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Mr. Wizard
In very sad news, Mr. Wizard (Don Herbert) passed away yesterday at 89. Growing up, I was an enormous fan of his show on Nickelodeon, and I would wake up far too early in the morning (I can’t remember what time it came on in those years, but sometimes it was still dark out) to make sure I wouldn’t miss it before school.
From making one of those carbon snakes to making marshmallows grow in the microwave, Mr. Wizard taught me that science was fun and accessible. I know it sounds cheesy, but it really made you feel like learning was cool. He was never condescending to the kids on the show, and I always wished that I could help him with experiments. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I love Mythbusters so much.
Thanks for everything, Mr. Wizard.
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“I would wake up far too early in the morning (I can’t remember what time it came on in those years, but sometimes it was still dark out) to make sure I wouldn’t miss it before school.”
I was in fifth grade when my mom took a job that started really early. So, I had to wake up at, like, 5 in the morning. I was really upset until I found Mr. Wizard was on at that time. Then I actually looked forward to it.
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#8 written by ChiliMac 4 years ago
We need more people like Don Herbert. People with the pasion to make subjects like science interesting to kids. I only watched the show a once in a while (I was a 3-2-1 Contact fan) but I always learned something. I absolutly agree with your statement Veronica, he did teach people that science is fun.
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#9 written by Eric 4 years ago
I too am very sad that he’s no longer alive. When I heard that he passed away, I searched for Mr. Wizard clips online. Man, seeing the shows, the kids, the experiments…I remember almost all of them. I was hooked on that show. And I also wished with every show that I could be one of the kids that helped him with the experiments. He truly peaked my interest with regards to science and magic. Mr. Wizard, you will be missed!!
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Mythbusters was the first thing I thought of too when I first saw your headline. The Mr. Wizard-like nature of that show (well, at times anyway) is one of the things I like most about it. To people who have never seen the show I describe it as Mr. Wizard meets adolescents seeking to blow stuff up.
And the very fact that I’m able to describe it that way and have people immediately understand shows just how ubiquitous Mr. Wizard’s legacy was.
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#13 written by josh 4 years ago
sorry for the spam, but yall might be interested in this:
http://www.digg.com/tech_news/The_REAL_Hottest_Female_Podcaster -
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#15 written by Boswellian 4 years ago
My best memory of Mr. Wizard is learning on his show that you could not fold a piece of paper in half more than eight times. I tried this with regular paper, newspaper, etc. To make a direct connection: Mythbusters took this challenge on, and I think they ultimately used a steamroller and a giant piece of paper to make 11 folds. Of course, that was cheating. But it brings the two great shows together!
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I too would wake up at 6 AM every day to watch Mr. Wizard’s World with my Dad on Nickelodeon. I used to pride myself in having seen every episode.
I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t use something I learned from that show. A sad day indeed.
I’ve already got a few of the DVDs and will keep collecting!
@Boswellian:
I remember that episode, too. A good one. There was a little “trick” he did on there which I loved where he showed a girl how to jump through a standard sized sheet of paper. Since, no. But fun, yes.@ChiliMac
3-2-1 Contact was an awesome show! Along with Square One. -
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Being much older than most of the responders here, I instantly became a huge fan of Mr. Wizard back in the 50′s when I was just a wee tike (4 or 5) shortly after the show started to originate out of NYC (I lived in north Jersey at the time).
Don was the first adult that really got me excited about science and learning and I faithfully watched his show every day that it was on.
To this day, with the possible exception of Carl Sagan’s COSMOS, I have never seen a TV show that really electrified my imagination.
Don, Mr. Wizard, I simply cannot thank you enough for the kind, gentle, but immense impact you had on me and my life.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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Im Sorry.