Karl Sven Woytek Sas Konkovitch Matthew Kruszelnicki (born 1948), often referred to as "Dr Karl", is an Australian

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 ...

and populariser, who is known as an author and a science commentator on Australian radio and television. Kruszelnicki is the Julius Sumner Miller Fellow in the Science Foundation for Physics at the School of Physics,

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

Early life

Kruszelnicki () was born in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

, Sweden, to Polish parents, Rina and Ludwik. Kruszelnicki's background was hidden from him for a long time, with his mother having told him that she was Swedish and a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

but she was, in fact, Polish and

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. Both his parents were

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

. His father Ludwik, a Polish

Gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...

, was turned in to the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

for smuggling Jews out of Poland and was imprisoned at Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp used mainly for political prisoners. As the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

approached, Ludwik avoided execution by swapping identities with a dead person. Rina escaped the Auschwitz concentration camp when the Nazis ran out of

Zyklon B Zyklon B (; translated Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in Germany in the early 1920s. It consisted of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid), as well as a cautionary eye irritant and one of several adsorbents such ...

that was used to gas prisoners. They separately fled to Sweden, where they met, and where Karl was born. When Kruszelnicki was two years old, his parents became concerned about the risk of Sweden being overrun by Russia and decided to flee the country. Before boarding a boat bound for America, Karl became ill with fever following a

smallpox vaccination The smallpox vaccine is the first vaccine to be developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox ...

. Worried for his health, his parents decided not to board the boat. "Luck has it that the next ship went to Australia, so that is where we ended up. It is amazing how fate can take you in unexpected directions." On arrival in Australia, the family were tenanted at the migrant camp in

Bonegilla, Victoria Bonegilla is a bounded rural locality of the City of Wodonga local government area in north-east Victoria, Australia, east of Wodonga, and around north-east of Melbourne. At the , Bonegilla and the surrounding area had a population of 610 ...

. They remained there for three years before settling in the city of

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. Kruszelnicki said his childhood as a refugee in Wollongong was difficult, and he was bullied at school; he said "anybody who was not an Irish Catholic was considered an outsider". He found an escape in the Wollongong Library, where he became interested in science fiction. Kruszelnicki attended Edmund Rice Christian Brothers College in

Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wat ...

. After high school, he attended the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

, completing a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in physics in 1968."Dr Karl Kruszelnicki" (22 July 1988). ''Campus Bulletin'', University of Newcastle, Australia. Number 5. In 1980, Kruszelnicki was awarded a Master of

Biomedical Engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...

degree at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

. He completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees at Sydney University in 1986. After primary school, Kruszelnicki's first job was ditch digger in the Wollongong suburb of

Dapto Dapto is a suburb of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the western side of Lake Illawarra and covering an area 7.15 square kilometres in size. As at the , the suburb had a population of 10,730. History ...

. He also worked as a filmmaker, car mechanic, TV weatherman and as

roadie The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This ca ...

for

Slim Dusty Slim Dusty, AO MBE (born David Gordon Kirkpatrick; 13 June 1927 – 19 September 2003) was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon and one of the country's most awarded stars ...

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, inc ...

and

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

. While working as a taxi driver in Sydney, he was beaten unconscious after picking up a passenger trying to escape a group of men.

Science career

After graduating from university at age 19, Kruszelnicki took a job as a physicist working for a

steel works A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finis ...

in his home town of Wollongong. He designed a machine to test the strength of steel made for use in Melbourne's

West Gate Bridge The West Gate Bridge is a steel, box girder, cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, spanning the Yarra River just north of its mouth into Port Phillip. It carries the West Gate Freeway and is a vital link between the inner ...

, which was under construction at the time. After he was asked to fake the results of his tests, he resigned. In the early 1980s, Kruszelnicki worked for ophthalmologist Fred Hollows. His Master of Biomedical Engineering degree allowed him to design and build a machine to pick up electrical signals off the human retina to diagnose certain eye diseases. Kruszelnicki commenced his degree in medicine at the

at the age of 32, graduating in 1986. From here he began work at a number of hospitals around Sydney, including the Children's Hospital in Camperdown. He talks fondly of his time as a children's doctor, though he left this profession after witnessing the first child die from

whooping cough Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or t ...

in twenty years. This came about, he says, after a television program tried to create controversy by presenting the efficacy of vaccinations with a

false balance False balance, also bothsidesism, is a media bias in which journalists present an issue as being more balanced between opposing viewpoints than the evidence supports. Journalists may present evidence and arguments out of proportion to the act ...

. This caused a drop in

herd immunity Herd immunity (also called herd effect, community immunity, population immunity, or mass immunity) is a form of indirect protection that applies only to contagious diseases. It occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population has become im ...

