Australia’s favourite sleek geek Dr Karl Kruszelnicki has joined the ranks of Sir David Attenborough, Arthur C. Clarke and Margaret Mead in winning a prestigious United Nations prize for science communication.
The UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science celebrates the ABC presenter’s “longstanding commitment to fire up people’s curiosity for science and share his passion for the subject” across the media, including triple j’s science hour – the radio station’s longest-running segment – and podcast Great Moments in Science, along with regular appearances on local and regional ABC Radio across Australia.
Dr Karl, the Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at the University of Sydney, is the first Australian to win the prize since it started in 1951, joining laureates such as David Suzuki, Bertrand Russell and several Nobel Prize winners. He will receive UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize and Albert Einstein Medal at the World Science Forum on 20 November in Budapest.
Dr Karl said: “Firstly, I’m incredibly honoured to be awarded the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science. Secondly, I couldn’t have done it without an incredible amount of nurturing and training by so many people at the ABC, who over the last three decades have helped me along this pathway. Science is important because it is a tool that can help you not get fooled. And I’m very happy to be in a position where I can bring critical thinking into the daily lives of people.”
Ollie Wards, Manager of triple j, said: “triple j is stoked to see Dr Karl awarded such a prestigious prize for popularising science. We’re stoked but not surprised. Every week, Dr Karl brings science to young people all over Australia, answering listeners’ questions from ‘How big are black holes?’ to ‘Why do guys have nipples?’ He makes colourful shirts, science and knowing stuff popular! Check with Dr Karl but we reckon he’s the scientific definition of a Living legend.”
The UNESCO Kalinga Prize recognises Dr Karl’s work across television, radio, podcasts, print media, books and social media to make science accessible to all.
Dr Karl (full name: Karl Sven Woytek Sas Konkovitch Matthew Kruszelnicki) has degrees in mathematics and physics, biomedical engineering, medicine and surgery. He has also studied electrical engineering, astrophysics, computer science and philosophy – and once applied unsuccessfully to be an astronaut with NASA.
In 1981, he started presenting Great Moments in Science on ABC radio station 2JJ to pay his way through medical school and has subsequently worked on programs across the public broadcaster, including ABC TV’s Quantum and Sleek Geeks . He has also worked as a physicist, engineer, car mechanic, labourer, filmmaker, roadie for Slim Dusty, T-shirt manufacturer, taxi driver, 4WD test driver, TV weatherman and doctor in a children’s hospital.
Dr Karl’s accolades range from being named a National Living Treasure and a Member of the Order of Australia, to winning an Ig Nobel Prize from Harvard University for his research into belly button fluff and why it is almost always blue.
He has written 45 science books – including It Ain’t Necessarily So…Bro, which was launched via rocket at Bondi Beach – and gives weekly Q&A sessions with schools around the world. Each week, he also does Q&A Science Talkback on ABC Radio and BBC Radio. In February 2019, he carried out the first series of talk-back radio from Antarctica – across two weeks, not one, because he was trapped there by a blizzard.
His 2019 book with the ABC, Dr Karl’s Random Road Trip Through Science , is one of the first books embedded with augmented reality – including a pop-up video of an asteroid as it skims past the Earth.
