Veritasium

Derek Alexander Muller (born November 9, 1982) is a Canadian-Australian physicist and science communicator best known for his YouTube channel Veritasium, which has accumulated over sixteen million subscribers and four billion views. Born in Traralgon, Victoria, to South African parents, he grew up in Vancouver, Canada, and earned his Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Physics from Queen's University in 2004. He then moved to Australia to pursue filmmaking before shifting course entirely and completing a PhD in Physics Education Research at the University of Sydney in 2008, with a thesis titled "Designing Effective Multimedia for Physics Education." This unusual combination of physics training and research into how people actually learn physics became the conceptual foundation of his entire YouTube channel.

Muller launched Veritasium in January 2011 with a central pedagogical principle drawn from his PhD research: that confronting people's misconceptions directly—rather than simply presenting correct information—is the most effective way to teach. The channel's hallmark format involves asking members of the public to predict the outcome of physics experiments or explain phenomena, revealing common intuitive errors, and then working through the correct science. Over fourteen years the channel has expanded to cover biology, chemistry, engineering, history of science, and long-form investigative journalism. Muller has hosted award-winning documentaries for international broadcast, appeared as a correspondent on Netflix's Bill Nye Saves the World, and hosted the Australian science program Catalyst.

Muller was awarded the William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement by Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society, in recognition of his contributions to science communication. His 2024 Scientific American profile highlighted his ongoing investigative journalism into PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance) contamination alongside his educational content, demonstrating a channel that has evolved from classroom-style physics explainers into sophisticated science journalism. Veritasium stands as one of the clearest examples of a PhD-level scientist who has made rigorous science genuinely accessible at massive scale.