TV's 'Mr. Wizard' Don Herbert Dies at 89

[rpannier]

LOS ANGELES -- Don Herbert, who as television's "Mr. Wizard" introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science, died Tuesday. He was 89. Herbert, who had bone cancer, died at his suburban Bell Canyon home, said his son-in-law, Tom Nikosey.

"He really taught kids how to use the thinking skills of a scientist," said former colleague Steve Jacobs. He worked with Herbert on a 1980s show that echoed the original 1950s "Watch Mr. Wizard" series, which became a fond baby boomer memory.

In "Watch Mr. Wizard," which was produced from 1951 to 1964 and received a Peabody Award in 1954, Herbert turned TV into an entertaining classroom. On a simple, workshop-like set, he demonstrated experiments using household items.


link:
http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=265522>1=7703

[madrchsod]

1. oh no...i grew up watching him in the 50`s....

[spanone]

3. I did too. Loved his show as a kid.

[Kool Kitty]

9. Me, too.

I loved his show. :cry: I loved all the fifties children's shows. "Mr. Wizard", "Kookla, Fran and Ollie", "Winky Dink", etc. Now I want to go back in time and be five years old again (for a week), and watch TV.

[gordianot]

2. So sad from a by-gone era when science was valued.

If your science experiment blows up today you are headed for Gitmo.

[KoKo]

14. Agree.....have often wondered why shows that help educate kids seem to die...

Even when the FCC still has rules about Children's Programming mandating a few hours a day...there's not much there like there was years ago.

[133724]

4. I loved tha show....

I can't tell you how many times I blew up my mother's kitchen doing some of his experiments....

[RufusTFirefly]

5. All I know about Mr. Wizard I learned from Bob and Ray

"Mr. Science" a recurring Bob & Ray sketch, in which Bob, as Mr. Science, would demonstrate a Mr. Wizard-like experiment to an annoyingly over-enthusiastic neighborhood boy, Jimmy Schwab (played by Ray), who would invariably touch the wrong thing at the end, setting off a laboratory explosion.

Link

[fortyfeetunder]

6. Mr. Wizard's legacy

Way back when, TV was full of shows in the afternoon like Mr. Wizard. But then we only had 3 major networks. My favorite shows were Mr. Wizard and Discovery...and it did make me want and pursue science as a career. And we were in the advent of the space age, so to me, looked like a good thing.

When we saw people like Mr Wizard, we knew it was possible to accept and embrace science and not be perceived as a geek, nerd or weird.

Even though Mr. Wizard was long gone, he did create a generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and technologists who have the passion for sharing their energy and enthusiasm for science with the next generation.

Thanks Mr. Wizard!

[jab105]

7. I met him at a science convention in the 1980s that my mom was at...he was very nice,

and made science so much fun for so many kids...

[The Straight Story]

8. He rocked! He will be missed. (nt)

[lonestarnot]

10. Not Mr. Wizard!

:cry:

[RushIsRot]

11. R.I.P. Mr. Wizard. I loved your show. Ya done good for those of

us who grew up in the 50s. Thanks!

[Duppers]

12. he was an inspiration to many young science students in the '50's

He was an hero and inspiration to many and one in particular, my hubby, is especially sad to learn of his passing.

Don Herbert, around 1955.

The NYTimes has a good article today about him, which included the following:

"Working in shirtsleeves on his TV laboratory set, Mr. Herbert aroused the curiosity of children in an informal way that turned sometimes arcane scientific conceptions into fun. “What was really remarkable about Mr. Wizard was that he talked to the kids as if they were real people,” said Frank Wilczek**, a physicist at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, N.J., in a 1990 interview while recounting informal approaches to teaching science.

During the 1960s and ’70s, about half the applicants to Rockefeller University in New York, where students work toward doctorates in science and medicine, cited Mr. Wizard when asked how they first became interested in science."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/arts/13herbert.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

**Frank Wilczek, a Nobel Prize winner, is now at MIT; I know because we're to going to visit him in Nov.!


And here's a site devoted to him: http://www.mrwizardstudios.com/

[YOY]

13. Tell God to strike that rip off Beakmann with a bolt of lightning Don!

[immoderate]

15. Good bye, Mr. Wizard!

I can't think of anybody that has been a greater influence on my life than Mr. Wizard. I was a fan of the original show, being the consummate boomer.

He nailed the idea in my mind that you find out things for yourself, and don't have others do your thinking for you.

Farewell, Mr. Wizard. :cry: :hi:

--IMM

[Xenotime]

16. Was he like Bill Nye or something?