Robyn Williams

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For other people with similar names, see Robin Williams (disambiguation).

Robyn Williams is an Australian science journalist and radio broadcaster who has been interviewer and host of the Science Show on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation since 1975, Ockham's Razor (created 1984) and In Conversation (created 1997). Williams is a Humanist.

Contents

1 Background
2 Professional life

2.1 Honorary and subsidiary positions
2.2 Publications

3 Honours
4 External links

Background

Robyn Williams was born in Wales, and educated in London and Vienna. He graduated from the University of London with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree. During this period he was active in university acting and, like many and other notable students, made (guest) appearances in the BBC series The Goodies, Monty Python's Flying Circus and Doctor Who.

Professional life

Williams emigrated to Australia and joined the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Science Unit in 1972 where, after several years in background production and interviewing, in 1975 began hosting the award winning Science Show, a one-hour (format) science based radio interview show.

Ockham's Razor (15 minute format) followed in 1984, with Williams introducing a leading scientist or personality who then expounds from a prepared text on a topic of their choice, with a view to making a subject simple and accessible to the public, hence the title relating to the famous statement on parsimony by William of Ockham. In Conversation (15 minute format) commenced in 1997, with Williams interviewing the personality.

Other media work has included:

narrating Nature of Australia, a series for ABC TV;
appearing in World Safari with David Attenborough;

At his instigation, the ABC and Australian Museum established the Eureka Awards for Excellence in Science Communication and Innovation.

Honorary and subsidiary positions

President of the Australian Museum Trust;
Deputy Chairman of the Commission For The Future;
President of the Australian & New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) Congress held in Brisbane;

He is a visiting professor at the University of New South Wales.

Publications

Williams has written some 10 books, with 3 used in high school reading lists. His autobiography is And Now For Something Completely Different, a reference to an interview (on psychiatry) with Monty Python star John Cleese.

Honours

Williams is a Fellow of The Australian Academy of Science, the first journalist so honoured;
Williams has Honorary Doctorates of Science from Deakin University, University of Sydney, and Macquarie University and an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the Australian National University;
Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1988;
Rostrum Australia Speaker of the Year (1993);
Australian Humanist of the Year (1993); awarded by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies
Reuter Fellow, University of Oxford (1994);
In 1998 he was voted one of Australia's Living National Treasures;
Radio Prize from the Human Rights Commission;
United Nations Media Peace Prize;
Michael Daley Award for Science Journalism;
Centre for Australian Cultural Studies National Award 1996 (Individual);

External links

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