Bill Nye The Science Guy isn't so well known over here, but in the US he's something of a household name, a cross between Brian Cox and, erm, somebody who's famous on kid's TV. Ant and Dec? Are we showing our collective ages there? His PBS show of the same name finished in 1998 but lives on in reruns, as the former Boeing engineer teaches young folk about specific topics in natural science across 100 episodes. Along with almost constantly being on PBS videos of the shows are part of the primary school curriculum, so if you're a person born after, like, 1989 in America, chances are you're rather well acquainted with Mr Nye. He's since gone on to appear in a multitude of other TV shows and films, continued his scientific research, and figured out how Superman shaves. Despite all those accomplishments, though, Nye's career is coloured by one particularly big failure: he was once rejected by NASA. Not once, actually, but a bunch of times. According to an interview he gave to the St Petersburg Times, "every few years Nye fills out the astronaut application and goes in for his astronaut physical. And every few years he is rejected. His degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University isn't enough. Nye says he needs a PhD to be an astronaut." We guess there are worse reasons to stop someone from becoming an astronaut, but c'mon, NASA. He's Bill Nye! The Science Guy!
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
