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."

Comments

Sad

[omeomi]

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

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.

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.

Re:Sad

[slash_fossils]

I remember watching that show with such interest. He'd usually have a couple kids as assistants as he worked through some fun experiment. I'm still a student of science to this day. I think he had something to do with it. Thanks Mr. Wizard.

Re:Sad

[TapeCutter]

It's always sad when the world loses a great teacher but I've never heard of him here in Australia. Judging from the posts in this thread, it's sounds like his methods were similar to the late great Prof. Sumner Miller who entertained, educated and influenced many people from my generation.

Trivia question: Is he the "Mr Wizard" in the song walking on the sun?

Re:Sad

[gangien]

yeah my thoughts echo much of the other comments i've seen. i was born in 81 and when i was in 2nd grade (until i dunno when) i would get up early to watch Mr. Wizard's World.

RIP Mr. Wizard :'(

Re:Sad

[LoadWB]

I would like to thing so, though I do not know the answer for certain. I loved watching Mr. Wizard's World on Nickelodeon back in the 80's. When I was growing up, my 12" black and white television never left channel seven, which was Nick. Great shows like "Mr. Wizard's World," "What Will They Think of Next?", "You Can't Do That on Television," and a slew of kid-oriented serials. I do not think the shows now come close to the caliber and quality, but then it is a different world now, so it is difficult for me to judge.

I certainly have fond memories of Mr. Wizard, and he most certainly influenced me to think critically. I found myself remember his shows during school science labs and projects. I remember several of his experiments, like the ping-pong balls on mouse traps in the giant plexiglass box and the AA-powered electromagnet which would support a person sitting on a swing, as well as a brief lesson in LOGO.

I for one have missed Mr. Wizard, and am sad to hear of his passing. I am proud to learn that I share fond memories of this man with other generations -- I never know of his original show, and now wish that I could view them.

I believe that Don Herbert's family understands how he touched so many others, and that they appreciate that. I am very happy that they shared him with all of us, and hope that all generations of his family remember him and appreciate him.

Rest well, Mr. Wizard. We will miss you, and I will have to go wipe away some tears of my own.

Re:Sad

[DoctorVic]

love that show? It was my favorite show growing up. It was good ol' Mr. Wizard that introduced me to science when I was a kid. I still rattle off things that amaze people that I remember seeing on the show when I was a young boy. Crazy. Is everything I know and love to wither and die? Ahh, but alas.....

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:Sad

[Aliriza]

R.I.P. I even watched a translated series of the show and liked it. It is sad we are dying :(

Re:Sad

[macserv]

It was odd, watching Julius Sumner Miller in my 9th Grade science class, knowing he was already dead. I sure did learn a lot from him. True educators — those who draw knowledge and emotion out of us instead of trying to jam it in — are truly rare and precious. And they usually die too soon.

Re:Sad

[PopeRatzo]

It really is a sad day for me. I learned everything I know about physics from Mr.Wizard.

Re:Sad

[noSignal]

I'm right there with you, buddy. Goodbye Mr. Wizard.

Re:Sad

[Pope]

Heh, I went to school in Calgary with a couple of the kids who were on the early 80s version of Mr. Wizard: Jason A., Stacy P., and one other whose name eludes me. I didn't even know they were in it until I moved to the US a few years later and started watching Nickelodeon!

Re:Sad

[nicestepauthor]

I used to watch his show as a kid, and I owned a copy of his book "Mr Wizard's Science Secrets". The great thing about his show was you could try all of the experiments at home using household objects like milk bottles and tin cans.

There have been several pop culture references to his show. The old cult TV show "Police Squad" had a forensic scientist who, when he was not investigating evidence, would invite children to the police station to do experiments with household objects. And who could forget the bit of dialog from "Buckaroo Banzai" which I will paraphrase. The Hong Kong Cavaliers are discussing professor Emilio Lizardo.

"Didn't he used to have a TV show?"

"No, you're thinking of Mr. Wizard."

"Emilio Lizard was a great scientist."

"So was Mr. Wizard."

Re:Sad

[provigilman]

I was born in 1980 and used to watch his show constantly. I still remember two episodes of that show as clear as a bell.

In one he showed salt melting ice and made caramel in order to show how impurities affect the boiling and freezing points of water. When I took my AP Bio exam in High School I had to write an essay on the properties of water...that was the first thing that popped into my head.

The other one I remember was when he built a giant, two-story straw and then hooked a vacuum pump up to it in order to see how high they could pull the liquid. Vacuum pressure and gravity are concepts normally reseved for High School Physics or Physical Science, and yet here was this guy teaching it to a little boy...very few people have the gift for teaching that he had, and he'll be missed.

Re:Sad

[SydBarrett]

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, my name is Julius Sumner Miller, and physics is my business."

Holy crap, someone else remembers Julius Sumner Miller? I used to be addicted to his old PBS show "Demonstrations in Physics", it was like watching some crazed elf trying to teach physics to kids. One time he did some demo on air pressure with metal cans and said "I'm going to do that again. Why? BECAUSE I LIKE IT!" and proceeded to crush about 4 more metal cans. You could even hear one of the camera men laugh during this.

Re:Sad

[bladesjester]

My favorite pop culture reference to him was always Mr Lizard on Dinosuars.

Timmy, you start up the nuclear reactor while I stand behind this protective lead shielding.
*boom*
We're going to need another Timmy!

Re:Sad

[bladesjester]

You can view his other show. His website sells boxed sets of both his origional show and the second one he did in the 80's.

Re:Sad

[DataSpring]

I, too, still rattle off things that I learned on that show that amaze people. Like one poster above, I remember the ping pong balls and mousetraps in a plexiglass box, I remember why wind always (naturally) blows from cold places to hot places (he did the experiment in a fish tank with a shaded side that had ice in it, and a hot side that had a light bulb or heat lamp over it, then lit and blew out a match to let the smoke follow the natural current in the fish tank), and I always remember something about "powered oxygen" or something like that - he sprinkled it on some sugar-loaded cereal, then spritzed some water on it and it burst into flames, consuming the sugar as fuel.

I loved that show! It was one of my favorite shows growing up, too.

Rest in peace, Mr. Herbert! You inspired many and will be missed.

Re:Sad

[corifornia]

Troll!? What!?!? Come on... Was it too soon?

Whats the buffer time for making jokes about dead people?

Re:Sad

[_anomaly_]

At the sake of being modded redundant, I too would like to express my condolences.
I also watched Mr. Wizard as a kid (born in '78) and I had to reply to parent's post because one of the episodes that I recall is the exact one you mentioned: the giant, two-story straw.
I can honestly say that Mr. Wizard got me interested in the sciences, and I haven't looked back (got a M.Eng. degree).

Thanks for everything Mr. Wizard, RIP.

Re:Sad

[hardburlyboogerman]

Yes he is.
"any technology advanced enough is indistinguishable from magic"
(paraphrasing Arthur C. Clarke )

Re:Sad

[TapeCutter]

Yes! That was his other show and I remember that episode. I liked the way he never explained things without getting the kids to explain it first (a skill sadly missing in most managers), the kids were never ridiculed for being wrong but god help them if they did not offer an idea.

I remember in one episode he went off on one of his tangents and pointed out the "spikes" on the tip of a flame that he was using for something else. After harrasing the kids for an explaination with the "why is it so" question and a mryid of follow-up questions about their explainations, eventually he said something like: "Well done, very good ideas! I have tried to find the answer for a long time and it seems nobody knows for sure - why is it so?", and promptly switched back to the experiment.

Bit of trivia: Julius studied physics under Eienstien. Having now read a bit about Mr.Wizard I think Julius may also have learnt something from him too.....Imagine a mythbuster's show with those two in charge. :)

Re:Sad

[TapeCutter]

Oh....the answer to the "spike" question?

I don't know and it's been bugging me for 40yrs!!!

Re:Sad

[bladesjester]

The white powered stuff was KNO3 - Potassium nitrate.

It was fun to do yourself too. That's what I got for tutoring chem lab for a few years :P

Re:Sad

[LoadWB]

Indeed! Thanks for spurring that moment of research.

Mr. Wizard Studios - Home Page
http://www.mrwizardstudios.com/

Re:Sad

[bladesjester]

Contrary to what some people think, I do enjoy being the bearer of good news.

Glad I could be of help. Honestly speaking, I want to get them myself at some point.

Science is timeless, isn't it?

[LostCluster]

Just where are the reruns and DVDs of his work?

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[beavis88]

http://www.mrwizardstudios.com/

Predictably, though, the site is just about impossible to get to right now. Judging from the Google cache there are 8 DVDs each with 4 episodes, for $17.95 each.

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[cyphercell]

good point. I remember this one episode like 20 years ago where he put this powder in a tank of water then reached without getting his hand wet, I still wonder what that shit was.

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[LeeBarnes]

I remember that! iirc, it was yellow. When the kid pulled his arm out, the junk stuck to his arm a bit.

What WAS it? sulpher maybe?

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[bladesjester]

He called it "likapodium", but I'm not sure of the spelling.

What can I say? For some things, my memory is way too good (and I haven't seen that show since nick was still running "You can't say that on television")

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[nbvb]

I remember that too.

