As you may have heard, Mr. Wizard (aka Don Herbert) died on Tuesday. He demonstrated experiments using household items and explained the science behind ordinary things. I remember watching his show on Nickelodeon during the 80’s, but his original show began in the 1950s and was quite popular with the baby boomers. They say that the CSI: franchise has done much to encourage a renewed interest in forensic and archaeological science among kids; I would bet that Mr. Wizard did much to encourage the people who brought us a lot of the scientific breakthroughs we have seen in the last 30 years.
Those of you who remember the Nickelodeon version of the show will enjoy a fond trip down memory lane by watching the intro to his show:
There are too few people in the world empowering kids (and adults) to really be curious. We’ll miss you, Mr. Wizard.
[tags]Mr. Wizard, Nickelodeon, curiosity, curious, CSI, science, wizardry[/tags]
This made me sad for a couple reasons. My mom taped these shows (6 hours worth) and enclosed a typed synopsis of each one, for our son, Jesse, in the 80s since we didn’t have cable and she did. She now has Alzheimer’s and those days of selflessly doing for others (and especially doing for her favorite #1 grandson) are over. So I’ll miss the thought of Mr. Wizard, as I miss my mom’s abilities.
What a great legacy your Mom has left for you, Marilyn!
I really laughed hard.. really hard at the Fed Ex truck… for some reason it just made my day.. Thanks for the photp and the laugh
I jope that everyone was OK… but it was still quite funny