President Joe Biden awarded several Presidential Medals of Freedom this weekend.
Among the recipients: Seattle’s “Bill Nye, the Scientist,” who, of course, wore his signature bow tie to the White House ceremony.
Nye made her television debut on the show “Almost Live!” from KING 5. comedy show. He went on to win 19 Emmy Awards for his own nationally syndicated children’s television show produced on Seattle’s PBS station KCTS from 1993 to 1999.
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Bill Nye, 69, is a former mechanical engineer who hosted “Bill Nye the Science Guy” as a pop culture science educator.
In the 1970s, Nye was a student at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He developed an interest in science after taking an astronomy course with Carl Sagan.
Before becoming a television scientist, Nye worked as an engineer for Boeing and Sundstrand Data Control near Seattle. At Boeing Corporation, Nye invented a hydraulic resonance suppressor tube that was used on 747 airliners.
In 1986, he left Boeing to embark on a career as an actor. He worked as a writer and performer with hosts Ross Shafer and John Keister at KING 5 and regularly conducted wacky science experiments.
Following his tenure at KING 5, Nye brought the new children’s television show “Bill Nye the Science Guy” to KCTS.
The show proudly declared a new theme in the discipline of popular science in national syndication with the tagline “Science Rules!” »
The program was popular with children and adults and received critical acclaim. “Science Guy” was nominated for 23 Emmy Awards and won 19, including “Outstanding Performer in Children’s Programming.”
After production on the show ended, Nye continued to advocate for science.
He became CEO of The Planetary Society and wrote two best-selling science books: “Unstoppable: Evolution and the Science of Creation” (2014) and “Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World” (2015).
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He appeared frequently as a guest on other television programs.
Nye also starred in a documentary about his life and his advocacy for science in March 2017. In 2017, the Netflix series “Bill Nye Saves the World” began production and ran for three seasons.
Its most recent series, “The End Is Nye,” premiered in 2022 on Peacock and Syfy.
Other recipients at the White House ceremony on Saturday included former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, actors Denzel Washington and Michael J-Fox, U2’s Bono, soccer superstar Lionel Messi, investor George Soros, fashion designer Ralph Lauren and environmental advocate Jane Goodall.
Tom Brock is a weekend anchor, editor and reporter for KIRO Newsradio.