A quick google search reveals it to be "Lycopodium" ...

http://www.cmste.uregina.ca/Quickstarts/powderglov e.html

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[cyphercell]

thanks, it's literally been haunting me for years.

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:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[Gerocrack]

The DVD's have been delayed because they have to scrub out all the profanity and full frontal nudity.

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[zippthorne]

Just plain ol' ordinary talcum powder IIRC

And my impromptu test with some Gold Bond I had lying around shows it true (but you need a thicker layer of powder on the surface than I at first thought based on the episode, perhaps because Gold Bond isn't pure talc)

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[RackinFrackin]

It was Lycopodium Powder.

Digression: I remember being amazed by that experiment, and tons of other things that I saw on that show. I especially remember the demonstration where he used a vaccuum pump to suck grape juice up in a tube. It only went up so far, and he explained how the best vaccuum pump in the world wouldn't do any better because of the limited pressure at the bottom.

I really learned a lot of science from his show.

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[Anonymous Coward]

so, boys and girls.... If there are 4 episodes per DVD, and 8 DVDs, how many episodes are available? If each DVD is $17.95, how much would your parents be stung if you nag them to buy the whole set?

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[emc]

it's You Can't Do That on Television. I'll leave out the remark about your memory.

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[bladesjester]

You can't do what on television? *grin*

(Sorry. Couldn't resist leaving a setup)

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, as much as I loved his shows, and I do really think it's sad that he's gone, we can't mourn forever. Afterall, this is probably the best career move he could make.

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[Tongo]

Holy crap. Whenever I hear or read of Mr. Wizard the first thing I think of is that experiment. I thought that was the coolest thing. He greatly influenced my childhood and I will miss him.

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[cyphercell]

Um "I don't know" - yuck
"water"
"thank you"

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[bladesjester]

I'm just glad someone took the bait. Though, I have to say that, knowing slashdot, I figured there would be someone around that would want to prove me wrong about professed knowledge. I would have hated for the joke to go to waste. =]

Human nature can sometimes be predictable (not to mention downright amusing even if he did try to insult me :P)

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 :(

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[dr_dank]

I've read the article very carefully and composed a well-reasoned response.

(Yes, this is the introduction to the opposites)

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you get the whole set of Mr Wizzard's World, it will be just $125.
If you get the original series, ($14.95 ea) also 8 discs, it is $105, and to get all 16 discs, it will be $230.

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is from material straight from that archives.

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[Nimey]

I remember that! I also remember that my 5th-grade science teacher asked (in a quiz) how to take a nail out of a full fish-tank without getting wet.

I put down that stuff and got half-credit because she expected me to say "magnet".

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[Nimey]

Amusingly, my answer was better because the nail'd be wet after it was removed from the tank, and with the powder on my hands I'd /still/ not get wet.

I suspect that fact was going through my mind seventeen years ago. Silly teacher.

Re:Science is timeless, isn't it?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't do that on television? Try telling that to Fox!

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.

Re:I emailed him

[bladesjester]

The frightening thing is that, as I understand it, before his health turned for the worst, he used to answer all of the emails he got from fans.

I always thought that was rather cool.

Re:I emailed him

[moosehooey]

I did get a reply from his secretary, saying that she told him about the email. I hope she really did.

Re:I emailed him

[bladesjester]

I've heard from people in the past that the emails they got actually came from him. His secretary may have taken over once he started not feeling as well.

It kind of ranks up there on my cool-o-meeter with the fact that someone I knew got a reply from Carl Sagen on a science topic he was curious about. However, the fact that we know one of his nephews probably didn't hurt...

An inspiration to a generation

[sharky611aol.com]

What a loss. He turned on an entire generation of kids to science. Surely I'm not the only one who used to wake up before school at 6 AM to watch Mr. Wizard on Nickelodeon before school? I know I wouldn't be where I am today (M.D.) without Mr. Wizard, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

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:An inspiration to a generation

[evanbd]

Nope. I remember waking up in the predawn hours to watch the show while eating breakfast.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Anonymous Coward]

Because like you, we grew up with this guy instead. Watch it, watch it now!

\\//_

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.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[rafaMEX]

well I dunno who he is, but in the 80's I remmeber a lot of TV shows about science, and the best of all was COSMOS (for me , i learned a lot from it) with Carl Seagan, imo nowadays there is not enough tv shows like that, or you need to have cable and know english (im mexican) to watch discovery channel and the like.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[modmans2ndcoming]

MOre than a generation... he still had a kick butt show in the 80's!

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[doormat]

No you weren't. My parents weren't even awake and I'd be downstairs watching it.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Anonymous Coward]

Liberals are just a bunch of stuck-up twats.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Lane.exe]

I think that kids shows today are less about "learning" in the traditional sense and more about teaching (very worthy) goals of tolerance and acceptance.

I just don't see why we can't teach both, at once. Human knowledge and education is the great equalizer... virtually no prejudice or societal ill can't be cured by a good education.

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. . .)

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[heinousjay]

What the fuck are you talking about?

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Anonymous Coward]

Now, I understand you're pissed off at Republicans because some Rep family's kid beat you up in school and shit on your face, but do you really have to make a fool of yourself on the Slashdot sewer of all things?

Get over it. If you can't, suicide.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[freedom_india]

Am sorry. I was ranting about the quality of TV shows after watching another abysmal Paris Hilton documentary.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[lithiumfox]

Agreed. I used to do the same thing. Wake up at 6AM so I can catch the show before I went to elementary school. Maybe he did spark my interests in Science, no idea but I am a ECE now.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[kabocox]

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.

This is sad. I've seen alot of junk on tv. There are several stations that should be running these shows. TLC, Discovery, SciFi Channel, and any PBS channel. There have been fancier wizbang shows, but none of them captured the attention or delivered the knowledge of Mr. Wizard. I'm going to have to buy these DVDs if only to give them to my kids as birthday or christmas presents. This is one gift idea that I think most slashdotters should try. I've got all of B5 and Robotech on DVD; I should have Mr. Wizards World as well!

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Overly Critical Guy]

I think that kids shows today are less about "learning" in the traditional sense and more about teaching (very worthy) goals of tolerance and acceptance.

Society today seems to have shifted toward teaching emotions rather than logic and rationality. Have you noticed that reporters often ask someone "How do you feel about..?" Isn't it interesting that they're not asking "What do you think about...?" Just a funny little indicator of how emotions have taken over as the accepted veil to see the world through. I blame political correctness and liberalism, which runs off emotion like jet fuel.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Anonymous Coward]

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. . .)

That one got to me....
Thank you Mr. Wizard.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Anonymous Coward]

Veering a bit off topic there but I'll bite, liberalism runs off emotion like jet fuel?! We've got a conservative president who got reelected on nothing more than scaring the public into voting for him. 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."

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.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[ChrisMaple]

The closest I've seen recently is Discovery Science channel, but it's mostly "big science", "big engineering", and vehicles. Their "How it's Made" is closer to what Mr. Wizard provided. "This Old House" is reasonable. What's missing is teaching basic science and an understanding of what things are and how they work.

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.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Verteiron]

Ah, the Discovery Channel. Also known as the Alaskan Crab channel. Seems like that's the only show they have any more. Even the eternally-likable Mike Roe, even -Mythbusters- (the closest thing to a science show Discovery has) lost airtime to those stupid crab boats. It's no wonder they don't have time to show any actual science (or even discovery) any more, they have to fit in 30 episodes of "World's Deadliest Catch" a day.

I've got nothing to contribute, here, just bitching.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[shewfig]

BBC has a show called Brainiac, but rather than "science for kids", it's "science for drunken college students." There was an episode where they tested the hypothesis that looking at women's breasts for 30 minutes was as aerobically stimulating as jogging. Episodes also tend to feature explosions, making it moderately comparable to Mythbusters.

The best candidate I've seen in recent years for "science for kids" was Bill Nye, Science Guy, which ran for 100 episodes during the 1990s. Although edutaining, it featured a few too many MTV-style elements for my taste. Mr. Wizard held my attention with nothing fancier than a lab full of cool stuff - does that mean I'm old?

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Mac Scientist]

What a loss.

I agree. I'm a research physicist now, and I grew up watching the early Mr. Wizard as one of my favorite shows. Even had a picture of him on my office door here at work. His TV style was simple. No hyper-kinetic antics, no video magic, not even wacky sound effects. Just very patiently explaining to some other kids how things worked. I loved it!

I saw a TV panel discussion with him, Bill Nye, Paul Zaloom (Beakman) and a few others some years ago, and they all said they had learned from the Master. I just now realized that I also like to do science presentations for kids, too, so he definitely had an effect on me, beyond just getting me interested in science.

Along with many others, I'll miss Mr. Wizard, and owe him a debt of gratitude.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Applekid]

"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."

Erm, certainly there are better pure-bullshit examples of doublespeak than abortion?

