing, he started moonlighting as a comedian.
- After that, he started contributing to a non-profit organization named Big Brothers Big Sisters of America as well and also went for volunteering serving as “Science Explainer” at the Pacific Science Center on weekends.
- On 3rd October 1986, he left his job at Boeing and the reason behind his resignation is said to be his interest in his burgeoning comedy career.
- In the year 1987, he got an opportunity to meet Sagan at Cornell during the 10-year college reunion program.
- He told him that he was interested in developing a new science television program.
- In the year 1986, he served to a local sketch comedy show named Almost Live! as a writer/actor.
- He earned his first breakthrough on the show with the help of John Keister.
- He was able to impress the whole audiences from his outstanding performances with some comical demonstrations.
- Although he was being more popular day-by-day from the show, he was just a freelance worker for the show.
- He then grabbed an opportunity to work as the host for the short educational program named Fabulous Wetlands on Washington State’s wetlands in 1989 which was the sponsor of the program was the Washington State Department of Ecology.
- During his tenure on the show, he gave the details of the hazards of pollution and the importance of preserving estuaries.
- His talents made him receive multiple offers for various nationally broadcast programs including All-New Mickey Mouse Club on Disney Channel.
- He has also made his appearance in educational segments of Back to the Future assisting Dr. Emmett Brown.
- He then came with an appealing show called Bill Nye the Science Guy in 1993 aired on public broadcasting station KCTS-TV.
- He worked together with James McKenna, Elizabeth Brock and Erren Gottlieb for KCTS where they used to plan and create the show.
- He was able to receive the underwriting from the US Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.
- His show was so popular that it was included to be the part of the Children’s Television Act requirements.
- This made the show to be the first television show to telecast concurrently on public and commercial stations.
- The program aired from 1993 to 1998 and has always been remembered to be the most-watched educational television shows of the country.
- He also used to appear wearing a bow tie on a powder blue lab coat while portraying the role of “The Science Guy.”
- The show was shot near Seattle’s Kingdome in a place which was converted from a clothing warehouse.
- Every episode of the program was presented with the aim of educating younger audiences on various science concepts although it was equally useful for matured viewers as well.
- He became more popular because he was able to make science more interesting and entertaining and has presented a completely different teaching tool.
- It was formed with ingredients of rapid-fire MTV-style pacing and quirky humor.
- It was critically successful and received 23 Emmy Awards nominations on which he was able to secure nineteen.
- Several kinds of research were conducted regarding the show’s performance and it was discovered that the program was an effective solution for teaching science to the students.
- Those who regularly watched him were found being more capable to generate explanations of scientific ideas in comparison to no-viewers.
- Based on Bill Nye the Science Guy, he published books including The Science Guy which was released in 1996.
- His character as a Science Guy is also one of the prominent roles in the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. He has also appeared at Ellen’s Energy Adventure with Ellen DeGeneres.
- After the big success of Bill Nye the Science Guy, he then started working for a new project called The Eyes of Nye which was developed targeting an older audience and aimed to tackle more controversial science subject matter including global warming and genetically modified food.
- The comeback project was delayed for years due to infighting among executives and financial issues with station KCTS.
- He also worked as the technical expert on American robot combat television series called BattleBots from the year 2000 to 2002 where he became the host of the award-winning series named 100 Greatest Discoveries from 2004 to 2005 which was produced by THINKFilm for The Science Channel.
- He also served the Greatest Inventions with Bill Nye, an eight-part Discovery Channel series as its host.
- He has made multiple guest appearances in various episodes of Numb3rs, a crime drama television series as an engineering faculty member.
- He was also seen in the VH1 reality show America’s Most Smartest Model as a guest.
- He has also featured Heidi Cullen’s The Climate Code’s segments.
- He was also one of the experts in the daytime game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2008 appearing in “Ask the Expert” lifeline.
- He hosted a short-lived show called Stuff Happens in 2008 which was aired on the Planet Green network.
- He was also seen acting as himself in November 2008 in military science fiction television series called Brain Storm in the fifth-season episode.
- He also advocated clean-energy climate-change legislation in a short YouTube video recorded by him.
- This video was prepared on behalf of the campaign of Al Gore’s Repower America.
- He also became part of the multimedia advertising campaign by the American Optometric Association.
- He was the guest star of The Big Bang Theory in 2013 for the episode called The Proton Displacement.
- Netflix made an announcement on 31st August 2016, stating that Nye would be cast in the series titled Bill Nye Saves the World.
- The series got premiered on 21st April 2017.
- He was also the part of the 2016 documentary called Food Evolution.
- A biographical documentary film was based on him named Bill Nye: Science Guy which was directed by Jason Sussberg and by David Alvarado in 2017.
- He appeared in a fictionalized version of himself in Blindspot’s Let It Go in 2018.
- He has continued his advocacy against climate change and was featured on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on 12th May 2019, in which he discussed climate change and the proposed Green New Deal.
Awards of Bill
Bill Nye has earned several awards and nominations in his name. He received an honorary doctor of science degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in May 1999 where he was also the commencement speaker. In May 2008, Johns Hopkins University awarded him an honorary doctorate. Willamette University has made him be the receiver of the honorary doctor of science degree in May 2011. He also received the honorary doctor of pedagogy degree on May 20, 2013, from the Lehigh University. The American Humanist Association has awarded him the 2010 Humanist of the Year Award. He also became the presenter of the Candle in the Dark Award by CSICOP.
Marital Status, Wife, Divorce, Child
Bill Nye is a married and divorced man. He has struggled his crucial time in the court against his former wife musician Blair Tindall. Their engagement was announced in 2006 after dating for about five months. They tied their knot Los Angeles based at the Entertainment Gathering at the Skirball Cultural Center. His wife Tindall invaded his home and caused damaged in the garden with herbicide and even stole his laptop and other items. In response, Nye filed a case against Tindall and therefore she was made to bear the compensation of 57,000 USD of Nye’s legal expenses. He has several residences and mostly scatters his time among New York City and Los Angeles. He has revealed about his family’s plight of ataxia in the 2017 PBS documentary. Seeing the problems of his father, brother, and sister, he has decided to not have children and stop the genetic condition of the family to pass. At present, he is living a single life happily without any disturbances.
Net Worth of Bill
Bill Nye is a multi-talented person and from his long role as a television personality, mechanical engineer and science communicator, he has amassed an estimated net worth of $7 million as of 2019. Moreover, his science and television roles, he has garnered an impressive amount of fortune from commercials including Ballard Computer, Persil ProClean, WAVY Saturday Morning and Smithsonian University. At present, his exact salary has not been revealed yet but it will be added soon once we get the information. He is also the owner of a house in Seattle on Mercer Island. He has installed solar photovoltaic panels which he has often shown off to visitors.
