A household name in English-speaking Canada, David Suzuki has almost single-handedly popularized some of the most complex scientific issues of our times, largely through the medium of television. While students, teachers, and heads of state continually laud his attempts to demystify contemporary science and nature, some in Canada's science community argue that Suzuki's work on environmental issues in particular is politically biased. Politics aside, Suzuki's awards of recognition clearly attest to his accomplishments: Canada's most prestigious award, the Order  of Canada; UNESCO's Kalinga Prize; and the United Nations Environmental Program Medal are among the honors he has been granted.

     Growing up as a third-generation Japanese Canadian, Suzuki, along with his sisters and his mother, was placed in internment camps in 1942 by the Canadian government. After the war, Suzuki and his family were forbidden by law to return to their Vancouver home, so they relocated to London, Ontario.

     As a young academic on the faculty at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Suzuki began his illustrious television career by teaching science on campus TV. Some ten years later, this experience, coupled with his scientific expertise, landed Suzuki (now on the faculty of the University of British Columbia) a host position on the weekly television program Suzuki on Science, broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC; 1971-72). Suzuki would later extend his skills to radio, where in 1974 he launched the CBC science affairs program Quirks and Quarks.

     Although Suzuki continued on radio, his greatest impact clearly remains in the sphere of Canadian public television. In 1974, he embarked on his most successful broadcasting position, first as host of the CBC's television series Science Magazine. More important, five years later he became host of the well­ established series The Nature of Things. The longest-running science and nature television series in North America, The Nature of Things is the CBC's top-selling international programs. Established in 1960, the program has been seen by viewers in more than 90 countries, including on the Discovery Channel in the United States. The program's mandate is to cover a broad range of topics, including natural history and the environment, medicine, science, and technology.

The Nature of Things, like Suzuki's work in general, surveys the scientific landscape through a critical, humanistic lens. Such an approach has increasingly lent itself to investigations of controversial contemporary issues of social importance. Suzuki's outspoken views on the clear-cutting of old-growth forests on Canada's west coast, for example, has gained him many friends (and enemies) in logging and environmentalist circles. Whatever one's opinion of his views, however, it would be safe to say that Suzuki remains the voice of popular science on the Canadian airwaves.