I personally think it's ghastly and a person that would like to think of themselves as a "good person" would never do it. It's in quotes because it encompasses my values and observations and I'm not going to get into all that in what's already off-topic. With that stance, however, one could say I'm anti-abortion. At the same time, though, I do not believe the government should have the right to prohibit it. It's not government's place to legilate people be good. So I'm pro-choice after all.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[ArsonSmith]

I wonder if this is part of the evolution of a society. We have covered most all of the real problems. Now were are moving from a make things better in the future or "thinking society" to a things are pretty damn good now lets find things to bicker about "feeling society"

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[eugene ts wong]

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.

It is, but not completely; mostly, not completely.

"choice" and "life" encompass more than just abortion. They encompass suicide and abortion, and probably a few minor side issues.

The reason that I say this is to suggest that you come up with clearer & purer examples. In fact, "undocumented foo", as you suggested above is an excellent example. In fact, you could take it a step further, and come up with more vocabulary: independent casual bankers; culturally unique bankers; Halloween styled banking; etc.

It might even be more useful to go into the HowTos of coming up with new jargon. This way, we could start tackling some of the more complex issues.

Do you use "he/she" or "they" for the third person singular? Why or why not? Those kinds of questions.

In short, I completely agree with you, but those last 2 examples weren't the best in my opinion.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, why'd you watch it then, eh?

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[pclminion]

Why is it a loss? Why do we get so sad when an influential person dies at a ripe old age? Surviving bone cancer to the age of 89 is an impressive feat. If anything, I'm happy that his suffering (and he surely did suffer) is over now.

His contributions will live on. I'm not glad that Don Herbert is dead, but hearing his name mentioned on Slashdot brings a smile to my face, not tears to my eyes. Most of us could hardly wish for a better and more fulfilled life than he lived.

I salute you, Mr. Wizard. Wherever and whatever you are now.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Lane.exe]

Really? I personally blame conservativism's traditionalist and nationalistic jingoism, which eschews science and logic in favor of faith and soundbites.

In other words, everything you said was complete bullshit.

Re:An inspiration to a generation

[Anonymous Coward]

I find it so funny that people will waste their "mod points" on such meaningless nonsense as modding posts like this "troll" or "flamebait" or whatever. What a waste.

So long.

[nbvb]

So long Mr. Wizard, and thanks for all the memories.

I always wanted my own HERO robot ....

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:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[Gunnery Sgt. Hartman]

I remember the plum juice episode. Even with the vacuum pump it didn't reach the top because of the nature of water (surface tension, density, viscosity...). I remembered that lesson years later when we were discussing a similar topic in a low level chemical engineering class.

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

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[DigiShaman]

As I understand it, one atmosphere (1 bar) = 14.7 PSI. When you pull a vacuum, the best you can do is reduce that to zero, or close to it.

That said, when the combined fluid in the straw reached a certain weight, 14.7 PSI of pressure is no longer enough to "push" more fluid up higher (the other end is 0 PSI of course).

Which leads me to my question. Why is 32 feet the limit? Given what I just stated, one would think the maximum height would change depending on two factors. 1. The diameter of the straw. 2. The weight of the fluid per unit volume.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[mdsolar]

On number 2 you are correct. A mercury (density about 13 g/cc) column is a familiar 29 inches or so. On number 2, if the straw is verrrry thin, you can get surface tension effects that can increase the column for water (capillary action). Redwoods push the limit for this. But, for typical straws/pipes the diameter does not matter. We are looking at pressure so it is mass per unit area that matters and this is the same with a thick or thin straw.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[Cadallin]

1. The Diameter of the straw doesn't matter because pressure is only dependent on depth. The Pressure exerted on a body submerged 10m below the surface of a body of water is the same, regardless of whether its a swimming pool or the ocean (with one caveat, which I'll get to in a second)

2. The Density of a fluid does matter. The denser a fluid is, the lower the height the pressure of the atmosphere can support it. So, ocean water, being denser than distilled or fresh water, can't be supported up to a full 32ft. Mercury, being exceptionally dense, over 13 times as dense as water, can only be supported to a height of 760 millimeters.

The last fact I mentioned is why barometers are traditionally made using mercury. In order to accurately measure atmospheric pressure (useful in meteorology) you need to be able to see changes in the height of a fluid column (before we got more advanced equipment anyway). Water is obviously inconvenient for this, requiring a column 32 ft high, although it is very precise, because minute changes in pressure cause large fluctuations in the height of the column. This is why mm*Hg (millimeters of mercury) is a standard unit of pressure, with 760mm*Hg = 1atm.

The caveat I mentioned above is that the pressure exerted on a body 10m under the surface in the ocean is higher, but only because salt water is denser than fresh water. It has nothing to do with the size of the body.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[zolaar]

[..] he pressure exerted on a body 10m under the surface in the ocean is higher, but only because salt water is denser than fresh water [..]

BZZZZZZZZZTT!!!!!!!!!

Sorry! Thanks for playing our game though -- what do we have as a parting gift for him, Glen?

Well he'll be able to finally do his science homework, Tom, because we're sending him home with the entire library of Mr. Wizard's World DVDs! Maybe next time, eh?

Maybe indeed, Glen!

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[jmv]

Water is obviously inconvenient for this, requiring a column 32 ft high, although it is very precise, because minute changes in pressure cause large fluctuations in the height of the column.

Actually, I don't think using water would be very precise because the required vacuum would cause the water to boil until the vapour pressure went high enough to prevent the boiling. This mean you'd have to take into account that vapour pressure (which depends on temperature) in the measurement.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[Cadallin]

If you're going to be pedantic, its best to be correct. The density of average density of ocean water is in fact: 1025kg/m^3, while the density of pure water is: 998kg/km^3. Pressure at a given depth is given by: p = g * rho * h. Where p is pressure (units depending on the units of the other values, but we'll use SI, giving Pressure in pascals), g is acceleration due to gravity, rho; is the density of the fluid and h is depth. Let's apply the formula and see what we get! If we have freshwater 998kg/m^3 * 9.8m/s^2 * 10m = 97.804kpa. For saltwater we have 1025kg * 9.8m/s^2 * 10m = 100.45kpa.

ooooh, burn. Don't worry, study up, and I'm sure you'll be better at being a trolling asshole next time! For those that wish to check me, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_statics The formula used is the one list in the first section: "Hydrostatic Pressure." Or you can check any decent college level Physics text.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[RipTides9x]

Just a FYI there are well pumps that work just fine from the surface even up to 200 foot deep, in fact our house had been on one for over 30 years before I changed it out to a bottom pump system.

It's a simple setup really. Instead of having one water line coming out of the well into a surface pump you have two water lines that feed down into the well. One is there to pull water out, the other line is a return, they are connected at the bottom by a "foot valve" that only lets water into the system and not out. So instead of the pump working to pull water UP out of the well, it's main job is to recirculate the water through the lines. The weight of, and pressure created by, the water going back into the well works to siphon the water up the other line. And by design there is a third line that goes to your house which the well pump pressurizes.

And although such setups have worked fine for at least a century now it's fairly inefficient since most of the work goes into recirculating the water and not actually pumping it up and out to anywhere. In the end that's why I went to a bottom pump system because by doing so I more than tripled the GPM to my home.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[Cadallin]

Water was good enough for precise measurements doing osmotic pressure experiments in back in the olden days before modern analytic equipment became available. Plenty of molar masses of compounds were determined this way. Chem Labs in industry and academia used to have glass osmotic pressure meters running up stories tall through the different floors. This was around 1900 or so. They weren't far off either. Things like mass spec provided more precision and better structural information, but usually their data was pretty solid.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[mdsolar]

Yes, I didn't mention these but if you think about it, this is transfering the pump action to the bottom of the well. The draw is created at the foot valve and the column is not supported by air pressure but rather by the strengh of the pipes.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[Anonymous Coward]

32 feet is the limit of a vacuum pump with water. Depending on the weight of the liquid it could be more or less (probably less with higher density juice due to dissolved sugar).

Even with a hard vacuum, you aren't lifting higher than 32 feet. To do more, requires pushing from the bottom.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[ChrisMaple]

FWIW, you can't pull much of a vacuum with your lungs, but you can achieve about a half atmosphere with just your mouth, which I find pretty impressive.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[Hatta]

Parent:

Even with the vacuum pump it didn't reach the top because of the nature of water (surface tension, density, viscosity...)

Grandparent:

There was so much space, human lungs can't create a large enough vacuum.

Geeze, for all the fond memories people have of the guy, you can't seem to remember why this actually doesn't work. It's not the properties of water, or the wimpiness of human lungs, it's air pressure. The air can only push so hard on the water at the bottom of the tube, so it only goes up so far.

It's pretty sad for Mr Wizard that he's remembered so well, but the lessons he taught were forgotten.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[EaglemanBSA]

What pressure are you talking about? Remember, a pump simply changes the pressure across itself, not the pipe behind it. This has less to do with the air pressure at the other end, and more to do with the pump itself. Therefore, if you need to pump water up a 10-story building (let's assume 100 feet), then you need a pump capable of providing 100 feet of pressure head. When you then pump the fluid from atmospheric pressure to 100 feet of pressure, it will be enough to lift the fluid up the pipe (assuming flow is laminar, etc.), and the fluid coming out the other end will be P1 (atmospheric pressure) - P2 (pressure heighth of column, in feet of water) + P3 (pressure added by pump), and lo and behold - atmospheric pressure!

