TV's "Mr. Wizard," Don Herbert, Dies At 89

XorNand writes "Television's Mr. Wizard, Don Herbert, died today at 89. He introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science. Herbert, who had bone cancer, died at his suburban Bell Canyon home near Los Angeles."

Sad

[omeomi]

Wow, that's sad. I loved that show...

I emailed him

[moosehooey]

I sent him an email about a year ago thanking him for a great show. I learned a ton about science from that show, even stuff that helped me with high school and college physics. I'm very sad to hear about this.

The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember this one episode, he had this huge pulley system. And he lifted some heavier-than-if-trying-without-pulleys load that went up. And this other episode, he got this kid up on like a 10 story building, with this super long straw, and had him try to suck up the plum juice. There was so much space, human lungs can't create a large enough vacuum. So then he had him hook up a vacuum pump, and up the plum juice went.

R.I.P. Mr. Wizard. I will never forget you.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Bayoudegradeable]

Even though I am a social studies teacher, I inject as much science as I can, especially in geography class. Certainly Mr. Wizard sparked a love of science that I still carry today. Even more so, he fed all of our curious natures, and helped us answer questions about why stuff happens. If only someone were carrying the torch today. I don't quite trust the Wiggles and Barney to carry the next generation...

Re:Sad

[nschubach]

Amazing, for someone I've never met, I think I just cried a little (and am not afraid to admit it.) I used to love that show.

Who is our generation of Mr. Wizard?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is shitty news. I used to watch Mr. Wizard on Nickelodeon as a kid. My dad watched him as a kid in the 1950s.

Of course, we had Carl Sagan on TV too.

I don't really watch too much TV, but someone please tell me that there are others like him that promoted reason and experimentation. Is it Bill Nye? Is there someone else? Where do gets get their appreciation of critical thinking and the scientific method? Who are the media-friendly scientist role models of today?

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree about where are the reruns.

He talked to kids, unlike the shows aimed at the younger generation now that talks "at them". The science he showed them was always rooted in basics and almost always had a bit of fun to keep their interest. I for one wish some channel would pick him up for reruns.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[mdsolar]

That should not have been any more than a three story building. The atmosphere can only support a column of water about 32 feet high. This is why you have to put a pump at the bottom of a deep well (force pump) rather than using suction from the top.
--
Rent solar power with no installation cost: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html [blogspot.com]

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[freedom_india]

Ahhh those were the days when America liked kids to learn science, not sex after school.
But since those kind of kids tend to question the Govt., It has slowly now toned down the science completly
and instead displays would prefer a mud fight between Britney in nude and Paris in Jail costume...
Even seen FOX show any such science show? NO
They would prefer a Creationist Show, O'reilly, etc.

 

Thank you, Mr. Wizard

[NeverVotedBush]

Thank you very much. I used to watch your show religiously as a kid.

Re:Sad

[bladesjester]

It's not strange to mourn the passing of one who has impacted so many lives in a positive manner even if you've never met him in person.

He turned a lot of us on to science as kids. He'll be missed.

As Mr. Wizard would say...

[WidescreenFreak]

He wouldn't want us to mourn but rather to celebrate and learn. After all, life and death are, as he would say, "based on scientific principles". :)

Godspeed, Mr. Wizard, and thanks for the memories!

generational gap

[f1055man]

Interesting to see who knows who he is and who doesn't. He was on from 50s to mid 60s, a brief stint in the early 70s and then throughout the eighties to early 90s. So as a child of the 80s, I share something in common with the boomers, my parents, but not with my older cousins. If you were born in the 60s or early 70s you probably missed out on something great. My condolences to all of you.

It's also worth mentioning that he not only reached kids through his tv shows, thousands of teachers and later science shows learned from his example as well. So even if you don't know who he is, it's likely your science teachers did. Having influenced millions over the last 50 years, it becomes hard to comprehend just how much of our technological society we owe to Mr. Wizard.

Brings me back

[spiralpath]

Mr. Wizard had a huge impact on me as well. I remember watching him, 3-2-1 Contact, and later Bill Nye and Beakman's World. There was an episode where he had some hydrophobic sand that he'd poured into a fishtank. It floated on the surface and when he plunged his hand into the water, it coated it like a glove. Pulled his hand out, it wasn't wet.

However many years later, and I am doing after-school science programming for a company called Mad Science. We have a kit with the sand in it, and I get to do the same experiment myself, and pass it on to another generation. It brings me back.

He will be missed.

Re:What can we do?

[mcb]

Volunteer on science days at your local schools, such as space day [spaceday.org]. I still remember watching Mr. Wizard as a kid in the 80s and I have no doubt my interest in science was heavily influenced by his show on Nick. We need to continue his legacy of fostering an interest in science and technology in the next generation.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[munpfazy]

Two generations, at the very least.

When the news of his death was announced in our lab, it generated a spontaneous group discussion and collective revery. Of the 8 mid-twenties physics PhD candidates in the room, only one wasn't intimately familiar with his programs. Most shared very detailed accounts of favorite demonstrations, and all examples were met with knowing nods from the gathered crowd.

I watched a lot of television as a kid, but (with Mr. Roger's Neighborhood a notable second), no program ever came close to matching Mr. Wizard's show in either the importance I placed upon it at the time or the degree to which I can remember it today. Outside of the occasional trip to the museum, it was the only chance many of us had to encounter the sciences in any guise other than the dessicated list of memorizable-facts presented in elementary textbooks.

