Germany’s most famous YouTube scientist is splitting up

It has been around since September 2016 and has since accumulated over 1.4 million subscriptions: Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen Kim. For years, the chemist explained various scientific phenomena and theories in “beautiful”, later renamed “maiLab”.while their “friends of the sun” should watch comfortably over a cup of tea.

However, after a four-month hiatus from “maiLab”, a video with a message went online that saddened many fans.

Nguyen-Kim explained in the “hardest maiLab video ever” that she would no longer serve the channel. This decision was not easy for her and depends on many factors. Her declining editor Melanie, who “always had her behind” and assured her “freedom as a creator and nerdy scientist”, is no longer part of the team.

In addition, the growing number of subscriptions came with increasing responsibility. That means a lot of effort in production, with most of the responsibility resting with the chemist himself. That’s “definitely special” in funk and public service, as there are usually bigger acceptance loops here, but she managed to gain trust.

She did well at first with this model and in collaboration with editor Melanie and the two scientists Lars and Jens. However, this suddenly changed:

The Youtuber, who had her first child in the spring of 2020, points to her baby bump. Being older meant that all her priorities had shifted. Scheduling and no overtime are now more important than control at work.

It works better on television, where Nguyen-Kim is now firmly established. There she is part of “Terra X” and has her own science program “MaiThink X” on ZDF. Here too, she can mainly work on the content, but because of the large team, the responsibility does not lie solely with her. So while she found “maiLab” kept her stressed out, she felt freer in her ZDF show:

Despite the great understanding for this decision, many fans of the channel reacted very emotionally. Within a day, more than half a million people clicked on the video and more than 7,000 people commented.

The end of the format has been described, among other things, as the “biggest loss in YouTube Germany”. Many users thanked the team for their excellent work, especially during the pandemic. Individuals also showed how much the channel had helped them.

Others revealed that they “spontaneously burst into tears” during the video, sharing how their lives had changed since subscribing to “maiLab”. The funk channel has sparked an interest in science among many people and even motivated her to work in this field today.

Some therefore also spoke of “a black day for YouTube”, but nevertheless indicated that they are very much looking forward to Nguyen-Kim’s upcoming projects.