This being said, rarely do peopole use a vacuum pump to 'lift' the water up, as it would cavitate until the fluid got all the way up to it - it's much more economical to use a simpler centrifugal pump at the bottom of the column. For special applications, however, self-priming pumps like this do exist. So, to answer your questions, 32 feet is not a limit. The only limit is the ability of the pump to change pressure.

Re:The Fahrealz Gandolf.

[DigiShaman]

We're talking about sucking water up a straw, tube, or pipe by pulling a vacuum at the top.

Pumping fluid from the bottom isn't an issue. But sucking fluid from the top is. Hence the limitation.

Got me hooked on science

[PoitNarf]

I distinctly remember watching an episode of Mr. Wizard when I was about 5 years old. He was showing the power of centripetal force; took a bucket full of water and made a quick vertical circle with it. All the water stayed in the bucket of course. To my 5 year old mind, that totally blew me away. Ever since then I was hooked on science. Thanks for showing me the light Mr. Wizard.

Re:Got me hooked on science

[hmccabe]

It's funny how strong an impression this show made on people. I remember a few weeks back, people were arguing about the Greenpeace/Apple fiasco and somebody mentioned styrofoam. Instantly, my mind pictured the episode where he made a styrofoam fish by heating the foam balls in a mold. Is there somebody doing a science show for kids these days? I'd do it, but I swear to damn much.

Re:Got me hooked on science

[harks]

The closest thing would be Bill Nye the Science Guy, but his show went off the air in 98.

Re:Got me hooked on science

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember that one, too. That was over 40 years ago. That evening, my grandparents, parents, brother and I (my grandparents lived next door) were all outside standing around my grandparents fireplace, drinking my grandmother's hot chocolate and swinging buckets full of water around. Now they're all gone except my brother and I. What TV shows nowadays inspire family participation and memories like that?

Re:Got me hooked on science

[Jardine]

Is there somebody doing a science show for kids these days?

There's a channel in Canada called Discovery for Kids. The content seems a lot more MTVish than Mr. Wizard. Quick cuts and short segments. It looks like some of their content is newer, but some is also getting up there in age. Popular Mechanics for Kids is listed and that started about 10 years ago. On the plus side, one of the hosts was Elisha Cuthbert. On the down side, she was 14 or 15 at the time.

Sorry Mr Tagline Writer...

[mikesum]

but Don said, on Coast to Coast AM and maybe elsewhere, that there were no experiments on the show. They were more like demonstrations. I remember when Alex Albrecht said he was dead. This was just after his Coast to Coast interview, and it wasn't true.

I remember him from the 80s show he had, but he was around since the 50s as far as I know. This majorly sucks.

I remember

[hardburlyboogerman]

I remember the orginial MR. Wizard show and enjoyed it as a child.I'm sure that most people my age at least watched the show.
My deepest prayers goes out to Mr.Herbert's family.

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:Who is our generation of Mr. Wizard?

[nschubach]

The last one I can think of is Bill Nye. Other than Bill, I'm not sure. It's kind of sad. I just saw him on TV the other month for something but I can't remember what.

Re:Who is our generation of Mr. Wizard?

[Anonymous Coward]

I was always partial to Beakman myself, but Bill Nye may be more appropriate.

At any rate, sad news.

Re:Who is our generation of Mr. Wizard?

[jomama717]

Neil deGrasse Tyson is contributing quite a bit with his role on Nova and appearances elsewhere. Not nearly as hands on as Mr. Wizard, Bill Nye, or even the MythBusters but he has a nice way of explaining things in a way just about anybody can understand - including of course children.

Re:Who is our generation of Mr. Wizard?

[ipxodi]

I can't believe you just lumped the Mythbusters in with Bill Nye and Mr. Wizard.
The Mythbusters, while entertaining, do not follow the scientific method. In fact, when they try to, they often don't get a "big enough" explosion (or whatever) and go completely off the deep end just trying to make a bigger reaction. They do not TEACH science, they play with science. There have been several times where I (not a scientist) could easily see the flaws in their "experiment" which either doomed it to failure, or invalidated the results compared to the "myth" they were trying to prove. Real scientists probably get the giggles watching them.

The Mythbusters have a very entertaining TV show, but that's all it is -- entertainment. It is not an really an educational show.

Re:Who is our generation of Mr. Wizard?

[Anonymous Coward]

...and Beakman was partial to Mr. Wizard. The penguins on Beakman's World were named "Don" and "Herbert" as I recall.

Re:Who is our generation of Mr. Wizard?

[Anonymous Coward]

He's been a guest star on Numb3rs a couple of times, once in season 2 and again in season 3. He plays Bill Waldie, one of Charlie's friends/rivals.

Re:Who is our generation of Mr. Wizard?

[OSU ChemE]

Bill Nye still has a series that airs on PBS called "The Eyes of Nye" (I don't think there are new episodes being produced). Each episode examines one topic in some detail: antibiotics, addiction, the biology of sex, climate change. And he's doing some sort of tour, as he was at my college campus recently giving a lecture (Google cache link since the original requires registration; Google 'lantern bill nye' if you prefer). Unfortunately I was out of town and didn't get to see him or get his autograph.

So he's still around. But I don't think his show from the 90's is still on. Far superior to Beakman's World in my opinion. Maybe it was just a different target audience though. Beakman seemed to be silliness with some science thrown in. Bill Nye was science with some levity.

Re:Who is our generation of Mr. Wizard?

[Foundryman]

I used to watch a show called "Acorn: The Nature Nut"
Host was a fellow called John Acorn. I've seen him described as a singer/scientist. He used to play a little guitar and sing as he taught about nature. A cute show, maybe geared towards the youngsters but I still enjoyed watching him.

Re:Who is our generation of Mr. Wizard?

[pipingguy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Sumner_Miller

Re:Who is our generation of Mr. Wizard?

[pipingguy]

Followup:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/whyisitso/

""The hope I have here is simply summed up: To stir your imagination, awaken your interest, arouse your curiosity, enliven your spirit - all with the purpose of bringing you to ask, as young Maxwell put it, "What's the go of it?" - or, as Kepler had it, "why things are as they are and not otherwise". Or, more simply in my own phrase, why is it so?""

Unfortunately, the video supposedly available doesn't seem to work.

I know Sumner from this program.

RIP, Science Man...

[DCheesi]

Ahh, the guy who caused me to "forget" how to swallow, just in time for a visit with my super-cook aunt :)

I watched an episode where he demonstrated that swallowing is more sophisticated than just throwing food down your throat. I subsequently tried to "observe" my own swallow reflex; but, being a true reflex action, conscious observation disrupted the whole process. Then I started to get scared that I might swallow wrong and choke myself; from there, the self-consciousness made it impossible to swallow properly, and I could only (literally) choke down a few swallows of food in a sitting.

Everyone wondered why I wasn't chowing down as usual, but it wasn't until the end of the trip that I admitted what was going on. Eventually, of course, I got over it, and I can now shovel food down my throat with the best of them :) However, I still have trouble swallowing pills, or chugging a beer, because I re-learned the swallow reflex in a way that prevented too much food going down at once.

Nonetheless, I think Mr. Wizard's departure is well worth noting. A toast to Mr Wizard! :-)

Re:RIP, Science Man...

[Tickletaint]

Consider yourself lucky you never saw the "THINK ABOUT YOUR BREATHING!" troll. Oops...

Re:RIP, Science Man...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just think about your breathing-Yes that's right, THINK ABOUT YOUR BREATHING. Why you might ask? Well it's simple!

Your brain usually takes care of breathing FOR you, but whenever you remember this, YOU MUST MANUALLY BREATHE! If you don't you will DIE.

So do us all a favor and think about your breathing and then think about not breathing so you will be as fucking dead as the fake scientist who was nothing more than a fucktard.

GO AHEAD FUCKING FLAME AWAY OR WASTE YOUR GODDAMNED MODPOINTS FUCKTARDED SHITDOT SHEEPLE!

Re:RIP, Science Man...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's ok brother, we love you, mr. wizard died for your sins.

Re:RIP, Science Man...

[Hatta]

Ahh, the guy who caused me to "forget" how to swallow

You should teach my girlfriend that. Or you shouldn't. I dunno, it's funny either way.

In Mr. Wizard's world...

[Anonymous Coward]

...all your base are belong to the baking soda volcano.

Thank you, Mr. Wizard

[NeverVotedBush]

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

Re:Thank you, Mr. Wizard

[harks]

Same here. I'd wake up before anyone else in the house to catch the 6 AM showing of Mr Wizard's World.

Re:Thank you, Mr. Wizard

[tech_guru5182]

I seem to remember 5AM

I was only 9...

[vrmlguy]

I was only 9 when "Watch Mr. Wizard" went off the air, but I still remember it well. Yes, I'm an old fart. No, I didn't remember the correct name, everyone always just called it, "Mr Wizard".

An inspiration for TWO generations.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

He turned on an entire generation of kids to science. Surely I'm not the only one who used to wake up before school at 6 AM to watch Mr. Wizard on Nickelodeon before school?

