Tim Blais is a Canadian

science communicator Science communication is the practice of informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments. Science communicators and audiences are ambiguously def ...

. He explains scientific topics via writing and performing

a capella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

parodies A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

of popular music which he records and posts on his YouTube channel, ''A Capella Science''.

Early life and education

Blais was born in Hudson,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Blais states that he comes from an "incredibly musical" family. His mother leads a church choir; Blais joined the choir when he was three. He also plays drums, piano, and stringed instruments including guitar. Blais graduated from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 2013, he earned a master's degree in high-energy

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

with honors from McGill.

Career

Blais created his first parody video in 2012, motivated by a desire to help people understand the world around them. He states that creating parody videos with a factual science theme came out of being fascinated by science, music (particularly a capella), and parody. He was inspired by "Weird Al" Yankovic, Bill Nye, Mike Tompkins, and

Vi Hart Victoria Hart (born 1988), commonly known as Vi Hart (), is an American mathematician and YouTuber. They describe themselves as a "recreational mathemusician" and are well-known for creating mathematical videos on YouTube. Hart founded the virt ...

. He was also inspired by the group

The Maccabeats The Maccabeats are an American Orthodox Jewish all-male a cappella group. Founded in 2007 at Yeshiva University, Manhattan, New York, the 14-member group specializes in covers and parodies of contemporary hits using Jewish-themed lyrics. Their b ...

, an a cappella group that sings parodies of songs with replacement lyrics about Jewish themes. Blais has had an a cappella singing experience with Vancouver's Acapocalypse group. In his solo videos, Blais performs all the tracks with his own voice, sometimes beat-boxing and creating brass sound effects. Most videos take a few hundred hours to complete. Blais' first video parody was "Rolling in the Higgs", based on Adele's "

Rolling in the Deep "Rolling in the Deep" is a song recorded by English singer-songwriter Adele for her second studio album, '' 21'' (2011). It is the lead single and opening track on the album. The song was written by Adele and Paul Epworth. The singer herself de ...

". The video was one of a handful of musical creations that followed the 2012 announcement of the discovery of a boson particle with Higgs-like characteristics. Blais' YouTube video generated over 17,000 hits in its first five days and had almost 800 thousand views as of April 2017. The video took Blais 60 hours to complete. Blais' second video, "Bohemian Gravity," parodied Queen's "

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack o ...

" to explain string theory. The video features a

sock puppet A sock puppet or sockpuppet is a puppet made from a sock or a similar garment. The puppeteer wears the sock on a hand and lower arm as if it were a glove, with the puppet's mouth being formed by the region between the sock's heel and toe, and ...

portraying

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

. The work attracted the attention of

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and ...

, Queen's guitarist (who also holds a PhD degree in astrophysics), and May posted the video on his website. Blais' YouTube channel has covered such topics as entropic time, exoplanets, and the discovery of insulin as a treatment for

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

. Blais has collaborated with Dianna Cowern and others. Although Blais' career in science includes previous employment at the

TRIUMF TRIUMF is Canada's national particle accelerator centre. It is considered Canada's premier physics laboratory, and consistently regarded as one of the world's leading subatomic physics research centers. Owned and operated by a consortium of u ...

particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to very high speeds and energies, and to contain them in well-defined beams. Large accelerators are used for fundamental research in particle ...

center in Vancouver, Canada, Blais makes a living from creating his videos, being supported by advertising revenue, sales of mp3s and posters, and contributions from fans via the

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a com ...

website. Blais also does public talks which include performances of his creations and as well as discussions of science culture and his experiences as a science graduate student and an artist in new media. In 2014, he was an artist-in-residence with the National Music Centre in Alberta, during which he experimented with new sounds and recorded tracks for an album. In 2015, he appeared on Canada's reality television program, ''

Canada's Smartest Person ''Canada's Smartest Person'' is a Canadian reality television competition series. Contestants compete in a series of different challenges based on American psychologist Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences to earn the title of "Canada ...

'', in which he won his episode but lost in the season finale.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blais, Tim Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian YouTubers People from Montérégie Science communicators