Geneticist, Environmentalist, and Broadcaster.

Born in Vancouver, Suzuki was interned with his family at a camp in British Columbia during the Second World War because his parents were of Japanese heritage and the Canadian government feared that Japanese-Canadians would not prove loyal to Canada when it was at war with Japan.

Suzuki was educated in Canada and the United States and became a professor at the University of British Columbia in 1963 after winning recognition as Canada's most promising young scientist. He studied the division of living cells and the mutations caused in cells by changes in temperature. His interests then broadened in the area of Genetics.

As well, he took up an abiding interest in the emerging field of science policy. This field considers the measures that governments need to put in place to govern and promote scientific and technological research and the use that society makes of such research.

Although a formidable researcher in his own right, Suzuki made the decision in 1970 to spend a large amount of time educating the general public about science. He did so on Canadian television and radio. His best known radio show is Quirks and Quarks (1976) which continues on CBC-Radio today. His best known television show is The Nature of Things. It also continues today, on CBC-Television.

These programs help further Suzuki's belief that if Canadians were generally aware of science in their lives, they would be culturally enriched, and they would be interested in and concerned with the policies that govern how universities and industry conduct and apply scientific research. Suzuki has been the recipient of many honours and awards, including international awards for science writing. He has written more than thirty books.