Bill Nye has a degree in mechanical engineering. But he is an entertainer who poses as a ‘scientist’.
“On March 12, 2011, Nye made an appearance on CNN to discuss the evolving nuclear incidents in Japan as a result of the devastating earthquake and tsunami there. Nye erroneously stated that cesium is used to “slow and control” the nuclear reaction.[24][25] In reality, cesium (specifically cesium-137) is a nuclear fission product, not a control rod material.
“Nye also erroneously stated that the nuclear reactor involved in the Three Mile Island incident is still running (the reactor involved in the incident has been decommissioned, but there is a second reactor at the site that is still operating as of February 2014) and that the use of boron to slow the nuclear chain reaction is uncommon, when in fact boron-10 is commonly used in control rods, and is circulated in the coolant of reactors in the United States, as well as stored on site as a method of emergency shutdown.[25][26][27]”
I'm not here to defend Nye personally, only his qualifications for the title "scientist".
My analogy is the word "soldier" -- George Washington, Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower were all soldiers, indeed, Omar Bradley was called "a soldier's general", meaning he could better relate to average soldiers than most generals.
But the word "soldier" does not only refer to your world-famous nation-founding & preserving top generals -- "soldiers" usually refers to G.I. ground-pounding, boots-on-the ground grunts.
Likewise, the word "scientist" does not only refer to the top-tier paradigm-changing theorists like an Einstein or Hawking, but also to those who dig in the dirt or solve the equations of basic research.
And "scientist" can also refer to educators, all of which qualifies Nye.
Using that "soldier" analogy, Nye certainly does not rank as a top general -- I would put him at the level of PFC or maybe Spc5.
Like any good soldier, Nye has some training and has done some good work in his fields.
So I don't understand why you people feel it's soooo important to mock and diminish him personally.