That was his second show.

His first one turned on many (including me) in my generation (now becoming eligible for Senior Citizen Discounts).

How old are you slashdot?

[Blahbooboo3]

Wow, i am in my mid-30s and I never saw this guy and only heard of him via TV show jokes etc. I thought he was dead. Go figure... sounds like a lot of you really loved him. May have to pick up his DVDs at some point.

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[Laebshade]

I'm 24, and I watched him on Nick. But they were probably reruns, but still... what I remember about the show is an episode where he and this kid made dirty water (grass, food coloring, etc.), then used evaporation to get fresh water. Totally awesome. Mr. Wizard and Mr. Rogers were the two best edutainers of a bygone era.

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[WidescreenFreak]

I'm in my mid/late 30s, too. I used to watch him all of the time on Nickelodeon ("Mr. Wizard's World") in the mid-80s. He had a very basic approach to science but tried lots of different things, even the science behind pyrotechnics.

It was really great because all of his helpers were fellow teens or pre-teens who actually did the experiments. He just directed them, except for the really dangerous experiments, of course. So, it really helped to get kids involved because you watched other kids doing things that you would have thought only adults would do, and he would do things with basic, household items, like jars. I remember once when he used a muffin baking pan to demonstrate how fire would have different colors based on the chemical composition. In fact, if I remember, one of his "lab sets" was a kitchen.

Really cool stuff. Lots of good memories -- even the cheesy-by-today's-standards, computer-generated cutscenes.

Damn. Now I'm all nostalgic for You Can't Do That On Television as well.

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[bladesjester]

Damn. Now I'm all nostalgic for You Can't Do That On Television as well.

I *heard* that... :P

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[WidescreenFreak]

Nice!! :D

Well, then I guess that we'll still be able to see Mr. Wizard if we go to Barth's Diner. After all, who do you think's in the burgers?

(Note to moderators: if you don't understand it, then you missed some good Nickelodeon shows in the mid-1980s.)

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[bladesjester]

After all, who do you think's in the burgers?

I don't know... :P

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[WidescreenFreak]

I was waiting for that. :) Ross! Get Lisa or Moose over here to clean up this green slime!

Damn. Major memory flashback flood here. The 80s was such an awesome time. I'm glad that Mr. Wizard was a part of it.

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[bladesjester]

I couldn't resist *grin*

Yes. The 80's - Mr Wizard (who is now on dvd - both his shows and books are on his site), You Can't do That on Television (which needs to be on dvd), Double Dare was actually cool unlike when they tried to bring it back, Count Duckula (also on dvd now =]), actual music on Mtv, childrens' cartoons that didn't make you want to rip your eyes out so your brain didn't melt and drip out of your ear...

What the heck happened? I'm only 27 and I feel old thinking of some of this...

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[WidescreenFreak]

Good fun. Heh. I'm 10 years older than you. How do you think I feel? :/

I wish they'd bring YCDTOTV onto DVD as well. At least I have the entire DangerMouse DVD set -- another Nickelodeon favorite from the 80s. Yes, I'm going to have to try to get my hands on the Mr. Wizard DVDs, although I suspect that with this announcement they will be difficult to find for a while.

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[bladesjester]

I doubt it. They've been sold on his site for quite some time, and that's really the only place you can get them. Amazon doesn't carry them.

They even sell his project books and, I believe, shirts and mugs.

You should just have to wait for the traffic to calm down a bit so you can actually access it.

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[SnakeEyes]

"After all, who do you think's in the burgers?

I don't know... :P"

D'Eeeeeyyyyye heard that!

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[MillionthMonkey]

I'm also mid-30s and I remember he was on Nickelodeon when I was growing up; we saw reruns all the time. Back then my dad once said he saw Mr. Wizard snap at a dumb kid. He said the kid wasn't paying attention to what Mr. Wizard was trying to talk about, and kept picking up other things on the table, and Mr. Wizard finally lost his patience and maybe raised his voice at the kid a bit, you know, to get him to shape up a little. My father thought that was pretty funny. I said, no way, the Mr. Wizard I know would never do that; he is a benevolent Wizard and has no dark side. But it stayed in my mind. Afterwards whenever I watched Mr. Wizard's show I wondered what he would sound like if you got him angry. I mean, even if he's a Wizard of science, you still don't want to see one get angry no matter what kind they are. But he was really patient with these kids; they weren't all rocket scientists. So I finally decided, I've got to see this for myself. The reruns were on constantly and I kept watching them, watching Mr. Wizard, learning about science, and watching for that scene where he would supposedly snap at this kid. I watched him especially closely whenever a stupid looking kid came on. I thought, "could this be the one that finally breaks him?" But I never saw Mr. Wizard snap at anyone. My father was full of it as usual.

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[rickthewizkid]

http://www.ycdtotv.com/

'Nuff said

-Rick
(and yes, I really DID go to SlimeCon)

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[Mark_in_Brazil]

I *heard* that... :P

Don't encourage him, James...

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[pragma_x]

"After all, who do you think's in the burgers? "

I don't know.

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[Ephemeriis]

Wow, i am in my mid-30s and I never saw this guy and only heard of him via TV show jokes etc. I thought he was dead. Go figure... sounds like a lot of you really loved him.

I'm 29 and I've got fond, if vaguely frustrating, memories of Mr. Wizard.

We didn't have cable for most of my childhood. Initially it wasn't available where we lived, and then it was too expensive. We used to visit my grandparents in Louisville, KY and I hate to say that one of the high points of the trip was their cable television. I used to watch Nickelodeon and Mr. Wizard as much as I could. Horrible, isn't it? Go on vacation to see your grandparents and spend your time stuck in front of a TV... My parents didn't approve, and I was constantly being dragged away from some interesting science demonstration to go outside and play with some cousin I didn't know.

We finally got cable television installed in our house shortly before we sold the place and moved. For those few months I would watch Mr. Wizard whenever it was on. I even woke up early in the morning to catch his show. It was the best thing on TV.

Then we sold the house and moved completely out of town... No cable television at all. By that time my parents were hooked on their ESPN and we got one of those ginormous satellite dishes...but the plan with Nickelodeon and Mr. Wizard was too expensive...

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[Johnny_Law]

After all, who do you think's in the burgers?

I don't know... :P

Water?

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[bladesjester]

Where does Slashdot find them, and why do they keep sending them to me??

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[DRAGONWEEZEL]

Yeah, welll I aam 86 yeears olldar thhenn you!!
Mm mu muh parkkinsons mmmakes itt hard to typee, but... Jimmy? Wha What were Wee e talkking a a about?

This BBS is grrreat bb but I can't fuh find the Door to MajorMud or fuh fu FidoNET.

Re:How old are you slashdot?

[hardburlyboogerman]

I am nearly 50 and I would tape Mr.Wizard's World for my daughters.I still have a few of the tapes(4 T-160s with the commercials cut out)The girls got a kick out of the show,same as I did when I was their age.
My oldest now is in college with a major in forensics and she said what sparked that was watching those tapes and seeing hands-on science.
Mr.Herbert inspired at least 2 generations and did it with class.For that and more,I am grateful that I was lucky enough to see the original show,which sparked my interest in electronics and later,computers
Mr. Wizard,your work is done.Rest in peace,my friend.

I had no idea he was still alive!

[evilpenguin]

Mr. Wizard not only was an intro to science for us 40+ year olds, he was also the figure being satirized by Dr. Science ("Remember, he's not a real doctor!" "I have a Master's Degree" "In SCIENCE!") so he is, in a sense, two pop-culture icons for the price of one!

Re:I had no idea he was still alive!

[n8ur]

Ask Dr. Science is great, but I like the parody on the "Dinosaurs" show -- Ask Mr. Lizard -- who invariably blew up his young assistant. The tag line was "Looks like we're going to need another Timmy!"

Re:I had no idea he was still alive!

[Anonymous Coward]

We're gonna need a new Timmy!

Re:I had no idea he was still alive!

[Bigby]

He was also parodied on "The Police Squad!" series and "The Naked Gun!" series.

I didn't realize he wasn't dead already...

[MayorDefacto]

Seriously, I thought Don Herbert died in like 1989. Shows how much I know.

Re:I didn't realize he wasn't dead already...

[Achoi77]

Mr. Wizard's shows were always fun to watch, I remember sitting in front of the tv watching him bake potatoes in cardboard boxes, loop rubber bands within (which I've been trying to copy for months after I saw that), and cracking rubber balls with a hammer. God I miss that show.

I used to watch his show something like 20 years ago. (has it truly been that long?) And I thought he was pretty old back then too. Looks like he's lived a full life. I only hope to be so lucky.

Perhaps Mr. Wizard will return one day, as Mr. White Wizard. (sorry for the lame LOTR reference)

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.

Re:generational gap

[WidescreenFreak]

If you were born in the 60s or early 70s you probably missed out on something great.

