One of my most favorite television hosts has passed away. I remmeber watching reruns of his old show, the black and white one, and I remmeber never missing an episode of his Nickelodeon Mr Wizard series. I fucking love science.
Mr. Wizard and 3...2...1...Contact were my favorite shows as a kid.
Mr. Herbert died on Tuesday after a long struggle with multiple myeloma, the Los Angeles Times reported. His legacy is the thousands of children he inspired to get involved in science. Many of them are practicing scientists today.
Don Herbert was born on July 10, 1917, in Waconia, Minnesota. He and his family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Herbert graduated from LaCrosse State Teachers College in 1940. He worked as an actor and stagehand in a Minnesota theater group for a year. In 1941, he moved to New York City. Herbert then enlisted in the Army Air Force and flew 56 missions as a B-24 bomber pilot in Europe. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three oak-leaf clusters for service to his country.
Here is an interview with Mr. Wizard from WIRED magazine