, and eventually the death of this child. "That very strongly influenced me to go into the media, because I felt like I could do more good there (convincing people to vaccinate). And as a result, I gave up the best job of my life, which was being a doctor in a kids' hospital, so I could do more good in the community."

Television

Kruszelnicki presented the first series of '' Quantum'' (replaced by ''

Catalyst Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

'') in 1985. As a science communicator and presenter, he appears on the Seven Network's ''

Weekend Sunrise ''Weekend Sunrise'' is an Australian breakfast television program, broadcast on the Seven Network and currently hosted by Monique Wright and Matt Doran. History In 2005 the Seven Network replaced its struggling Sunday morning program ''Sunday ...

'' and on ABC TV. From early 2008 to 2010 he co-hosted a TV series called ''

Sleek Geeks ''Sleek Geeks'' is an Australian science television series, hosted by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Adam Spencer. The fourteen-part series aired from 3 January 2008, and was based on Kruszelnicki and Spencer's Sleek Geek Week travelling roadshow, as ...

'' with Adam Spencer.

Journalism, radio and podcasts

Kruszelnicki does a number of weekly radio shows. His hour-long show on ABC radio station

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

has been going on in one form or another since 1981; this weekly science

talkback Talkback or talk back may refer to: * ''Talkback'' (album), a 1983 album by the Canadian band the Spoons * ''Talk Back'' (Kembe X album), 2016 *Talkback, an alternate name for Marvel Comics superhero Chase Stein * Talkback (recording), an audio ...

show is broadcast on Thursday mornings from 11:00 am to midday and attracts up to 300,000 listeners; it is also available as a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

. Kruszelnicki also often helps with other science and education

promotions such as the Sleek Geek Week roadshow with

Adam Spencer Adam Barrington Spencer (born 29 January 1969) is an Australian comedian, media personality and former radio presenter. He first came to fame when he won his round of the comedic talent search ''Raw Comedy'' in 1996. Soon thereafter, he began ...

and Caroline Pegram. He and Adam Spencer released the ''

'' podcast regularly until December 2015. For many years, until March 2020, Kruszelnicki appeared on a live weekly late-night link-up on BBC Radio 5 Live's '' Up All Night'', usually with Rhod Sharp, answering science questions. In 2017, he hosted '' Dr. Karl's Outrageous Acts of Science'' on Discovery Channel (Australia). Kruszelnicki writes a regular column for ''

Australian Geographic Australian Geographic is a media business that produces the ''Australian Geographic'' magazine, ''DMag'' magazine, specialist book titles, travel guides, diaries and calendars and online media. It published editions of the Australian Encyclopa ...

'' magazine, called 'Need to Know', which is republished as
blog
on the magazine's website. He has also written for the '' Sydney Morning Herald'' ''Good Weekend'' magazine.

Politics

Kruszelnicki was an unsuccessful candidate for the Australian Senate in the 2007 Australian federal election. He was placed number two on the Climate Change Coalition ticket in

. In 2015, Kruszelnicki appeared in an Australian Government advertising campaign for the recently published intergenerational report. He had previously agreed to do the campaign, believing it would be a "non-political, bipartisan, independent report." After its publication, however, he backed away from the campaign, describing it as "flawed". "How can you possibly have a report that looks at the next 40 years and doesn't mention climate change? It should have acknowledged that climate change is real and we cause it and it will be messy."

Personal life

Kruszelnicki met his wife Mary in his first year of medical school. They have three children together: Karl, Alice, and Lola. Kruszelnicki has

prosopagnosia Prosopagnosia (from Greek ''prósōpon'', meaning "face", and ''agnōsía'', meaning "non-knowledge"), also called face blindness, ("illChoisser had even begun tpopularizea name for the condition: face blindness.") is a cognitive disorder of f ...

, meaning he lacks the ability to recognise faces. To help him recognise co-workers, he has been known to carry a seating map of familiar office spaces. He puts the cause of his condition down to having an unhappy, lonely childhood, saying that it impeded the development of the part of his brain responsible for remembering faces.