On the contrary. I was born in 1970 and I used to watch his show every day after getting home from school in the mid-1980s on Nickelodeon. You only missed out during that time if you didn't have cable. :)

Re:generational gap

[Anonymous Coward]

I was born in the late 60's and I know about Mr. Wizard. I didn't watch the show much, as it was very basic science for younger kids. I was too old for Mr. Wizard when he came back that second time. Instead I watched "Cosmos", "Nova", CalTech's Physics class on PBS, "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau", "In Search Of...", and "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kindom" with Marlon Perkins. You probably missed out on the latter three since those were basically shows of the 70's. PBS had lots of good stuff other than just Sesame Street. There were plenty of decently entertaining science shows. My condolences right back at you for missing out on the earlier shows. Mr Wizard wasn't the only show in town.

Of course, a lot of the facts, methodology, and knowledge have evolved since then. We had not yet discovered extra-solar planets. Voyager had just flown out. Viking vas brand new. There was no Hubble Telescope. The space shuttle was just being built. Some things stayed the same. Tornado chasers have been around for a while. They were popularized by the movie Tornado, but I remember seeing them in an "In Search of: Tornados". The animal shows still have the same basic animals. Science moves on as scientists make new discoveries.

These shows popularized some crazy "sports" or activities that we take for granted today. S.C.U.B.A. was invented by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and popularized by his show. Bungee jumping was also popularized by some wackos who watched either an "In Search of..." or PBS "Nova" episode about a tribe that built this tower and jumped of it with a vine tied around their ankles as a test of courage. Smoke Jumper(or Fire Jumper) documentaries probably help popularize recreational parachuting.

Re:generational gap

[Smackintosh]

Heh, apparently you missed the intense math portions of Mr. Wizard's show.

I was born in the early 70s, so was ages 9-19 during the 80s. How would that have prevented us from watching the program? I too loved seeing Mr. Wizard. May he rest in peace.

A tangential comment if I may...Those were simpler and better times to be quite honest. At least for children. We had honest-to-goodness classic shows to watch like Bugs Bunny and The Little Rascals. How they don't broadcast those shows any longer I'll never know. Not spastic enough for today's kids?

Re:generational gap

[RackinFrackin]

CalTech's Physics class on PBS

Yes. That was called "The Mechanical Universe", hosted by David Goodstein. Where I lived it was on at 8:00 am. I discovered it in 8th grade when I was home sick for a week. After that week I recorded it every day and watched when I got home from school. I learned a lot of physics, science history, and math from that show. I actually learned to take derivatives of polynomials from watching the animations on that show. Now I'm a math professor, and my students look at me funny when I tell them that I learned the power rule from television.

Between Mechanical Universe and Mr. Wizard I probably learned more science than I did in school.

Re:generational gap

[Tofystedeth]

You only missed out during that time if you didn't have cable. :) Which unfortunately, I didn't. I used to watch Bill Nye on PBS all the time, but only got to watch Mr. Wizard when I went to my grandparents house. I don't have any specific memories of it like most of the people here, I just remember liking it. Wasn't there a spoof of Mr. Wizard on Eureka's Castle or Dinosaurs or something called Mr. Lizard?

Re:generational gap

[qwertyatwork]

> If you were born in the 60s or early 70s you probably missed out on something great. My condolences to all of you.

As a child of the seventys all I have to say is Bill Nye Science Guy.

What can we do?

[Anonymous Coward]

Was there any particular charity he supported we can contribute to? Perhaps cancer reseach?

Re:What can we do?

[mcb]

Volunteer on science days at your local schools, such as space day. 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.

Mr. Wizard was the Man!

[jimktrains]

I loved his show! I'm 20 and I remeber watching it and being very upset when it wasn't on TV (localy at least). I learned so much about science and he is one of the reason I am going to go for my phd. I remeber clearly the episode he showed where absolute zero came from:)

My condolences to his family. He was an awesome guy!

Re:Mr. Wizard was the Man!

[Anonymous Coward]

Mr. Wizard was an early inspiration to me. Without him, I would never have grown interested in the plague bacillus, smallpox, anthrax, and Jack in the Box.

Re:Mr. Wizard was the Man!

[Deadstick]

Fruit, cereal, milk, bread and butter. Or other foods for variety, such as eggs or breakfast meat.

rj

Re:Sad week for TV Mr.'s

[cyphercell]

that was funny - you insensitive mod!!!

great man

[ph4s3]

It takes a great individual to be able to talk to kids about science (or anything, really) in a way that intrigues them and inspires their own exploration. I think the two greatest things I had growing up were the How Things Work books and this show, each teaching that you can wonder about your world and find your own answers. I only hope my kids have a similar source of inspiration.

Re:great man

[Anonymous Coward]

Great in the truest sense.

Re:great man

[bladesjester]

I only hope my kids have a similar source of inspiration.

Both his first series and his second series are for sale as boxed sets on his website. So are the books that he came out with.

They're even reasonably priced.

where are they now?

[veganboyjosh]

so many episodes i remember... mouse traps in the plexiglass box, the iodine/starch pitcher pour, the newspaper to break the stick, the candle making the paper spiral spin around, the impossibly cut paper, the hole in the paper so large i can jump through, all the LOGO exercises, the speech recognition software that shows you a waveform of your voice, so those with speech issues can "see" their speech and make it better, the measuring of the tree with a plate of water, the starter pistol sound delay via walkee talkee, the neighbor's dog's tracks in plaster, the i beam vs solid beam...

i think some of the shorter skits from mr wizard's world are on youtube, i rememeber looking those up once, and spending a few hours reliving many of these. they weren't as mindblowing as i remember, but the girls i had crushes on then--as a 9 year old--had some pretty good fashion sense.

i've always wondered what those kids are up to now...

Re:where are they now?

[MatchbooksAndSarcasm]

The mouse traps, that was alwyas my favorite one. Chain reaction, baby!

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:Brings me back

[dryueh]

I only watched Mr. Wizard occasionally (I believe it was on in the mornings, which was no-TV time for me... plus, I didn't have cable back then). Fun to hear 3-2-1 Contact mentioned though --- I was a big fan! I also loved Square One.. remember that one?

Re:Brings me back

[ClayJar]

Mathman!

Re:Brings me back

[Uzuri]

Dirk Niblick and the Math Brigade!
MathNet!

OK... I was young and geeky.

show of hands...

[Anonymous Coward]

Who else thought he died like a decade ago?

Gonna miss him...

[MsGeek]

So long, and thanks for all the experiments.

Bone cancer, eh?

[momerath2003]

My only regret is... that I have... boneitis! [gak]

Re:Bone cancer, eh?

[KIFulgore]

You horrible person.... you got to it before I did. He will really be missed, if I ever have my own children they will certainly see the Mr. Wizard's World DVDs.

rip mr wizard. here's a few of my favourites...

[vena]

baking soda and aluminum foil, when heated in water, can remove tarnish from silver
how to cut a piece of paper so it makes a hole big enough to jump through
how to crush a metal box without using your hands, only hot and cold water
a bucket of water can stop a bullet

Paved the way for Bill Nye and Mythbusters

[kylehase]

I loved this show when I was a kid. I especially liked the episode about steam where he crushed a metal container and burnt a piece of paper all with steam. Besides building enthusiasm in students for topics such as science and engineering I also think his show paved way for shows like Bill Nye and Mythbusters.

Re:Paved the way for Bill Nye and Mythbusters

[jdogalt]

God Speed Mr Wiz... -dmc

Re:Sad week for TV Mr.'s

[Grimbleton]

What part of professional wrestling are you new to? :D

loved his show,

[ridgecritter]

probably was half of what pulled me into the sci/tech lifepath when I was a tyke. Thanks, and bon voyage, Don! Very glad we have your reruns.

sad

[oiarbovnb]

This news is sad to me. He introduced me to science. Loved that show.

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.

Re:You made a nerd out of me.

[PixelScuba]

To be fair, some of us remember that special gym teacher who taught us that winning isn't important, personal fitness matters, and being a humble victor are important traits.

Re:You made a nerd out of me.

[Anonymous Coward]

And some of us remember gym teachers who laughed at us, made us feel terrible about ourselves, and helped the bullies to play tricks on us, or looked the other way when they did.

Well, to Americans, but others can understand.

[jd]

He was never shown in England, as best as I can recall, however two similar presenters from the sceptered isle were Johnny Ball and Professor Heinz Wolff. Their different, light, entertaining approach to science probably did much the same for British kids as Mr Wizard did for the US. Other countries probably have similar figures they can point to.

(Mentally crosses over to the alternative fuels story and pictures North Carolina being invaded by people on Eggmobiles performing strange chemical experiments in mayonnaise jars. Me, normal? No, but thanks for asking.)

Re:Well, to Americans, but others can understand.

[mikael]

Johnny Ball still does presentations, talks and all kinds of stuff.

Uh-oh

[Bongo Bill]

I think we're gonna need another Mr. Wizard!

One more saddened viewer

[dbk25]

I want to join those expressing their regret to hear of Don Herbert's passing. He was probably the one who first awakened my interest in science. As someone else already said, he was one of the greats in the truest sense.

