Biography
Karl Sven Woytek Sas Konkovitch Matthew Kruszelnicki, AM (born 1948 in Helsingborg, Sweden) is a scientist, who is best known as an author and science commentator on Australian radio and television. He is usually referred to as Dr Karl or as Karl Kruszelnicki.
He holds degrees in mathematics, biomedical engineering, medicine and surgery. He has also studied astrophysics, computer science and philosophy. He has worked as a physicist, labourer, roadie for bands, car mechanic, film-maker, hospital scientific officer, biomedical engineer, TV weatherman, taxi driver and medical doctor.
Karl started 'Great Moments In Science' in 1981 on double-j
Karl Kruszelnicki’s media career began in 1981, when he started presenting 'Great Moments In Science ' on double-j to pay his way through medical school. Since then, his media career has exploded from radio to include TV, books, newspapers, magazines, scripting, professional speaking, and of course, the Net.
His science homepage (which has well over 4 million words on it) gets about 700,000 pages downloaded each week.
He made his TV debut in 1985 as the presenter of the first series of Quantum. Since 1986 he has reported science on the Midday Show, Good Morning Australia (including a full-time stint in 1991-2 as the TV Weatherman and science reporter), the Today Show and Channel 7's breakfast program Sunrise. Alongside Adam Spencer Karl presents 'Sleek Geeks'.
Karl also talks science on ABC radio stations across Australia and, on the BBC, for several hours each week.
Karl has written (so far) 26 books, beginning with 'Great Moments In Science' in 1984 and his latest book 'Please Explain' was released in November 2007. According to "New Scientist" Magazine Karl's last five books have all hit the position of best-selling Popular Science book in Australia.
In 1996 Karl was invited by the United States Information Agency to be a Distinguished Foreign Guest in their International Visitor Program. Previous Alumni of this program include Julius Nyere, Anwar Sadat, Indira Ghandi and Margaret Thatcher. As part of this program he visited NORAD, Dryden Air Force Base and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory – and got to sit in the front seat of an SR-71 Blackbird.
In August 2000 Karl was one of first eight Australian Apple Masters to be announced (there are fewer than 100 in the entire world). The Apple Masters Program celebrates the achievements of people who are changing the world through their passion and vision, while inspiring new approaches to creative thinking.
In 2002, Dr Karl was honoured with the prestigious Ig Nobel prize awarded by Harvard University in the USA for his ground-breaking research into 'Belly Button Lint and why it is almost always blue'.
In September 2003, Dr Karl was bestowed with the great honour of being named Australian father of the year.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki received the Member of the Order of Australia Award in the 2006 Australia Day Honours list. In 2007 the Australia Skeptics Society awarded Dr Karl the Australia Skeptic Of The Year Prize.
Karl has degrees in Physics and Maths, Biomedical Engineering, Medicine and Surgery and has worked as a physicist, tutor, film-maker, car mechanic, labourer, and as a medical doctor at the Kids' Hospital in Sydney.
In 1995 he took up the position of the Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at Sydney University, spreading the good word about science and its benefits.
His enthusiasm for science is totally infectious and no one is better able to convey the excitement and wonder of it all than Dr Karl Kruszelnicki is.
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