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June 13, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

Los Angeles Times:

Don Herbert, who explained the wonderful world of science to millions of young baby boomers on television in the 1950s and ’60s as “Mr. Wizard” and did the same for another generation of youngsters on the Nickelodeon cable TV channel in the 1980s, died Tuesday. He was 89.

Herbert died at his home in Bell Canyon after a long battle with multiple myeloma, said Tom Nikosey, Herbert’s son-in-law.

Broadcast live from Chicago on Saturdays the first few years and then from New York City, “Watch Mr. Wizard” ran for 14 years.

Herbert used basic experiments to teach scientific principles to his TV audience via an in-studio guest boy or girl who assisted in the experiments.

By 1955, there were about 5,000 Mr. Wizard Science Clubs nationwide, with more than 100,000 members.

“Over the years, Don has been personally responsible for more people going into the sciences than any other single person in this country,” George Tressel, a National Science Foundation official, said in 1989.

Photo by NBC-TV.

In Ideas, News, Profiles | 1 Comment