When NASA classified Karl as non-astronaut material in 1981 he walked straight into ABC Radio station Triple J and offered to talk about the Space shuttle launch. They said ‘Okay’ and his radio career took off from there. ‘Great Moments In Science’ ran on Triple J while Karl moonlighted as a medical student.
Since then, his media career has exploded from radio, to TV, books, newspapers, magazines, scripting, professional speaking, podcasts and the internet.
Karl 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 Sunrise. Alongside his fellow geek Adam Spencer, he has written and co-produced two series of Sleek Geeks for ABC TV.
Karl popularises science on ABC radio stations across Australia for several hours each week. Many of you will be familiar with the original talk back programme each Thursday on triple j from 11 am to midday.
Karl has written (so far) 48 books, beginning with ‘Great Moments In Science’ in 1984, and includes such titles as ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So…’Bro’ (2006), which was launched, quite literally, via rocket at Sydney’s Bondi Beach (a world first).
November 2009 saw the simultaneous release of Karl’s 28th book, ‘Never Mind The BULLocks…Here’s the Science’, board game (‘Fact OR Fishy’), and first ever music single, ‘Get Fact’. In August 2010 Karl’s 29th book, ‘Dinosaurs Aren’t Dead’, was released. In November 2010, Karl’s 30th book, ‘Curious & Curiouser’, was released into the adult non-fiction market. Dr Karl released two kids’ activity books ‘Dr Karl’s Little Book of Dinos’ and ‘Dr Karl’s Little Books of Space’ in June 2017.
His 48th book, his long-awaited memoir entitled ‘A Periodic Tale: My Sciencey Memoir’ was released in September 2024. His 47th book, ‘Dr Karl’s Little Book of Climate Change Science’ was released in March 2021. His 46th book, ‘Dr Karl’s Surfing Safari Through Science’ and 45th book ‘Dr Karl’s Random Road Trip Through Science’ were released in October 2020 and 2019 respectively and are the first of his books to come with pop-up holograms (or augmented reality). He released two kids’ activity books ‘Dr Karl’s Little Book of Dinos’ and ‘Dr Karl’s Little Books of Space’ in June 2017.
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.
In 2012 Karl was delighted to have Asteroid 18412 named after him. Asteroid Dr Karl/18412 was discovered by Robert H. McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, on June 13, 1993. In March 2012 he was named as a National Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia (NSW).
In 2016 Dr Karl was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Sunshine Coast.
In 2019 The United Nations awarded Dr Karl the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science.
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 Children’s Hospital in Sydney.
Dr Karl is currently the Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at Sydney University, where his ‘mission’ is to spread 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.