Recognition and awards

In 2000, the '' Australian Financial Review'' Internet Awards awarded Kruszelnicki the Best Science and Technology Website. In the 2001 honours list, he was awarded the Centenary Medal "for major service in raising public awareness of the importance of science and technology". One of Kruszelnicki's more notable undertakings was his part in a research project on belly button fluff, for which he received the tongue-in-cheek

Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name o ...

in 2002. He received the Australian Father of the Year award in 2003. In the 2006 honours list, he was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

. In 2006, the

Australian Skeptics Australian Skeptics is a loose confederation of like-minded organisations across Australia that began in 1980. Australian Skeptics investigate paranormal and pseudoscientific claims using scientific methodologies. This page covers all Australia ...

recognised him as the Australian Skeptic Of The Year. In 2012, Kruszelnicki was named as a National Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia (NSW). In 2012,

Main-belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

asteroid 18412 Kruszelnicki was named in his honour. In 2014, ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

'' readers voted Kruszelnicki as the ninth-most-trusted person in Australia In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the

University of the Sunshine Coast The University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) is a public university based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. After opening with 524 students in 1996 as the Sunshine Coast University College, it was later renamed the University of the ...

. Kruszelnicki won UNESCO's 2019

Kalinga Prize The Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science is an award given by UNESCO for exceptional skill in presenting scientific ideas to lay people. It was created in 1952, following a donation from Biju Patnaik, Founder President of the Kalinga ...

for science communication.

Selected publications

; Books * * * ''Spacescape'', Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, (Australia), 1992, . * ''Absolutely Fabulous Moments in Science'', Australian Broadcasting Corporation Enterprises, Sydney, Australia, 1994, . * ''Sensational Moments in Science'', Australian Broadcasting Corporation Enterprises, Sydney, Australia, 1995, . * ''Pigeon Poo the Universe & Car Paint – and other awesome science moments'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 1996, . * ''Flying Lasers, Robofish and Cities of Slime – and other brain-bending science moments'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 1997, . * ''Dr Karl's Collection of Great Australian Facts & Firsts'' ::1. ''Ears, Gears and Gadgets'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 1997, . ::2. ''Forests, Fleece & Prickly Pears'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 1997, . ::3. ''Flight, Food & Thingummygigs'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 1997, . * ''Munching Maggots, Noah's Flood and TV Heart Attacks and other cataclysmic science moments'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 1998, . * ''Fidgeting Fat, Exploding Meat & Gobbling Whirly Birds – and other delicious science moments - New Moments in science 4'', 1999. * ''Q&A With Dr. K – Why It Is So. Headless Chickens, Bathroom Queues and Belly Button Blues'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 2001, . * ''Dr. Karl's Collection of Great Australian Facts & Firsts'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 2002, . * ''Bumbreath, Botox and Bubbles and other Fully Sick Science Moments'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 2003, . * ''Great Mythconceptions – Cellulite, Camel Humps and Chocolate Zits'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 2004, . * ''Dis Information and Other Wikkid Myths: More Great Myths In Science'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 2005, . * ''It Ain't Necessarily So Bro'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 2006, . * ''Please Explain'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 2007, . * ''Science Is Golden'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia 2008 * ''Never Mind the Bullocks, Here's the Science'', HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 2009, . * ''Dinosaurs Aren't Dead'', Pan Macmillan Pty Limited, Australia, 2010 * ''Curious and Curiouser'', Pan Macmillan Pty Limited, Australia, 2010 * ''Brain Food'', Pan Macmillan Pty Limited, Australia, 2011 * ''50 Shades of Grey Matter'', Pan Macmillan Pty Limited, Australia, 2012 * ''Game of Knowns'', Pan Macmillan Pty Limited, Australia, 2013 * ''Dr Karl's Big Book of Science Stuff and Nonsense'', Pan Macmillan Pty Limited, Australia, 2013 * ''House of Karls'', Pan Macmillan Pty Limited, Australia, 2014 * ''Dr Karl's Short Back & Science'', Pan Macmillan Pty Limited, Australia, 2015 * ''The Doctor'', Pan Macmillan Pty Limited, Australia, 2016 * ''Karl, The Universe and Everything'', Pan Macmillan Pty Limited, Australia, 2017 * ''Vital Science'', Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited, Australia, 2018 * ''Dr Karl's Random Road Trip Through Science'', HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Limited, Australia, 2019 * ''Dr Karl's Surfing Safari Through Science'', HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Limited, Australia, 2020 * ''Dr Karl's Little Book of Climate Change Science'', HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Limited, Australia, 2021 ; Journal articles *

References

External links

* *
Dr Karl on the ABC website

Dr Karl's page with the University of Sydney Science Foundation

TAM 2014 - Karl Kruszelnicki - Great Moments in Australian Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kruszelnicki, Karl 1948 births Living people Australian scientists University of Sydney faculty Australian Geographic people Australian people of Polish-Jewish descent Australian television personalities Australian science writers Australian taxi drivers Swedish emigrants to Australia Members of the Order of Australia People from Helsingborg Sydney Medical School alumni Triple J announcers University of New South Wales alumni University of Wollongong alumni Science communicators Kalinga Prize recipients Date of birth missing (living people)