-Matt Grisham
As children we are expected to learn everything we can. Most believe that learning comes from the years and years spent behind a desk at school, but in the 90’s that wasn’t the whole story. In the 90’s we had two teachers that didn’t require pencils and paper for class. Two teachers that didn’t require you to be quite and listen. Teachers that allowed you to have fun, get loud, and live science. Their names where Beakman and Bill Nye.
These individuals taught about science in a fun and understanding way. They explained how things worked, by not only using words, but by using visual experiments. Their styles may have differed, but their message was the same, learning can be fun. So today we will look at these two great individuals and how they shaped the children of the 90’s.
The only real starting point here would be on September 16th, 1992 when Beakmans world premiered on a little channel known as TLC.
The show was based on a comic strip called ”You Can with Beakman and Jax.” The show had a short run on TLC before being picked up by CBS for their morning children’s lineup. The show was hosted by actor Paul Zaloom and his rag tag team consiting of a lab rat named Lester and his assistant Josie.
Josie was replaced in season 2, with a new assistant named Liza who played in the show for two seasons, before being replaced by Phoebe. Beakman would read viewers mail and use his unquie style to run experiments demonstrating a variety of science theories. This unusual band of science misfits had a 91 episode run before being canceled, though they will never be canceled in our hearts.
Beakmans World also did live touring after the series had ended which could be seen across the country at museums, theaters, and schools. I was actually lucky enough to see the show live when I was a kid and it was just as amazing as you would think.
It would be impossible to talk about the 90’s and science without speaking two words...BILL NYE. The geek that everyone loved, and couldn’t wait to watch.
Now unlike Beakman (Paul Zaloom), Bill Nye wasn’t just an actor. He was an actual scientist who had a degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University.
He began his career working for the Boeing Corporation, and invented a resonance suppressor tube that is used on 747 planes. This wasn’t enough for Bill though and he decided to follow his real dream, comedy. He left his job at Boeing to venture out writing for a local sketch tv show in Seattle. On this series he regularly performed funny science experiments, similar to “Mr. Wizard” (another science guy from the past, but we’ll talk about him some other time). After a long of pitching to tv executives Bill‘s Dream finally came true and he got his own television show. “Bill Nye the Science Guy”.
His show ran from 1993-1998 with 100 episodes. The show was syndicated by Disney and aired all over the country. Many of us remember It being the go to show in school when we had a substitute for the day. During the run the show was nominated for 23 Emmy awards (winning 19 total). The show was loved by all, and even had its own video game (bet you had forgotten about that).
This landed Bill Nye as the coolesr scientist in the world, and left his theme song playing in our heads for decades. His grasp with kids in the 90’s lead to his revival on Netflix in 2017.
Just remember “Science is Cool. This is why Bill Nye is our winner of the 1 science guy in HISTORY.
Tell is about your favorite episodes of both Beakmans world and Bill Nye below!