Dr Derek Muller

Dr Derek Muller is a presenter on ABC TV’s Catalyst, an Australian science program and the creator and director of Veritasium, a science-based YouTube channel with almost a billion views and eight million subscribers.

Derek created the YouTube channel, Veritasium which is a channel of science and engineering videos featuring experiments, expert interviews, cool demos and discussions with the public about everything science. Its goal is to make scientific ideas clear, accessible, and interesting. Issues include global warming, seasons, the scale of the universe and much, much more.

A passionate science educator, communicator and filmmaker, Derek Muller has a natural gift for being on camera and on stage. His unique science-themed films and presentations are both entertaining and educational.

More about Dr Derek Muller:

Since 2010, Derek is the Creative Director and CEO of Thought Works.

Canadian-Australian Derek joined Catalyst in 2011 and since then has reported scientific stories from around the globe. He is a researcher, writer, presenter and producer for segments on Australia’s premier science magazine show. He is also one of three hosts for the six-part series Catalyst on The Road (2013).

In 2014, he was the presenter, researcher, writer for Uranium, a three part, three-hour documentary on how radioactivity has shaped the course of human history.

In 2015 Derek hosted the award winning television documentary Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail for PBS, which aired internationally. He has been featured on the Discovery Channel, History Channel and the BBC.

He has also hosted other award-winning documentaries including, Digits, and Vitamania for international broadcast networks. He was also a correspondent on Netflix’s Bill Nye Saves the World.

In September 2015, Derek was the host of the Google Science Fair 2015 Awards Celebration. The Google Science Fair is an online science competition sponsored by Google, Lego, Virgin Galactic, National Geographic and Scientific American.

Also in September 2015, the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) announced that Derek Muller had been selected to receive the 2016 Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to physics and effectively communicating those contributions to physics educators.

In 2016, Derek hosted a new show on Discovery International called Question Everything.

In 2017, Derek was the winner of the Streamy award for Science or Education.

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 kickstarted a magnetic molecule making kit called Snatoms, which exceeded its funding goal in the first hour, sold 10,000 units and is now available on Amazon.

Derek holds a B.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, and a PhD in Physics Education Research from the University of Sydney. The topic of his thesis was ‘Designing Effective Multimedia for Physics Education’. One of his major findings is that addressing misconceptions first is often essential to engage the audience and promote conceptual change.

Derek Muller has published in several international science education journals and presented at numerous education conferences worldwide. He also taught physics at high school and university level.