In the spring of 1993, a 30-minute program called Bill Nye the Science Guy aired for the first time on KCTS-TV, a Seattle-based PBS affiliate.
Within months, the show was being syndicated nationally, and what followed was life-changing for the show’s titular host: six seasons, 100 episodes and substantial underwriting from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Bill Nye was suddenly famous — broadcast into the homes and schools of millions of children, to explain science in entertaining terms they could understand. His program won 19 Emmy Awards, spawned a video game and made him a household name in television-based science programming for decades to come.
But is Bill Nye a scientist? Or, as his classic PBS show suggests, is he just a “science guy?”
Nye was born in Washington D.C., in 1955, to parents with incredible World War II military stories.
His mother, Jacqueline Jenkins, ...
