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William Smith (South African)
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'''William Smith''' is
South Africa's best-known and most popular
television science and mathematics teacher.
Early life and education
Smith was born in
Grahamstown and attended St. Andrew's Prep before matriculating at Union High in
Graaff-Reinet. He then went on to study at
Rhodes University, where he obtained a
Bachelor's degree Bachelor of Science degree in
physics and
chemistry, followed by an
honours degree (
cum laude) in chemistry at the same institution. Following that, he obtained a
masters degree from Natal University (
Pietermaritzburg campus) in only seven months.
Teaching career
After completing his studies, Smith joined the chemicals manufacturing company AECI, where his research led to a world-wide
patent in
safety fuse manufacture. He subsequently joined the Afrox company as a technical manager and was also in charge of their industrial training.
Deciding that he would rather pursue a teaching career, Smith left industry and moved to the education sector, where he started ''Star Schools'' - the aim of these schools are to provide value for money education with top class teachers. During the next twenty-five years he became famous throughout South Africa, where his schools have taught almost a million pupils of all races. Smith also won the ''Teacher of the Year'' award.
In
1990, Smith began producing ''The Learning Channel'' educational television programmes with the financial backing of
Hylton Appelbaum, then executive director of the
Liberty Life Foundation. As a result of his work on this programme, Smith was voted as one of the top three presenters on South African television in
1998.
Other achievements
Smith is also a renowned conservationist and owns the
Featherbed Nature Reserve in
Knysna where he currently (
2004) lives. He is also the owner of ''Rivercat Ferries'', which has several craft that cruise in the Knysna lagoon and out to sea.
He is also a co-presenter, with
Jeremy Mansfield, of the popular South African television quiz show, ''A Word or 2'', which now in its 10th season. Smith was also a judge for the
Miss South Africa Pageant in 1998 and
1999.
The
coelecanth "living fossil" was discovered by Smith's father, Professor
James Leonard Brierley Smith, a renowned
ichthyology ichthyologist.
Smith was voted 86th in the
SABC3's Great South Africans Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004.
Category: South African people Smith, William
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