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Meet the New Mr. Wizard
by Tim Hyland
Helping Educators and Leaders Design Experiences That Create Connection and Drive Action
In September 2005, Steve Spangler dropped a roll of Mentos into a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke. The video became one of YouTube’s first viral phenomena. Twenty years later, his videos have crossed 4.5 billion views, and parents are still finding Diet Coke stains on their kitchen ceilings.
That’s the story most people know. The longer story is more interesting.
Steve is a two-time Emmy Award winner, a member of the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame, and the bestselling author of nine books, including The Engagement Effect (Forefront Books, 2025). He’s been a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show twenty-seven times. Ellen called him America’s Science Teacher. He hosts the nationally syndicated series DIY Sci on FOX and CW affiliates and streaming on Amazon Prime. TIME Magazine listed him among the year’s most influential people. Global Gurus ranked him #1 in Education three years running (2024–2026).
But the credential that defines the work is harder to fit on a slide. Over thirty years, Steve has delivered more than 6,500 live presentations around the world. He has trained 120,000 educators through his hands-on STEM institutes, and built and sold three companies in the educational products and content space. The connective tissue is engagement. He has spent a career proving that the same principles that get a fifth grader to lean in will get a Fortune 500 audience to do the same.
Today, Steve serves as the STEM Educator in Residence at High Point University, where his work now extends into the schools of business, entrepreneurship, and communication. He lives in Colorado with Renée, his wife and business partner of thirty years.
Whether you’re looking for an amazing keynote experience to kick-off your event, or hands-on teacher training and professional development opportunities to help enhance teacher performance in STEM education, Steve Spangler is your go-to expert. Let him help you create a transformational experience that will elevate your business or educational institution to new heights.
A Few Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Steve Spangler
- Steve started his career as an elementary school science teacher. Everything since traces back to that classroom.
- He grew up in a family of professional magicians. His training in sleight-of-hand and stage magic still shapes how he teaches: setup, surprise, reveal.
- He’s the creator of more than 350 science toys and educational kits.
- Steve has done STEM brand work for Mentos, Arm & Hammer, P&G, YouTube, Google, Apple, Febreze, National Geographic, Alka-Seltzer, Lands’ End, Google, Dial, Pilot, Charmin, Verizon, OxiClean, Crest, Cascade, and CITGO.
- SONIC and Del Taco hired him to design the toy surprises in their kids’ meals.
- YouTube funded 60 episodes of The Spangler Effect as part of its original-content program.
- He holds a Guinness World Record for the Largest Physics Lesson.
- Two Heartland Emmy wins: News for Kids in 1997 and his Science Day television special in 2010.
- Three Daytime Emmy nominations for DIY Sci, including a personal nomination for Outstanding Host in an Educational Program, plus a 2018 Parents’ Choice Silver Honor.
- TIME readers once ranked him #18 on a list of the most influential people of the year, somewhere between people far more famous and far more qualified.
Steve Spangler’s Television Career
Steve Spangler’s television career began in 1991 as host of the nationally syndicated series News for Kids, which earned him a Heartland Emmy in 1997. He won a second Heartland Emmy in 2010 for his Science Day television special on KUSA 9NEWS in Denver, where he has delivered weekly live science segments since 2000, more than 1,800 appearances and counting.
Steve has appeared on the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, CBS Morning Show, Fox & Friends, NBC Evening News, the Weather Channel, HLN, Food Network, the History Channel, NatGeo, and regional news shows from coast to coast. When producers from the Ellen DeGeneres Show reached out in 2007, little did Steve know his first guest spot would turn into a 15-year friendship and 27 very loud and messy appearances on the highly acclaimed daytime talk show.
Steve launched his own nationally syndicated television series called DIY Sci appearing on FOX and CW networks as well as streaming on Amazon Prime. The do-it-yourself science show produced and syndicated by Steve Rotfeld Productions has received 3 Daytime Emmy nominations and features fun experiments intended to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
In total, Steve has over 2,100 television appearances to his credit which exemplifies his passion for making science fun.
DIY SCI Television Series
Steve Spangler’s Do-It-Yourself Science Show Nominated for 3 Daytime Emmy Awards
Steve Spangler is the host of the nationally syndicated television series DIY Sci where viewers learn how to use do-it-yourself experiments to amaze friends. The weekly series features jaw-dropping science experiments viewers can do at home using easy to find materials that are guaranteed to create moments of wonder, discovery and exploration. DIY Sci is part of a 3-hour E/I (Educational and Informational) syndication block called Xploration Station created by Steve Rotfeld Productions (SRP).
In addition to the FOX Station Group, Xploration Station airs on Tribune’s FOX affiliates, and Sinclair’s FOX affiliates. These groups, plus others, combine to deliver Xploration Station in over 90% of the country reaching 90 million people in 2026. DIY Sci is also streaming on Amazon Prime.
Check here to find where DIY Sci airs near you.
One of YouTube’s Original Content Creators
The Original Mentos + Diet Coke Video
The Mentos and Diet Coke geyser was one of the first videos to go viral on YouTube, and it showed millions of people how to turn a bottle of soda into an eruption in their own driveway. YouTube noticed. The company funded 60 episodes of The Spangler Effect as part of its original-content program, back before “YouTube creator” was a job anyone could name. Steve’s catalog has since grown to more than 1,800 videos, and across all his channels and platforms his science videos have passed 4.5 billion views.
Visit all of Steve Spangler’s YouTube Channels
Steve Spangler in the News
Watch Steve Spangler’s PBS Interview with Dr. Nido Qubein
Steve grew up in a family of magicians, and he rarely gets the chance to talk about how sleight-of-hand shaped the way he teaches science. This PBS conversation on Side by Side, taped in the theater at High Point University, is the exception. It digs into how a magician’s instincts carry into a classroom that kids don’t want to leave.