2 Hours of Interview with Don on Google Video

[antdude]

I was searching for "Mr. Wizard" on Google Video for some cool clips and even episodes, and stumbled this interview that you people might be interested:

"In his four-part (each part is posted separately) oral history interview, host Don Herbert describes his early years as an actor on stage ... all and radio before turning to television where he created the classic children's science series "Watch Mr. Wizard". He details his hosting of the show, as well as working with his young assistants. He talked about his simultaneous work as "G.E. Theatre's" "progress reporter," hosting a different three-minute commercial segment for each episode through the majority of run. He talks about the later incarnations of the "Mr. Wizard" franchise. He also mentions his appearances on morning and late-night television talk shows."

1
2
3
4

Re:An inspiration to a generation (My Tale)

[ShadowBlasko]

I grew up (Pre 2nd grade) about 1/2 a mile from a place where hot air balloons were launched all the time. I used to ride my bike up there and watch them take off all summer long, fascinated by the "physics" (as a 6 year old understands them) of the whole thing.

When we moved that fall I remember the thing that made me the saddest was that I would not get to watch the balloons take off anymore.

The new house had cable tv, and the first show I watched after my first day of school in a new district (a wholly depressing and terrifying experience if I recall) was Mr Wizard.

In that episode, he made a hot air balloon out of some straws, some wire, a bit of tin foil, a drycleaning bag, and some sterno fuel.

It completely rocked my world, and the next day I made friends with my science teacher at school asking about the experiment.

My sadness at moving forgotten, and with a reason to look forward to getting up every morning (6AM Mr Wizard!) going to school to check out new science experiments, and Mr. Wizard when I got home.. (Followed by You Cant Do That On Television of course.. Then Dangermouse! My weeknights were BOOKED!) kept me looking forward to each new day for a very long time.

I feel comfortable in saying that Don Herbert changed my life, and the direction I was going.

I'll definitely miss him. He was a hero to me.

Which generation?

[techno-vampire]

You probably remember watching Mr. Wizard's World in the '80s. I remember watching Watch Mr. Wizard in the '50s. He inspired not one, but two generations, and that's something to be proud of!

Re:Which generation?

[LifesABeach]

I fondly remember Pat Paulson performing a parody of Mr. Wizard. Don Herbert, and Pat Paulson have entertained me; I am grateful to them both for their work.

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

[Hope M.]

the wizard is gone leaving with us the memories of knowledge and entertainment with science, because of this occurrance it would be very possible that those who are a fan of this good fellow would be reminiscing the memories behind, but nonetheless it is already over and the deadman could not talk anymore but the memories can...let's discuss this further, reach me at: http://forum.affiliatebot.com/register.php

Let's observe a moment...

[ndogg]

As suggested by the Skepchicks, let's all observe a moment of science in his honor.

Go out and do an experiment, and if you can, do it for some kids.

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.

Oh Please....

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh please... enough of the false tributes. C'mon, Mr. Wizard was dry, boring, and by the time I was 10 or 12, I thought the show was infantile. Making a battery out of a lemon, and wearing safety goggles so as not to get lemon juice in your eyes? Don Herbert had the C.V. of a Radio Traffic Reporter.

Does anyone remember Dr. Julius Sumner Miller? A real physicist who was a colleague of Albert Einstein, taught at the Air Force Academy, and who would blow stuff up with gasoline on TV. And he would admonish people not to try his demonstrations at home because they were truly dangerous.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, my name is Julius Sumner Miller, and physics is my business."

I can't stand this glorifying of the wussifiction of a nation, by the likes of Mr. Wizard. When I was in Jr. High I was cooking micrograin in my driveway.

This is creepy

[f4hy]

I have final in my Classical Mechanics course tomorrow using HIS text book. This kinda freaks me out.

Matrix reference

[gringer]

Strangely, I have a memory of The Matrix whenever I hear the name "Mr. Wizard"...

Mr. Wizard. Get me the hell out of here.

Re:Matrix reference

[Anonymous Coward]

Strangely, I have a memory of The Matrix whenever I hear the name "Mr. Wizard"...

Actually, The Matrix is referring to a different Mr. Wizard, not Don Herbert.

Re:Matrix reference

[RealGene]

That was from Tooter Turtle, a cartoon from 1960, that had a "Mr. Wizard" character. After seeing how life was as something or somewhere else, Tooter would invariably cry out "Help me, Mr. Wizard!" to return him to normal. Wikipedia has a nice concise entry on it.

Gee, Mr. Wizard

[Regnard]

I really loved the show, especially growing up. I felt amazement and wonder in watching what the show presented.

Man this takes me back

[kaizokuace]

After hearing this news I've just been sitting here reminiscing the old days (I'm only 24 but the old days is always good times how ever long ago that was for you.) Even though I didn't end up a scientist or get a PhD in something science related (I'm a digital artist) Mr. Wizard still greatly impacted my life as a kid. I've always kept an open mind about things in life and now that I look back Mr. Wizard had a big part in that. Thank you Mr. Wizard.

Farewell Mr. Wizard, Thank You, and Amen

[Anonymous Coward]

n/t

Best of America

[AlbieWK]

I will always remember Mr Wizard's mild style. His gentlemanly, quiet and reflective demeanor. His non-threatening intensity. And then, of course, his very, very interesting demonstrations. Don Herbert represents the best of America.

We worked to watch this show!

[catbertscousin]

When I was a kid (I am 24 now) we had an old ariel antenna in the attic and if you positioned it just right we could get maybe 2 1/2 channels on a clear day (very bad reception area due to the mountains). There wasn't much that was worth the trouble of going up and adjusting it, but I remember my brother and I used to watch Mr. Wizard whenever we could. Don Herbert was so good at explaining things like refraction clearly and simply so kids could understand them and learn to apply that knowledge in daily life. (I was the only one of my friends who knew why sunglasses let you see past the reflections in water).
My favorite party centerpiece is still dancing spaghetti.
I was glad to find DVDs of his shows are available now; at least my kids will be able to grow up with Mr. Wizard as well.

No doubt about it.

[ari wins]

He will be missed, as many have stated, for all the childhood memories he has created. I find it sad to a degree that America's youth don't have programming like this, that is to say: entertaining, informational, and an introduction to what is undoubtedly a very necessary study, science.

Indirect Affect

[RobertNotBob]

..Well, I'm of an age where I've never even seen an episode myself. But I certainly know who he was and what his significance continues to be: Every person who significantly inspired and mentored me as I've grown up was inspired themselves by this man as they grew up.

I'm very aware that I owe a lot to him... Indirectly.

RIP

Would he have been as popular today?

[zerofoo]

It's sad, but I think today's youth take technology for granted and I don't think today's youth would have been as interested in his show.

It's a damn shame. I think shows like Mr. Wizard sparked an interest in science, in a generation of kids, that made the US a technological powerhouse.

Hopefully something like Mr. Wizard will attract today's kids to science. The future of our country depends on it.

-ted

Re:Would he have been as popular today?

[Anonymous Coward]

No way. Kids would be just as interested now. If technology didn't amaze you when you were a kid then you're either 200 years old or you were one jaded kid. A child would be just as amazed now. Seeing the technology usually makes kids curious about how it works. The how it works is science.

As long as kids are kids there will be an audience for shows like Mr. Wizard.

Re:Would he have been as popular today?

[FiloEleven]

It's sad, but I think today's youth take technology for granted and I don't think today's youth would have been as interested in his show. Part of his appeal was that he did all of this fantastic stuff, but he always kept his cool. Instead of jumping around like a maniac (Bill Nye?), he treated his assistants and the audience as the intelligent young people that they were. If you look at today's teenagers, you're correct in that they likely wouldn't be as interested simply because they weren't exposed to experimentation when they were young. But today's younger kids, say 6-12, whose minds are still very malleable, would in all probability be as fascinated as we were.

I think one of the main reasons kids take tech for granted is because they see us taking it for granted. A large portion of the Slashdot community has no doubt looked into the processes behind the tech we use, but we seem to be in the minority. If we don't take the initiative to pass on our knowledge to young'uns, our numbers will only dwindle further. Mr. Wizard was able to do so with an audience of millions, which most of us will never achieve. That doesn't mean we can't encourage the kids we know to wonder about the world they are in.

Re:Would he have been as popular today?

[pecosdave]

My personal observations have shown me that regardless of how a society is structured, you will always have your dissenters. I'm months shy of 30, and I would say my age group, even ironically many of my "technical" peers have little care for the science of how anything works. However, everywhere I go, even in non-technical circles I always find people who want to know how something works. A lot of "technical" people are in the field today because in the 80's and 90's that was the obvious place to go for the money. Only a small minority of us are natural techs who set out to be technical people regardless of the market. That small minority are the ones who care how something work, the rest are the one's chasing the almighty buck with no real passion for what they do. I find this to be true in nearly every field/division of society. The legal field, the medical field, all of them. Right now the ratio's are way off in the technical field due to the dot com bubble, heck for a while I felt like a rat clinging to the wreckage of a destroyed ship for a while, but unlike the buck chasers I didn't feel comfortable anywhere else. In the field of psychology you will always have your Freud types, and for every one of those you will have a ton of "I went to school, read a book, now I'm a psychologist!" types. In the medical field you will have you two types of doctors, those who make advances, and those who practice what others have taught. We couldn't prevent interest in his type of show even if the show didn't exist and we attempted to prevent interest, there will always be that sliver of the population. On the other hand, we can mold a large portion of the young population into whatever we need. Personally I'm proud to be in the less moldable portion.

