William Osman
| William Osman | ||||||||||
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| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | June 8, 1991 | |||||||||
| Origin | Ventura, California, U.S. | |||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||
| Occupation(s) | YouTuber, Engineer | |||||||||
| Website | williamosman | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channels | William Osman William Osman 2 | |||||||||
| Years active | 2008–present | |||||||||
| Genre(s) | Maker, Educator, Comedian | |||||||||
| Subscribers |
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| Total views |
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Last updated: January 16, 2021 | ||||||||||
William Osman (born June 8, 1991) is an American YouTuber and engineer based currently in Ventura County, California. His eponymous YouTube channel features invention-based builds and challenges, including testing dummy fingers in car windows, building a scrap boat for a competition, and challenging other popular YouTube personalities to an egg drop competition.[1][2] Prior to YouTube, Osman used his degree in mechanical and electrical engineering to work with MRI machines, exploration vehicles, and military testing equipment.
Early life and education
Osman attended Foothill Technology High School.[3] He created short skits with his best friend, cameraman, and assistant editor John throughout high school.[1] During his senior year, Osman made a Stirling Engine that could turn heat into mechanical energy for the 2009 California State Science Fair.[4] Osman earned his Bachelor of Science from California State University, Northridge in 2014, majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in electrical engineering.[5]
Career
Osman created what would become his main YouTube channel on November 25, 2013. The majority of his early videos centered around testing his 80 watt laser cutter named “Retina Smelter 9000,” in which different unconventional materials were examined for their ease of laser cutting.[1]
Early in December 2017, Osman and his wife, Chelsea, lost their home to a wildfire.[6][7] A GoFundMe account was started by his family friend to help pay for the damages.[6] Osman posted a YouTube video about the house fire on December 5, 2017, and it quickly went viral.[8] The GoFundMe campaign had a goal of $10,000, but surpassed $120,000 from more than 6,300 donors in 20 hours.[8] Osman's channel gained a lot of attention in the period immediately following the fire.
As of May 2020, Osman has posted over 130 videos and accumulated over 238 million views. His channel hit 1 million subscribers in June 2019. He has collaborated with Mark Rober, Simone Giertz, and many other maker YouTubers.[9][10] In August 2019, he partnered with the U.S. Navy for part of their Sailor VS series.[11] The Navy worked with three YouTube creators with a focus on science, technology, and math, inviting them to highlight different technical roles and equipment.[12] Osman was invited aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt to compete in an egg drop competition against a pair of sailors from a cybersecurity team.[13]
On July 19, 2019, Osman created a second channel for behind the scenes footage and snippets of his life. His second channel now consists of videos with ranging topics: unboxing videos, follow-ups, and smaller quick videos. As of January 2021, it has amassed over 318,000 subscribers.
References
- ^ a b c Clinton Matos (August 30, 2017). "We interview William Osman: The funniest maker channel on YouTube?". Hypertext. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
- ^ Alex Swerdloff (March 29, 2017). "Man Uses Lasers to Carve Bust of Vin Diesel Out of Ham and Cheese". Vice. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ "CSSF Project Listings: 2009". Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ "California State Science Fair 2009 Project Summary" (PDF). Retrieved February 28, 2020.
- ^ "2014 Senior Design Project Showcase" (PDF). Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ a b Taylor Heyman (December 6, 2017). "The internet raised more than $100,000 for this YouTuber who lost his home in California wildfires". Independent.ie. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ Nathan Kontny (April 9, 2018). "Why Are Some Of Our Customers Successful? YouTuber William Osman Has A Lesson With His Creepy Hat". Forbes. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
- ^ a b Maria Vultaggio (December 6, 2017). "Who Is William Osman? Youtuber's House Burned by Ventura Fire, GoFundMe Campaign Goes Viral". Newsweek. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
- ^ Jenna Alton (June 26, 2018). "The Clean Cut: BYU grad makes world's largest lemon battery to help power Pikes Peak race winner". Deseret News. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ Sophie Weiner (February 18, 2018). "This Inventor Turned a Car Into a Giant Computer Mouse". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ Geoff Weiss (August 8, 2019). "U.S. Navy Taps Kevin 'VSauce2' Lieber, Jake Koehler, William Osman For Inaugural Influencer Campaign". Tubefilter. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
- ^ Anthony Ha (August 8, 2019). "The Navy taps YouTube creators for its latest recruiting campaign". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
- ^ Sophie Weiner (August 31, 2019). "The Navy's Newest Recruiting Strategy: YouTube Influencers". Military.com. Retrieved March 8, 2020.