Derek Muller


Derek Alexander Muller is an Australian-born Canadian science communicator, filmmaker, television personality and inventor, who is best known for his YouTube channel Veritasium. Muller has appeared as a correspondent on the Netflix web series Bill Nye Saves the World since 2017.

Early life and education

Muller was born to South African parents in Traralgon, Victoria, Australia and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, when he was two. In 2000, Muller graduated as the top student from West Vancouver Secondary School. In 2004, Muller graduated from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics, and, after moving back to Australia, completed a PhD in physics education research from the University of Sydney in 2008 with a thesis, Designing Effective Multimedia for Physics Education.

Career

Muller has been listed as team member of the ABC's television program Catalyst since 2008.
Since 2011, Muller has continued to appear on Catalyst, reporting scientific stories from around the globe, and on Australian television network Ten as the 'Why Guy' on the Breakfast program. In May 2012, he gave a TEDxSydney talk using the subject of his thesis. In 2015, he presented the documentary Uranium – Twisting the Dragon's Tail, which aired in July/August on several public television stations around the world.
On 21 September 2015, Muller hosted the Google Science Fair 2015 Awards Celebration.
He has recorded a podcast with Henry Reich of MinutePhysics, which was released on 26 November 2015.
Muller has also won the Australian Department of Innovation Nanotechnology Film Competition and the Australian Webstream Awards for Best Educational & Lifestyle Series 2013.
Starting in April 2017, he appeared as a correspondent on the Netflix series Bill Nye Saves the World.
Muller presented in film Vitamania: The Sense and Nonsense of Vitamins, a documentary by Genepool Productions, released in August 2018. The film answers questions about vitamins and the use of dietary vitamin supplements.
Muller's works have been featured at Scientific American, Wired, Gizmodo, and i09.

YouTube

In January 2011, Muller created the educational science channel Veritasium on YouTube, the focus of which is "addressing counter-intuitive concepts in science, usually beginning by discussing ideas with members of the public". The videos range in style from interviews with experts, such as 2011 Physics Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt, to science experiments, dramatisations, songs, and—a hallmark of the channel—interviews with the public to uncover misconceptions about science. The name Veritasium is a combination of the Latin word for truth, Veritas, and the suffix common to many elements, -ium. This creates Veritasium, an "element of truth", a play on the popular phrase and a reference to Chemical elements.
In July 2012, Muller created a second YouTube channel, 2veritasium. Muller uses the new platform to produce editorial based videos that discuss such topics as film making, showcasing behind-the-scenes footage, and for viewer reactions to popular Veritasium videos.
In 2017, Muller began uploading videos on his newest channel, Sciencium, which is dedicated to videos on recent and historical discoveries in science.

Reception

Veritasium videos have received critical acclaim. At Science Online 2012, "Mission Possible: Graphene" won the Cyberscreen Science Film Festival and was therefore featured on Scientific American as the video of the week. A video debunking the common misconception that the moon is closer than it is was picked up by CBS News.
Two early successful Veritasium videos demonstrate the physics of a falling Slinky toy. The videos explain the following: when a slinky is held dangling vertically and then released, it can be observed in slow motion that the bottom end does not begin to move until the entire slinky has collapsed, making it look as if the slinky was defying gravity. This counter-intuitive phenomenon inspired a wealth of media coverage, including the Toronto Star, NPR, and a segment on the BBC show QI. Muller also created a segment on the topic for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation show Catalyst.

Snatoms

Snatoms are a molecular modeling kit where the atoms snap together magnetically.
The Kickstarter project for Snatoms was started on 11 November 2015 and hit its funding goal in 3 hours and 13 minutes. The project ultimately raised over 1300% of its target funding.

Opinions

Muller is a Facebook critic, and has denounced the ability to buy likes for a Facebook page illegally from "like farms" or "click farms" in developing countries or pay Facebook to promote a page.