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.

Cheers

[rmadmin]

Cheers sir, and thank you for everything you've shown me. :)

I still remember lessons on how air moves in nature and misc other things because of that show. :)

Remember, he was around long before Nickelodeon

[Junks Jerzey]

Mr. Wizard got his claim to fame with a show that ran from 1951 through 1965. 500+ episodes in all. His show on Nickelodeon (which I watched and loved) was more or less a retro revival of his earlier show.

The banana trick

[Sczi]

I have a 3 year old, and I can't wait till she's older so I can send her to school with a doctored banana. She's gonna come home and be like "y0, dadz, omfg my nana was in pcs, lol" at which point I will take away her texting privileges and tell her all about Mr. Wizard.

He helped me with my regents exam

[MoeMoe]

One of the question on my regents exam back in high school was:

"What is a universal indicator? Name one of them."

Thanks to Mr. Wizard, I knew that red cabbage juice was one and described that it helps indicate different pH levels. I owe you one Mr. Wizard.... Rest in peace...

So long old "friend"

[Jackie_Chan_Fan]

I grew up watching him on nickelodeon, and he without a doubt, had a major impact on my nature towards tinkering, self learning, questioning, and science. He will be missed. Over the years I've wondered how he has been doing, then i saw him on tv not to long ago, and was so happy to see him. He really had an intelligent show that contributed immensely to the development of millions of children. Thank Don Herbert.

The world owes a great deal of respect and thanks to the likes of Don Herbert and Fred Rogers. Rest, your job is complete.

Simply sad.

Re:generational gap (born 1971)

[King_TJ]

Yeah.... I was born in '71 and I never did see Mr. Wizard (either the original or the 2nd. series). I only became aware of it when my friend's little brother started talking about watching it on Nick....

What I *do* remember, however, was the science-related PBS series "3-2-1 Contact", which also had a magazine I subscribed to for a while. It wasn't quite Mr. Wizard, but I learned a lot of good stuff from that show too.

Weird

[buzlink]

How freaking weird is that. My girlfriend and I spent last night drinking on the porch and looking up old Nickelodeon shows on Youtube. Mr. Wizard's Show was on of them, and we wished that they still aired his show. How weird is it for me to wake up and see this sort of headline on /.?

I liked Mr. Wizard's calm and cool demeanor

[Prien715]

Whenever he'd do an experiment, Mr. Wizard was always calm and almost solemn, but you could tell from his smile he always loved what he was doing. He wouldn't explain things with loud sound effects, macromedia flash type diagrams, and didn't need to have 20 different camera angles to show an experiment. The whole thing had a feeling of sincerity and earnest while newer shows just feel like lots of showmanship without much science (I'm looking at you Bill Nye!) He reminded me a lot of the late Mr. Rogers too. I don't know what shows kids can even watch on TV today that don't involve puppets, screaming animals, or just total over stimulation; Mr Wizard was just one person calmly but happily explaining something they're extremely interested in and wants to teach others. The fact he didn't need to over-act or try to dress it up I think shows authenticity as much as anything else.

Re:I liked Mr. Wizard's calm and cool demeanor

[geekyMD]

Truely he was the best of the best. An incredible educator who has impacted so many of our lives in so many ways. Between his TV show and "Mr. Wizard's Supermarket Sience" book he gave me my first tastes of just how amazing the natural universe world really is and how much we don't know.

For so many of us he really was an inspiration. For a long time I was thinking "what would Mr. Wizard do." :-)

Politicans can make laws, presidents can declare war, but the most powerful are the educators who shape our children. Truely Don Herbert was among the finest and most influential that I have ever had the pleasure of learning from.

Favorite Demonstations: Surface Tension (putting his hand into an aquarium full of water and having it come out dry), Chain Reaction Mouse Traps, Hot & Cold water sensory equilibration (hand in hot water to warm = feels cold, hand in cold water to same warm = feels hot), burning sugar with an oxidizer, black and silver painted cans crushed by sunlight, cooking a steak with the waste heat from a cars engine.

My mom's least favorite: sucking an egg into a jar with a match (I always ended up accidentally dropping the egg on the floor), Baking soda + vinegar rocket,

To the family of Mr. Herbert: truely you do not grieve his passing alone.

Goodby old friend

[geethree]

I grew up watching the original Mister Wizard in the 50's and 60's, and credit him with my interest and my career in science.

Goodby old friend.

He set the standard

[smchris]

A lot of flashy animation and rapid jump cuts is entertainment. Mr. Wizard was instruction. It empowered kids with the knowledge and mindset to _do_ things themselves. In a class by itself.

sad

[skotte]

He came to our high school many years ago and showed us how to properly make a potato gun. That was so cool.

He will be missed.

[Edward Kmett]

What I always liked about Mr. Wizard was that he didn't dumb things down.

He simplified things to enable the audience to participate, sure. Swapped in mayonnaise jars or alka-seltzer, things you'd have around the house, and as a result showed kids that science didn't have to be done in labcoats, but it wasn't the puerile nonsense you get in a most kid shows. I still remember the episodes about surface tension, and air pressure/suction to this day.

I was having a discussion with a friend about shows like Numb3rs today, and it came up that they get the character of the mathematician right, but they routinely dumb the math down, and he felt that they had to do that for the public audience.

Is it any wonder that when we dumb down everything as a matter of course, that America does so poorly in science?

Maybe what we need are characters that aren't billed as brilliant super-geniuses tackling problems that the audience barely comprehends and solving them with flashes of inspiration. Thats just off-putting. If you want to inspire kids to take up math and science, maybe what we really need is a sort of a mathematical MacGyver. Maybe the problem is that writers are not mathematicians, not scientists, so to them the process of discovery really is magic.

And in Soviet Russia...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mr. Wizard watched YOU!

    (couldn't resist; I loved watching the show in the '50s - now TV is nothing but crap.)

      RIP, Don.

One More

[TheoMurpse]

I'm going to add my proverbial candle to the fire here.

Mr Wizard's second show ran from 1983-1990, and I was born in 1983. Also, I lived in TX, so Mr Wizard came on at 5:30am. I distinctly remember that, because when I was in kindergarten and first grade, I would sometimes ask my mom to wake me up to watch the show.

I don't remember much about it, but I do remember his demonstration of centripetal force by swinging a bucket of water in a circle without spilling a drop. I also remember trying it later and succeeding. I also remember him using hot and cold water to crush a gas tank or some other metal can. (Didn't the intro video have some kids in a boat which went over a waterfall or something?)

I went on to study abstract math at university, but am now in law school. Reading all these comments, I almost feel like I've failed Mr Wizard by not continuing a science career.

However, like Mr Rogers, Mr Wizard's example ought to serve as a guide for us. I want to inspire the youth of America to get into learning again, and I hope that after I retire I might be able to open up and teach at some sort of low-cost after-school education program.

Mr Wizard, may we all strive to be wizards like you.

Oven cleaner + aluminum foil

[zurkog]

Ok, so I'm late to the memorial, I just found out...

I was JUST thinking a couple of days ago about the episode where he had a kid spray oven cleaner (the kind that specifically says DON'T spray on aluminum) onto a big sheet of aluminum foil. He then crumpled the foil up, set it aside, and then proceeded to go over the oven cleaner directions with the kid. Halfway through reading the directions, the kid notices the smoke pouring off the now bubbling foil, and his eyes got really really big...

I have many memories, and he definitely sparked a love of science in me. He will be sorely missed. Time to go buy some Mr. Wizard's World DVD's.

Mr Wizard Dies

[flextones]

I was born in 1950 and used to love to watch Mr Wizard on black and white TV. I bought my first chemistry set in 1964 because of him. I used to teach piano lessons to neighborhood kids at $1.50 a crack. I had lots of students because I could play by ear so well. I played all of the popular tunes at that time, and lived in an English Basement right on the corner of 11th Avenue and Harrison Blvd. which was a very busy city intersection. Kids could hear me playing or practicing when I was a kid. I bought my own 10 speed Schwin racing bicycle, which was a 27" boys bike in "candy gold" color. I bought a Zenith "Circle of Sound" stereo record player with those cool speakers that threw the sound up and then it was dispersed by the lid in a 360 degree range. When I finally got to high school chemistry, I had talking to girls on my mind and missed a wonderful opportunity to develop my skills in Chemistry, even-though my chemistry teacher was actually a math teacher who had seniority and was moved over in to chemistry over a real chemistry teacher who had less seniority. When I got to college at Indiana University I got to take both Chemistry and Physics and did well in them during my undergrad years. I became a public school teacher and retired after twenty-years. I can tell you from experience that the best teacher is the teacher who plants a seed in his students, and inspires them to learn on their own. Mr Wizard was that kind of teacher!

Re:generational gap (born 1971)

[Uzuri]

I'm 10 years younger than you, but I, too, remember 3-2-1 contact. Of course, I remember Mr. Wizard, too; he just happened to be on during the stretch of years my family had cable. And Square One, that was my other geeky show.