Bill Nye is an American science educator, engineer, television presenter, inventor, keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. As the co-creator and host of the 19-time Emmy Award-winning Bill Nye the Science Guy, Nye helped introduce generations to science and engineering in an entertaining and accessible manner, fostering an understanding and appreciation for the science that makes our world work.

For 15 years, Nye served as CEO of The Planetary Society, the world’s largest and most influential non-governmental space organization co-founded by Carl Sagan and is now the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors and Chief Ambassador for the organization

In January 2025, Nye was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, in recognition of his dedication to science education. In September 2025, Nye was honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Acknowledged in the ‘Television’ category, his star celebrates his influential work as creator and host of Bill Nye the Science Guy. In 2026, Nye received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Children’s and Family Emmys in Children’s Programming, recognizing his generational impact on science education.

He is a frequent television guest, joining The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Nye appeared on season 17 of Dancing with the Stars and has played cameo roles in several TV shows and films, including High Potential, Inside Amy Schumer, The Big Bang Theory, and NBC’s Blindspot. In August 2022, “The End is Nye” premiered, where Nye served as host and executive producer. The science series explored various epic global disasters imaginable, both natural and unnatural, with each episode available on Peacock.

Additionally, Nye has appeared in TIME, Men’s Health, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Forbes, and frequents CNN and MSNBC. For his advocacy work around climate change, science, and most notably, raising awareness around ataxia, a rare neurological disease, Nye was included on TIME 100’s Health 2025 list. Nye is an avid supporter of The National Ataxia Foundation, Global Citizen, Climate Power, The Blue Jacket Fashion Show, PBS, Stand up for Science, The National Center for Science Education, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

In addition to his recent ventures, Nye has authored three New York Times bestselling books – Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation (2015), Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World (2016), and Everything All At Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap into Radical Curiosity and Solve Any Problem (2017) and also co-authored the middle-grade reader series Jack and the Geniuses. Nye has also served as the host of the Emmy-nominated series Bill Nye Saves the World on Netflix, and is the subject of the critically-acclaimed documentary Bill Nye: Science Guy, which premiered at SXSW in 2017 and later aired on PBS.

Nye was born and raised in Washington, DC, and holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Cornell University. He resides in DC and Los Angeles with his wife.

With over 7 billion people breathing and burning an atmosphere that is barely 100 kilometers thick, humankind is changing the Earth’s heat balance faster than ever in the planet’s history. Climate change is the biggest challenge we face, and finding ways to do more with less energy is a key to our future. Bill strongly believes the most effective way to reduce the world’s human population of people over the next several decades is to raise the standard of living for women and girls. To do that, he says, we need to educate people as effectively as possible. Bill wrote and produced “Solving for X,” a series on DVD where he shows us how to do algebra along with the P, B, & J – the Passion, Beauty, and Joy – of math. It turns out that algebra is the most reliable indicator of whether or not a student will end up pursuing a career in science. With more kids, girls especially, engaged in math, Bill hopes we’ll have more scientists and especially engineers to make the world healthier for all of us.

Along with big picture thinking about global issues, Bill remains involved in a good-natured rivalry with his neighbor, actor and fellow environmentalist, Ed Begley. They compete to see who can save the most energy and produce the smallest carbon footprint. Bill has 4,000 watts of solar power and a solar-boosted hot water system. There’s also the low water use garden and underground watering system.

After joining as a Charter Member in 1980, Bill is now the CEO of the Planetary Society, the world’s largest space-interest group. Under his leadership, the non-for-profit Society is growing and becoming more influential having members in 130 countries. Cofounded by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and Louis Friedman, the organization’s mission is to empower the world’s citizens to advance space science and exploration. Space exploration brings out the best in us, because we solve problems that have never been solved before

His engineering and management experience enabled him to take the lead and play a hands-on role in making programs like LightSail2® a success. Bill is very proud of the MarsDials, three sundials mounted on the robotic rovers exploring Mars. Along with calibrating the cameras and reckoning the Sun’s position in the Martian sky, these small instruments are fitted with the only message to the future carried on spacecraft since the Voyager missions launched almost 40 years ago: “To those who visit here, we wish a safe journey and the joy of discovery.” Bill says, “This is the essence of the scientific enterprise, the Joy of Discovery. That’s what the process of science is all about.”

In 2017, Bill was a co-chair in the inaugural March for Science, a series of rallies and marches held in Washington, D.C., and more than 600 other cities across the world on Earth Day. The goal of the March is to celebrate science and the role it plays in everyday lives and to encourage evidence-based policy in the public’s best interest. The global attendance of the movement was a total of 1.07 million participants.

In the same year, Bill was the subject of the critically acclaimed documentary Bill Nye: Science Guy which premiered at SXSW. The documentary focuses on Bill’s life and his mission to stop the spread of anti-scientific thinking across the world. The film was a Documentary Spotlight at SXSW Film Festival and an official selection at HotDocs, Los Angeles Film Festival, and AFI Docs. The film opened theatrically in October 2017 and will be airing on PBS.

Bill returned to television with the release of his new series Bill Nye Saves The World which debuted on Netflix in April 2017. On the show, Bill explores various problems and misconceptions from a scientific point of view, refuting myths and claims that rebuke science. Episodes feature lively panel discussions from a wide range of special correspondents, including space exploration advocate Emily Calandrelli, model and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss and comic Nazeem Hussain. After it’s freshman season, the show received two Creative Arts Emmy Award nominations.

Bill still visits Cornell regularly. From 2001- 2005, he served as a Professor as part of the Frank H.T. Rhodes Visiting Professorship. As a thankful alumnus and as a tribute to his parents and their strong belief in the value of education, Bill designed and funded a 4-meter (12 foot) diameter clock installed on Rhodes Hall at Cornell in 2012.

Bill, the inventor, has a few unusual patents – an improved toe shoe for ballerinas, a device to ease the motion of picking up baseballs, a magnifier made of water, and an abacus that does arithmetic like a computer – with only binary numbers.

Along with his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell, Bill joined his astronomy professor Carl Sagan when he was elected the American Humanist Association’s Humanist of the Year in 2010. He was also the honored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers with the Ralph Coates Roe Medal in 2012.Bill holds Honorary Doctorate degrees from six universities: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Goucher College, Johns Hopkins University, Quinnipiac University, Willamette University, and Lehigh University. He has delivered commencement addresses at most of these schools along with the University of California Santa Barbara, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Harvey Mudd College, and Caltech.

Bill currently speaks at colleges regularly and discusses a variety of topical science matters on news and television programs such as ABC World News, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Good Morning America, MSNBC, TODAY, CBS This Morning, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and more. He fights to raise awareness of climate change and the value of critical thinking, science, and reason. Through all his work, Bill hopes to inspire people everywhere to change the world.

Find Bill on his website (www.billnye.com) and on Twitter and Facebook.