Would I have found my calling in the sciences without his program? Who knows. Perhaps. But probably not as early or as easily. And I sure as hell would have missed out on several hours a week of sheer joy as I watched his program and tried to replicate some of the less materials-intensive experiments.

The real tragedy, of course, isn't that he has died, but that (according to wikipedia) his programs are no longer broadcast anywhere. I haven't seen television in a while, so its possible that there's even better science programming available today. But, somehow, I doubt it.

So long, Mr. Wizard. Tonight I'll light a candle in your honor (under an overturned air-and-water-filled tumbler sitting in a pan of water. . .)

You made a nerd out of me.

[supabeast!]

Some guys remember that special gym teacher, who taught them to act like big lugnuts.
Others remember screaming drill sergeants.
A few even remember the crazy wino who would buy them a six pack of beer in exchange for one of the cans.
Lots of people have made men out of boys.

But it was Mr. Wizard who made us nerds.

He is sorely missed.

In the words of Perfect Tommy

[SirBruce]

Perfect Tommy: Emilio Lizardo. Wasn't he on TV once?

Buckaroo Banzai: You're thinking of Mr. Wizard.

Reno: Emilio Lizardo is a top scientist, dummkopf.

Perfect Tommy: So was Mr. Wizard.

Re:Sad

[munpfazy]

Amazing, for someone I've never met, I think I just cried a little (and am not afraid to admit it.) I used to love that show.

I also cried while reflecting upon the news of his death. (And I'm the sort of person who greets most celebrity deaths with rude jokes. You should hear my Lady Diana and Ronald Reagan one-liners.)

I don't want to belittle the very real loss his friends and family are experiencing or the pain of cancer, but perhaps we should envy him. To die at 89 with the knowledge that you've inspired generations of scientists and science enthusiasts is hardly the worst outcome one can hope for. I'd go to my grave satisfied having positively impacted a tiny fraction of the number of lives he's touched.

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[macserv]

Man, I hate it when the DVD series doesn't include the entire run of a show.

There are only 32 episodes on 8 DVDs available for purchase, but there were 78 episodes of the show which aired on TV. I seriously hope more volumes are coming, but it sure doesn't look that way :(

An interesting point he made in the second video

[hey!]

One reason for the longevity and quality of his program was, paradoxically, that it did not have to make money. It was considered public affairs programming.

Broadcasters used to have to meet certain minimum public interest service requirements as a condition of their license. This meant that they had to provide a certain quantity public affairs and educational programming, and they had to broadcast opposing views on controversial topics.

In the 1980s, the Reagan administration appointees on the FCC abolished the Fairness Doctrine, arguing that it had a chilling effect on public affairs programming, reducing both the quantity and quality produced.

In the post-Fairness era, certainly more public affairs programming has been produced (e.g. Fox News). It's arguable whether the programming is better.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Overly Critical Guy]

Veering a bit off topic there but I'll bite, liberalism runs off emotion like jet fuel?!

Absolutely. Liberalism is about placing "compassion" above practicality, instituting laws that make you feel good regardless of their effectiveness. Did you know paper recycling plants use more energy and pollute the environment more than simply throwing paper away and planting new trees to cut down? But because environmentalists feed off the emotion of "feeling good," it doesn't matter whether it's actually practical or effective because if someone questions it, they will be branded as an evil scourge.

We've got a conservative president who got reelected on nothing more than scaring the public into voting for him.

No, Bush got re-elected because nobody liked Kerry or his shifting positions.

If you elect my opponent the terrorists will come over here and kill your sons and rape your daughters. There is no logic or rationality to his basic stump speech of "Terrorists, terrorists, terrorits. 9/11, 9/11. God Bless America."

Democrats used the exact same scare tactics, telling us we were more at risk than before 9/11 because of Bush. Do you remember Kerry going on and on about insecure ports? By the way, I don't recall Bush ever saying our sons and daughters would be killed and raped if he wasn't elected.

All humanity runs off of emotion, we are emotional beings. Those that can separate themselves from emotion and think dispassionately are all too rare. The world would be a much better place if there were more of those people, especially in leadership positions. Since the average emotional American finds that type of person distant and cold though I doubt we're going to see many of them get elected. Conservatives and liberals alike stoke emotions to get what they want. I will agree with the rest of what you wrote though, schools don't teach much in the way of logic or rationality and it's all of our loss. And political correctness, gods, if children had simply been raised properly, to be polite, we might have never needed to invent the phrase.

Political correctness is a doublespeak tactic to change something into something else. For instance, changing "illegal aliens" into "undocumented workers." Liberals decided calling them illegal aliens sounded too harsh and wanted something that didn't seem illegal or wrong at all. It would be as silly as call a bank robbery an "undocumented transaction." Orwell wrote about this very tactic, changing negative things into perceived positives so that bad was no longer bad, but "ungood." This would confuse people's moral standards so that they could more easily be made to accept something they would normally be opposed to.

Both sides do it--look at pro-life groups versus pro-choice groups. The conflict is anti-abortion versus pro-abortion, but each side adopted doublespeak to spin their label into a more positive one and distract the issue so that instead of debating abortion, you're debating "choice" or "life," and if you oppose one of those positions then you must clearly be opposed to having choices or saving lives. It's bullshit doublespeak.