Derek Muller is revered as a millennial science communicator. Combining his love of science and film, Mr Muller created the Youtube channel Veritasium, a pioneering learning platform that has gone viral on social media and is now used by teachers in classrooms around the globe. Mr Muller has a Ph.D. in Physics Education Research from the University of Sydney as well as studying engineering. He honed his craft as a former teacher and previously hosted the Australian PBS series Uranium. Today, Mr Muller has made science accessible to the masses and inspired a generation of curious minds to get involved in critical thinking, as well as influencing educators and educational researchers to communicate in more engaging ways. Mr Muller has been published internationally, is well regarded as an international personality for ‘science geeks’ everywhere and, at 39 years of age, regularly rates amongst the top five science communication YouTubers internationally. With more than nine million subscribers and nearly half a billion views, Mr Muller has co-produced shows with the most recognised science communicators in the world.
Mr Muller’s expertise lies in understanding just how video can be used to transmit knowledge. His mission to popularise physics via the internet sees him using engaging education to encourage people to question their assumptions about the world around them. Embracing environmentalism through his numerous topics, Mr Muller cultivates unique science-themed films that are both entertaining and ask contemplative, open-ended questions to create a dialogue. He won the Streamy Award for Science or Education in 2017 and has hosted award-winning documentaries: Uranium; Twisting the Dragon’s Tail; Digits; and Vitamania for international broadcast networks. Mr Muller was also a correspondent on Netflix’s Bill Nye Saves the World, a host of the Australian science program, Catalyst, as well as Light Speed, a six part documentary series about the Australian Solar Car Race in 2019. He has appeared live on stage with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michio Kaku, Space station commander Chris Hadfield, and he co-hosted the 2017 March for Science on the Washington Mall. He is also the inventor of Snatoms, a molecular modelling kit where the atoms snap together magnetically. This project was successfully funded on Kickstarter in under an hour in 2015, and has been available for sale globally ever since.
“I believe people live better, happier lives when they are lived in accordance with the way the world actually is rather than how it appears to be or how we’d like it to be. And I think science provides the best way of getting to the truth. I am inspired by a quote from Richard Feynman “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.”
