Bill Nye

Bill Nye married musician Blair Tindall in 2006, but the relationship was annulled seven weeks later after the marriage license was declared invalid. He married journalist Liza Mundy on June 22, 2022.

Nye has discussed his family's history of ataxia in the documentary Bill Nye: Science Guy. Because his father, sister, and brother experienced lifelong balance and coordination problems, Nye decided not to have children because of the possibility of passing on the condition.

After graduating from Cornell University, Nye worked as a mechanical engineer for Boeing, Sundstrand Data Control, and other engineering firms in the Seattle area. At Boeing, he developed a hydraulic resonance suppressor tube used on Boeing 747 airplanes. He also appeared in Boeing training films and applied unsuccessfully four times for NASA's astronaut training program.

Nye began performing comedy after winning a Steve Martin look-alike contest in 1978. While working as an engineer during the day, he performed stand-up comedy at night and later became a writer and performer on Seattle's sketch comedy program Almost Live!. A segment featuring his scientific demonstrations led to the nickname “the Science Guy,” and he left Boeing in 1986 to pursue entertainment and science education full time.

Nye developed Bill Nye the Science Guy with James McKenna, Erren Gottlieb, and Elizabeth Brock for Seattle public broadcaster KCTS-TV. The program premiered in 1993 and used comedy, fast-paced editing, and experiments to teach science to children. It ran nationally through 1998 and became a classroom resource as well as a popular television show.

The series was nominated for 23 Emmy Awards and won 19. Nye personally received seven Emmys for writing, performing, and producing. His recognizable presentation included a blue lab coat and bow tie, and the program's success made him one of the best-known science educators in popular culture.

After the series ended, Nye hosted or contributed to programs including The Eyes of Nye, 100 Greatest Discoveries, Greatest Inventions with Bill Nye, and Stuff Happens. He also appeared in Numb3rs, The Big Bang Theory, Dancing with the Stars, and other television and film projects.

Nye joined The Planetary Society as a charter member when it was founded in 1980. He joined its board in 2005, became its president, and served as chief executive officer from 2010 to 2026. In 2026, he became the organization's chief ambassador and vice chairman of the board.

In the early 2000s, Nye helped develop the sundials included with NASA's Mars Exploration Rover missions. The devices, known as MarsDials, helped track time and provided color-calibration references. He also became the face of Bill Nye's Climate Lab at the Chabot Space & Science Center and has served as a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

Nye has advocated for evolution education, climate action, space exploration, and scientific literacy. He debated creationist Ken Ham in 2014 and changed his position on genetically modified organisms in 2015, revising a chapter of Undeniable to reflect his support for GMOs.

Nye has written children's science books and adult nonfiction. His books include Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation (2014), Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World (2015), and Everything All at Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap into Radical Curiosity and Solve Any Problem (2017). He also wrote the Jack and the Geniuses series and Bill Nye's Great Big World of Science (2020).

His later television work included the Netflix series Bill Nye Saves the World, which ran from 2017 to 2018, and The End Is Nye, which premiered in 2022. A documentary about his career and science advocacy, Bill Nye: Science Guy, was released in 2017. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2024.