Toby Hendy

Toby Hendy
Hendy in November 2019
Personal information
Born (1995-07-11) 11 July 1995 (age 29)
Education
Occupations
Websitetobyhendy.com Edit this at Wikidata
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2011–present
Genres
Subscribers1.24 million[1]
Total views164 million[1]
Associated acts
100,000 subscribers2019
Last updated: 1 October 2024

Toby Hendy (born 11 July 1995) is a New Zealand science communicator and YouTuber who focuses on educational content relating to physics, mathematics and astronomy.

Early life and education

School

Hendy attended Katikati College in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. In 2011, she was selected by the Royal Society of New Zealand as one of two national delegates to attend the USA International Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.[2] In 2012, she won first place in the secondary school category of the NZ Eureka Awards for Science Communication.[3]

University

Hendy obtained a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Physics and Mathematics, at the University of Canterbury. She was awarded an Aurora Astronomy Scholarship that enabled her to take an overseas trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, Carnegie Observatory, UCLA, Macdonald Observatory Texas, University of British Columbia, NRC Observatory Victoria and CHFT Hawaii.[4]

Hendy went on to do her Honours year at the Australian National University in Canberra. In 2017, Hendy started a PhD at ANU focusing on using nanoindentation to examine the mechanical response of plant cells to applied pressure.[5] She was awarded a Westpac Future Leader's Scholarship.[6] During her time as a PhD student she placed runner-up in the Australian national finals of the FameLab science communication competition for her presentation 'Poking Plants'.[7] Her honours thesis title was ‘Examining the mechanical response of Arabidopsis thaliana using nanoindentation and Finite Element Modelling’, where she received class honours with a grade 93/100 for her thesis.[8] In 2018, Hendy discontinued her PhD studies to pursue YouTube full-time.[9]

Career

Hendy has been uploading videos to YouTube since high school.[9] In August 2020, Hendy announced that she was working on a mathematical stop-motion short film, 'Finding X', supported by the Screen Australia Skip Ahead initiative.[10] It was released on 25 January 2022.[11]

In 2023, Hendy appeared on season 5 of the travel competition show Jet Lag: The Game, which was filmed in New Zealand.[12] She returned for season 10, which was released in 2024 and filmed in Australia. She has the most wins for any undefeated contestant in Jet Lag's history.

Awards

  • 2012 NZ Eureka Awards for Science Communication[3]
  • 2013 UC Aurora Astronomy Scholarship[4]
  • 2015 Haydon Prize for top graduating physics student
  • 2017 Westpac Future Leader's Scholarship[6]
  • 2018 FameLab Australia runner-up[7]
  • 2020 Screen Australia Skip Ahead Grant[10]
  • 2024 Young Australian of the Year nominee for Queensland[13]

References

  1. ^ a b "About Tibees". YouTube.
  2. ^ "2 Kiwi girls count down to the USA International Space Camp | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Scoop Media. 27 April 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Young Canterbury Physicist wins Premier Science Award | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Scoop Media. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Watching this space: Katikati scholar". NZ Herald. NZHerald. Bay of Plenty Times. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  5. ^ "Ms Toby Hendy profile – RSPhys – ANU". physics.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Young science fan Toby Hendy turned 'EduTuber'". www.westpac.com.au. Westpac. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Toby Hendy – Poking Plants (FameLab Australia 2018 Runner-Up)". Australia's Science Channel. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  8. ^ "About Toby Hendy".
  9. ^ a b Langin, Katie (25 June 2019). "It's OK to quit your Ph.D." Science. doi:10.1126/science.caredit.aay5196. S2CID 198657921. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  10. ^ a b Walsh, Maddie (13 August 2020). "Six teams to Skip Ahead with Screen Australia and Google Australia | Media centre". Screen Australia. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  11. ^ Finding X | A Mathematical Short Film. 25 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  12. ^ Jet Lag: The Game. Season 5. Episode 1. 1 March 2023.
  13. ^ "Mind-bending science YouTuber one of Queensland's Australian of the Year nominees". ABC News. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.