Richard Wiese facts for kids

Richard Wiese is an American explorer, born on July 13, 1959. He is the President of The Explorers Club. He is also the host and producer of the TV show Born to Explore, which has won many Emmy Awards.

Early Life and Learning

Richard Wiese grew up on Long Island, New York. His father, Richard Wiese Sr., was the first person to fly alone across the Pacific Ocean. Richard himself climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania when he was only 11 years old!

He went to St. Anthony's High School and then Brown University. At Brown, he studied Geology and Biology, graduating in 1982. He also studied Applied Physiology at Columbia University. He even completed a program in Meteorology, which is the study of weather.

Amazing Expeditions

Richard Wiese has been on many exciting adventures around the world.

Ocean and Mountain Adventures

When he was a teenager in 1977, Richard helped build the first artificial reef in the Long Island Sound. This helped create new homes for sea life.

He has worked in the Yucatán jungle in Mexico. There, he helped put special collars on jaguars to track them. He also climbed Ol Doinyo Lengai, a volcano in Tanzania, to collect samples. Richard also went on two trips to Antarctica. On these trips, he drilled into glaciers to study how the climate has changed over time.

City and Pole Discoveries

In 2006, Richard helped find 202 new types of tiny living things in Central Park in New York City. This was part of the first study of microbes there. He also started the Central Park "Bio Blitz." This is a 24-hour event where scientists try to find and list all the living things in the park.

Around the same time, Richard joined a medical trip on Mount Everest. He also skied all the way to the North Pole. In 2004, he was part of a team that explored Yeronisos island in Cyprus. They were looking for an ancient temple.

Kilimanjaro and Yukon Journeys

In 2009, Richard led another trip to Mount Kilimanjaro. This time, he was looking for special life forms called extremophiles in the Ngorongoro Crater. His team found 29 new species! During this trip, they also put the first weather station on Mount Kilimanjaro. This station helps scientists track how global warming is affecting the mountain.

In 2020, Richard traveled to the Yukon in Canada. He went with Prince Albert of Monaco. They followed the path of a 1934 expedition.

Leading The Explorers Club

In 2002, Richard Wiese became the youngest president of The Explorers Club. This club is for people who explore the world. He has been elected president seven times, more than anyone else in the club's 118-year history!

As president, he helped the club work with big companies like Rolex and Microsoft. He also started the Global Exploration Summit with Portugal. This event is like a big meeting for explorers from all over the world.

Richard also created "The Explorers Club 50." This program highlights 50 people who are changing the world through exploration. He also started the club's first program to support diversity and inclusion. In 2019, he was invited to speak at the United Nations about global climate change.

Media Work

Richard Wiese has shared his adventures through television and books.

Television Series

His show, Born to Explore with Richard Wiese, was a popular educational program. It aired on ABC stations in the United States from 2011 to 2016. Later, it also aired on American Public Television (APT).

The show won many awards. In 2012, Richard won the Cronkite Award for his work. The show was nominated for several Daytime Emmy Awards. It won Emmys for Outstanding Single Camera Photography in 2013 and Outstanding Sound Mixing in 2015. It also received the Parents' Choice Gold Award for teens.

The production team filmed the show in many different countries. These included Botswana, Uganda, Iceland, England, Morocco, Australia, Canada, Hawaii, Chile, Cyprus, South Africa, Namibia, and India.

From 2018 to 2019, Richard hosted 38 episodes of Weekend With Yankee. This show aired on PBS's Create network.

TV and Film Appearances

Richard Wiese has also appeared in movies. He was in Endless Love (1981) and Club Paradise (1986). He hosted other TV shows like Exploration with Richard Wiese and Hell on Earth. He also appeared in skits on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s.

Popular Media and Books

In 2003, People Magazine named him one of their "Hottest Bachelors." He has appeared on many TV shows, including CNN and Good Morning America. He has also been featured in newspapers and magazines like USA Today, The New York Times, and National Geographic.

Richard Wiese is also an author. He wrote a guidebook called Born to Explore: How to Be a Backyard Adventurer. It was published in 2009.

Honors and Awards

In 2006, the American Museum of Natural History Expeditions named Richard Wiese an 'Explorer in Residence.' He was honored at the 2005 Boy Scout National Jamboree. He spoke to 90,000 people there, and a camp was named after him.

The King of Morocco invited him to be the U.S. representative at a large gathering of nomadic Arabs. He also received a Special Lifetime Achievement Award from the Science Museum of Long Island. As a journalist, he has won many Emmy Awards, a Genesis Award, and other honors for his environmental and wildlife work.

Personal Life

Richard Wiese lives in Weston, Connecticut. He lives there with his wife and their three children.