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Board of Directors

Bill Nye

Vice-President The Planetary Society

Click to enlarge > Bill Nye

As a student at Cornell University, Bill Nye the Science Guy was introduced to the wonders of astronomy in a class taught by Carl Sagan himself, one of the original founders of The Planetary Society. So for Nye, it was like coming full circle to join the Society’s Board of Directors and later to become the organization’s newest Vice-president.

Nye’s mission for many years has been to turn on the public in general, and kids in particular, to the “way cool” wonders of science. Scientist, comedian, teacher, and author, Nye became a household name with his innovative, fast-paced television series, Bill Nye the Science Guy. His latest TV program, 100 Greatest Discoveries, airs in eight installments on the Science Channel.
Nye earned a degree in mechanical engineering at Cornell University and spent several years working as an engineer until he combined his dual love of science and comedy to create the Science Guy.

Born in Washington, D.C., he has a seminal childhood memory of flying a rubber band-powered airplane and figuring out how make it turn left. It was the start of his life-long love of airplanes and spacecraft. After graduating from Cornell University, Nye worked for the Boeing Corporation for the next three years. He continued to work as a consulting engineer on various projects in the 1980s, with clients that included the U.S. Department of Justice.

Nye's career took a different path in 1986 when he originated Bill Nye the Science Guy on KJR Radio in Seattle, Washington. He was also the writer and talent for Almost Live, a television comedy show produced by KING Television, Seattle, for which he won 13 local Emmy awards for writing and performing. From 1992 to 1998, Nye was the writer, producer and talent for the Emmy award-winning Bill Nye the Science Guy TV series co-produced by Buena Vista Television (Disney) and KCTS (Seattle public television).

Nye has authored several books, including his latest: Bill Nye The Science Guy's Great Big Book of Tiny Germs.