SciShow: launch of Hank's science channel (2011)
project history · status: running · last event: milestone (2019-07-19) · last mentioned: 2026-05-22
SciShow is Hank's science channel, announced in November 2011 and launched on 2 January 2012 with a grant from YouTube. It passed a million subscribers in 2013, was sustained through Patreon by 2015, and by 2020 had grown bigger than Vlogbrothers, with over a billion views.
Parts: SciShow Psych: a new SciShow channel with a topic chosen by Patreon patrons (2016)
Told alongside: Crash Course: launch of the brothers' educational channel (2011) · Keep It or Shave It: Hank's facial-hair vote with dollars for the Foundation to Decrease World Suck (2011) · Subbable: launch of the brothers' pay-what-you-want subscription service, starting with Crash Course (2013) · SciShow Space: launch of the space-science channel (2014) · Mental Floss YouTube channel, made with John and Hank (2013) · Hank in SciShow ads for YouTube's channel promotion (2014) · John asks viewers to subscribe to Crash Course and SciShow (2011) · Hank's 'million dollar idea' phone calls to John (2013)
About: SciShow
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-11-07 | announced | John announces that Hank will launch SciShow, a science news and science-questions channel, in early January. | IS THIS HEAVEN? 00:02:05 |
| 2011-11-09 | announced | Hank says he and John are starting big new YouTube channels; his, SciShow, will cover science news and broader topics. | 27 Part Video 00:00:36 |
| 2012-01-02 | launched | John says Hank is launching SciShow today. | Changes to Vlogbrothers 00:01:37 |
| 2012-09-14 | milestone | Hank says the brothers' educational channels both have more than 200,000 subscribers. | 1000 VIDEOS!!! 00:02:11 |
| 2012-11-23 | looked back | Hank thanks YouTube and Google for funding SciShow and Crash Course and for supporting Vlogbrothers and all the brothers' endeavors over the years. | Black Friday: An Accident of History 00:02:51 |
| 2012-12-04 | looked back | John says he and Hank were also privileged to have internet access in 2007 and $249 for cheap video cameras at the end of 2006; without that, Vlogbrothers, Crash Course, SciShow, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and VidCon would not exist. | Time for AWESOME 00:00:58 |
| 2013-01-01 | looked back | John calls 2012 an amazing year for the brothers: Hank co-created The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, SciShow and Crash Course, VidCon doubled, and The Fault in Our Stars spent 51 consecutive weeks on the NYT list. | Why Does Congress Suck? 00:02:45 |
| 2013-01-15 | looked back | Hank says audience support let him launch SciShow and talk and sing about science, then sings 'The Universe is Weird', which he says he has never got through without a mistake. | An Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall 01:13:50 |
| 2013-08-30 | milestone | Hank reports SciShow just hit a million subscribers. | Raw Onion, Twerking, and Speech Jam 00:02:57 |
| 2013-10-15 | milestone | John says Crash Course, SciShow and Mental Floss all have large and growing audiences. | Thoughts for Nerdfighteria 00:01:20 |
| 2014-02-04 | looked back | John lists the businesses Hank has started: Crash Course, SciShow, DFTBA Records, VidCon and, jokingly, 'the ceaseless juggernaut' 2D Glasses. (playful) | Should We Raise the Minimum Wage? 00:00:02 |
| 2014-08-22 | milestone | SciShow is about to reach two million subscribers, Crash Course just reached two million, and SciShow Space is about to reach 200,000; Hank thanks viewers. | Kidneys, LlamaJohn, Frankenstein, Back to School, and The Nerdfighter Online Video Workshop! 00:01:07 |
| 2014-10-17 | milestone | Hank reveals he was in LA for YouTube's channel promotion: he, Michael Aranda and Caitlin Hofmeister were shot for SciShow print and TV ads now in Chicago, LA, New York and on TV. | MY FACE ON A BUS 00:00:58 |
| 2015-02-20 | milestone | Hank says he was in New York doing press tours about science education because SciShow just got a big new sponsor. | Why Are Fewer People Studying Science and Engineering? 00:00:10 |
| 2015-12-08 | milestone | John tells Hank that although many said Patreon funding would never work, it is working great: Crash Course and SciShow are now fully sustainable thanks to Patreon. | The Bank of Nerdfighteria's Semiannual Report 00:00:55 |
| 2016-05-06 | milestone | Hank says SciShow and Crash Course are now bigger than Vlogbrothers in both views and subscribers. | I Hate Only Making One Video a Week 00:01:30 |
| 2016-09-23 | looked back | Hank says Crash Course and SciShow were both funded by YouTube grants, because YouTube wanted more high-quality content so advertisers would advertise. | How do YouTubers Make Money? 00:01:32 |
| 2016-12-30 | looked back | Hank lists the dream-like things of his ten years: friends, touring in a rock band, Carnegie Hall, a first home, creating VidCon, SciShow and Crash Course, a bobblehead, 2D glasses, interviewing the president. | The Most Interesting Thing I've Ever Done 00:00:09 |
| 2018-12-14 | looked back | Asked the subject of the first SciShow episode, Hank answers non-Newtonian fluids. | Cute Goth Shock Collar Trivia Punishment for Charity 00:00:58 |
| 2019-07-19 | milestone | Hank says SciShow just released its first documentary film, on whether Apollo was actually a good idea, for Apollo's 50th anniversary. | In Which Hank Consumes the Juice of Over 400 Gushers 00:03:01 |
| 2020-01-03 (said on 2020-01-02, implied) | looked back | Hank says SciShow and Crash Course long ago eclipsed Vlogbrothers in subscribers and views, but Vlogbrothers, without which they wouldn't exist, has had more impact despite a smaller audience. | Re-Thinking our YouTube Channel 00:02:00 |
| 2020-04-03 | looked back | Hank recalls launching SciShow and Crash Course in 2011; both are now way bigger than Vlogbrothers, with over a billion views each. | 11 Little Tips for Better Video Chat (For Teachers...and Everybody Else) 00:00:00 |
| 2020-12-08 | looked back | John lists ideas Hank has realized: VidCon, NerdCon, Subbable, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Truth or Fail, Crash Course, SciShow, a podcast, card games, T-shirts, Eons, books and coffee mugs. | A Love Letter to My Brother, Basically 00:01:27 |
| 2021-11-09 | looked back | John says Hank has had many wonderful ideas, from VidCon to SciShow to Subbable, and helped make amazing things. | Hank Green's Million Dollar Ideas 00:00:29 |
| 2021-12-07 | looked back | John says the lasting aftereffect of keeping it is that the first episodes of SciShow and Crash Course were both filmed with Hank's goatee. (playful) | Reading Hank's Decade-Old Tweets 00:01:16 |
| 2023-12-24 | looked back | From a 2011 tweet, Hank recalls a donation vote to keep or shave his goatee ($993 to $879) that he calls a huge mistake, since the first SciShow and Crash Course episodes were filmed with it. (playful) | John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated 00:16:34 |
| 2025-01-24 | looked back | Hank attributes the higher response partly to the community knowing SciShow exists because they made it and is not inevitable; later viewers don't see that a world without it could exist. | Am I OK? 00:04:57 |
| 2025-03-11 | looked back | John says Hank's idea SciShow has reached hundreds of millions of people with reliable information about science. | Hank Green's Brother 00:00:56 |
| 2026-05-22 | looked back | Hank confesses that as Crash Course and SciShow grew into Complexly he was hungry with jealousy of BuzzFeed, Vice and Mashable. | Why I Made Crash Course a Non-Profit 00:00:39 |
Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).
What is said about it
9 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2011-11-07 · IS THIS HEAVEN? — announcement: John announces Hank is launching SciShow in early January: science news plus answers to age-old science questions like why the sky is blue. — 00:02:05
- 2011-11-28 · Stuffed with STUFF! — Hank adds that he also has 'SciShow and Crash Course things' going, but all is well as long as he can play Super Mario Bros. Wii with his wife. — 00:03:24
- 2012-01-02 · Changes to Vlogbrothers — announcement: John says Hank is launching SciShow today, a show where he talks about science, and that Hank is very funny. — 00:01:37
- 2012-01-06 · Kill your TV — announcement: Hank says he and John offer at least six YouTube videos a week across vlogbrothers, SciShow and Crash Course (launching January 25), more than doubled with HankGames and Truth or Fail. — 00:03:06
- 2012-03-02 · LEGO Millenium Falcon Fun — The description says Michael Aranda recently moved to Missoula to help produce SciShow and Crash Course, and composed the video's music. — video description
- 2012-09-14 · 1000 VIDEOS!!! — Hank says they started educational channels that both have more than 200,000 subscribers, plus a record label, a web series and a conference. — 00:02:11
- 2012-12-21 · Meet the Team: The Missoula Office (And P4A and TheBrainScoop) — Hank gives a tour of the Crash Course and SciShow offices in Missoula and introduces the people who work there. — 00:00:00
- 2015-12-08 · The Bank of Nerdfighteria's Semiannual Report — announcement: John says the brothers hope to expand both Crash Course and SciShow in 2016, and thanks supporters. (hedged) — 00:01:00
- 2016-09-23 · How do YouTubers Make Money? — Hank says SciShow and Crash Course were designed with YouTube's money systems in mind and have found a path to sustainability thanks to advertisers and Patreon patrons. — video description