Few of us know Bill Nye as anything other than The Science Guy. But there was a time when he was *GASP* just regular ol’ Bill. So what’s his story?
Bill Nye has loved science for as long as he can remember. As a kid, he was always curious. He “thought bicycles were just the coolest thing. Bicycles and airplanes, come on.” So he decided he wanted to become a mechanical engineer.
How’d he get from mechanical engineer to kids-show host? Get this: Just after college, Bill Nye won a Steve Martin look-alike contest in Seattle. Yep, a look-alike contest. After that, people started asking him to “be” Steve Martin at parties. And once he got that taste of comedy, he was hooked.
There ya have it: a love of science + a love of comedy = Bill Nye the Science Guy. But hey, here’s another thing you may not have known. Not only was the TV show entertaining and informative, but it also had a fantastic objective.
These days, Bill Nye gets tons of people coming up to him saying things like, “The reason I’m a physician, the reason I’m an orthopedic surgeon, the reason I’m a chemical engineer, is because [I] watched the show.” That is pretty darn awesome.
Want to hear Bill Nye tell his story? Check out the video below:
